US PGA Championship 2021: day three – live! | Sport

Oosthuizen first at 17. He only just gets over the water, sending his tee shot way further right than intended. But it’s a good outcome, leaving an outside chance for birdie. Then Phil’s up. Having struggled for the last 90 minutes, he whips his sunglasses off, and gunslings a stunning iron straight at the flag. It lands 12 feet to the right. He’ll have a nice look at birdie from there.

All three tidy up, Koepka on 17, Lefty and Louis on 16. Here’s how it’s looking.

-7: Koepka (17), Mickelson (16)
-6: Oosthuizen (16)
-4: Streelman (F)
-3: Bezuidenhout (17)

Mickelson trundles his long birdie putt straight at the hole. It’s dead on line, which is just as well, because had it not hit the cup and skipped out to a couple of feet, he’d have been ten feet past. And it’s three dismal putts in a row from the leading trio, because Oosthuizen pushes his short birdie putt wide right, and yelps in horror at his mistake. That’s the second tiddler he’s missed today; two putts that might cost him some sleep when it all comes down tomorrow.

Oosthuizen lobs high and gently from the rough to the right, up onto the green. That stops four feet from the flag, a great chance for birdie and a share … unless Koepka drains his putt on 17, of course. Koepka prowls around it, sizes everything up … then fails to hit it. A dreadful effort that stops a good six feet short, turning away apologetically to the right.

Mickelson is left with a 100-yard approach. He takes a long time to chew over the options with his caddy. His wedge in doesn’t go particularly close, but surely he’d have taken regulation golf when his drive was snap-hooking towards the jungle. Meanwhile Oosthuizen has creamed his second pin high, albeit into the first cut to the right of the green.

A dropped shot at 18 for Kevin Streelman, a disappointing end to an otherwise impressive 70. He goes into the final round at -4. Meanwhile on 17, Koepka fires his tee shot straight at the flag. A good 30 feet short, but it’s on the dancefloor, which is all anyone reasonable can ask.

The buggy’s moved, under supervision of a referee, and his ball carefully placed. It’s a bare patch, surrounded by tall trouble. What a break! He manages to whip back onto the fairway. In position again. Up on the green, Koepka tidies up for his birdie, and now the two-time champ has a share of the lead!

-7: Koepka (16), Mickelson (15)
-6: Oosthuizen (15)
-5: Streelman (17)
-3: Bezuidenhout (17)

Koepka, his tail up, races his eagle putt aggressively at the cup. It doesn’t drop, and so he’s left with a knee-knocker coming back. Before we witness that, news of Mickelson’s ball … and he’s had a big break. It’s come to rest under the tyre of a buggy, stopping it from disappearing into the thick filth. Once this is sorted out, he’ll get a good swipe at this.

Lefty’s look, then. Let’s say it was determination, segueing into misery … because he gives his drive everything. Too much, pulling it viciously into the tall stuff down the right of the fairway. He traipses up the hole with his head hanging a little. How the wind can change at Kiawah, both literally and figuratively. Oosthuizen is in good nick.

Brooks Koepka turns up the heat, lashing his second into 16 from 280 yards. Back on the tee, a grim look spreads across Phil Mickelson’s boat. Misery? Or determination? We’ll soon find out. Up on 17, it’s a birdie for Woodland, after a glorious tee shot to a couple of feet. He’s -2.

Two-putt pars for Mickelson and Oosthuizen on 15. They move on without fuss or drama. Meanwhile Justin Horton wants a word about 2012’s aforementioned runner-up David Lynn (9.50pm BST): “To be fair to Lynn, his second in the 2012 USPGA was one of only half-a-dozen appearances in the majors: within two years he’d had to retire due to injury.” True that. A shame tendonitis got him, as he was a late bloomer; the 2012 PGA as a 38-year-old, a good showing at the Players and the PGA the season after, plus only his second European Tour win that year as well.

Mickelson wedges in from 140. He finds the heart of the green, only for the ball to spin back a little, rather like Koepka’s before him. Oosthuizen meanwhile is pin high in two, but well wide left. Up on 16, Koepka sends his drive miles down the track. And on 17, Streelman finds the popular bunker to the left of the green, but chips down the glassy slope to four feet, and saves his par. He remains at -5.

Mickelson batters a long drive down the centre of 15. It’s like 2005 – either the year, or tonight’s time (BST) – all over again. Oosthuizen too. Meanwhile up the hole, Koepka has found the green in regulation, though his approach spins back fiercely, costing him a few feet. It’s too big an ask to drain the long birdie putt, but par usually suffices around here, and in it goes. He remains at -6. Par for Grace, too, which stops the rot of three bogeys in four holes. He’s -2.

Joaquin Niemann looked totally out of it when he bogeyed 10. But birdies at 11, 13 and now at the last, and the young Chilean is signing for a 71. He’s -2 overall.

… but it doesn’t. A perceptible twitch before he pulls the trigger, and the ball dies to the right when he eventually rolls the rock. Everything seemed so simple for Lefty a couple of hours ago. No more. Just a par, though he remains one clear of Koepka and Oosthuizen at -7.

Oosthuizen’s tee shot at 14 only just held the back of the green. One more turn, and he’d have been down the bottom of the swale. But it sticks, and he takes two putts for a more-than-acceptable par. Then Mickelson has a look at what appears to be a dead-straight six-foot putt. If this goes in, it’ll calm down a lot of jangling nerves.

