Being factitious, we could say it would be easier to list the players who didn’t have at least a share of the lead in a wild and enticing third round of the 108th PGA Championship.
But what took place Saturday at Aronimink Golf Club in warm breezes on a sun-splashed day was simply dizzying, if you were in charge of coordinating the leaderboard. Yet, enthralling, if you like your championship golf to be played at a furious clip with many involved.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Ludvig Åberg, turning his head to look at a leaderboard beside him as he sat in the interview room. Then he smiled and nodded his head.
“(But) it’s a cool thing for the (TV) viewers. I think it’s cool to see that many guys have a chance to win a tournament.”
Maybe not so cool if you have to throw words together to make sense of a day in which just about everyone – or so it seems – at one time or another had at least a share of the lead. But clearly it can be described as cool for Åberg, one of those who is firmly in the mix to win his first major championship.
Now the answer, by the way, is 14. To the question, “How many players did have at least a share of the lead?”
For those keeping track at home, those that once held the No. 1 spot started with the co-leaders at 4-under to start the day, Alex Smalley and Maverick McNealy.
You then had a couple of rabbits who broke fast and furiously from the starting gate long before the leaders arrived, Chris Kirk (out in 4-under 31) and Rory McIlroy (32 for his first nine), both of whom got to 4-under. Others soon matched that number – Nick Taylor, Matti Schmid, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Max Geyserman, Chris Gotterup, Åberg, Aldrich Potgeiter, Stephan Jaeger, and Aaron Rai.
Delightful chaos.