After all that tumult, this is what the top of the leaderboard looks like …

-7: Mickelson (13)
-6: Koepka (14), Oosthuizen (13)
-5: Streelman (16)
-3: Im (16)

… and this is how Mickelson has responded, cracking an iron straight at the flag at the 238-yard par-three 14th, his ball serenely rolling to six feet! To be fair, Lefty has had to bounce back from mini-disasters many a time before.

Mickelson remains in the lead. Koepka’s fairly straight birdie effort on 14 slips by the left-hand edge of the cup. Meanwhile a late move into the reckoning by Im Sung-jae: birdies at 13 and now 16 bring last season’s Masters runner-up to -3! Meanwhile his playing partner Kevin Streelman also birdies and moves to -5, the crowd whooping and hollering, feeding off some good old-fashioned underdog fever!

Oosthuizen goes walking after his 20-foot par putt, but only because he instantly knew he’d left it short. Bogey. Mickelson then tickles his downhill right-to-left swinger a dimple width’s wide left. A double, and this is a painful 5-5-6 run. If Koepka makes his birdie putt on 14, Mickelson’s five-shot lead will have totally evaporated in the space of 40 minutes. This is golf.

Mickelson’s tee shot didn’t cross, so he tees up again, splitting the fairway this time. Oosthuizen can drop up the hole, and sends his third into the heart of the green. Mickelson then lashes an iron, his fourth shot, straight at the flag. He’s got an eight-foot chance to limit the damage of that duck-hook off the tee to bogey.

Birdie for Bryson DeChambeau at 18, and he’s signing for a 71. He’s -2, and given the travails of Mickelson and Oosthuizen, not out of this yet! Ditto the aforementioned Matsuyama. Back on the 13th green, it’s a bogey for Grace and par for Koepka, the latter getting over his disappointment by sticking his tee shot at 14 to ten feet.

Matsuyama ends up with double bogey on 13, and that’s four shots gone in three holes. Suddenly, back-to-back major championships are beginning to look like a pipe dream for the Masters winner. He’s -1. Coming up behind, Grace flies his approach into the drink … and this hole looks like claiming yet another pair of victims as on the tee, Oosthuizen and Mickelson both send their drives into the hazard crossing the hole!

… and suddenly the picture looks a whole lot different, as Oosthuizen, having sent his second at 12 over the flag to ten feet, rolls in for birdie. Mickelson is still in very good nick, but this was a five-shot lead 30 minutes ago!

-9: Mickelson (12)
-7: Oosthuizen (12)
-6: Koepka (12)

Mickelson’s wedge in on 12 isn’t all that. Short and left, and he’s left with a 25-footer to save his par. Unlikely, you’d think, and indeed he doesn’t make it, but only for the want of one turn of the ball. So unlucky, but that’s punishment for his travails back down the hole. His first bogey of the day, and he slips to -9.

Matsuyama, coming off the back of consecutive bogeys, is struggling with his game all of a sudden. His tee shot at 13 finds deep rough to the left of the hole; his second caroms off a poor punter and disappears into a miniature jungle atop a bank. He can only slash out, short of the dancefloor, and the Masters champion’s PGA bid is currently hanging from a shoogly peg.

Mickelson doesn’t have much of a stance in the sandy area, and is forced to take a big sup of medicine. Gulp. Out he wedges, back onto the fairway. He’ll need to get up and down from 120 yards to save his par. Meanwhile on 17, DeChambeau ends up with double bogey, though on balance that’s not a bad outcome having sent his third from the dropzone into the sand. He’s -1.

Mickelson’s tee shot at 12 finds a fairway “bunker”. For the first time today, he’s suffering a little turbulence. He might also have to wrestle Brooks Koepka soon, because after a quiet front nine, he’s just followed up birdie at 10 with another up on the 12th green. A 20-foot right-to-left breaker, and he joins Oosthuizen in second place at -6. Suddenly, “just four clear” doesn’t sound quite so flippant.

Back on 11, Oosthuizen wedges his third to seven feet, and for the first time today, the 38-year-old South African is in credit for his round. He’s -6. Meanwhile Mickelson bumps his chip up from the front to six feet, but his putting radar is off beam for once, and it’s just par. Suddenly the gap is only four. Only four!

-10: Mickelson (11)
-6: Oosthuizen (11)
-5: Koepka (11)
-4: Streelman (13), Grace (11)
-3: DeChambeau (16), Matsuyama (12)

A long, uncharacteristic run of pars for Bryson DeChambeau ends when he drains a birdie putt across 16. He’s -3 … but then sends his tee shot at the par-three 17th into the drink. Christiaan Bezuidenhout drops back from there, though, with bogey at 13. And it’s back-to-back dropped shots for Hideki Matsuyama, the latest bogey at 12, and he slips to -3.

Mickelson lashes another long iron into a par-five. His effort at 11 isn’t quite as stellar as the one he creamed at 2, a couple of yards shy of making the green, but he’s in good nick nonetheless. Meanwhile it’s back-to-back birdies for Charley Hoffman at 15 and 16, and he leaps into the top ten at -2. And he’s joined there by Paul Casey, who rattles in a birdie putt on the par-three 14th.

Branden Grace and Brooks Koepka make a meal of the par-five 11th. Both find themselves in thick cabbage to the right of the green; neither manage to manufacture a decent chip. It costs Koepka his birdie; it costs Grace his par. Mickelson’s surge is messing with everyone’s head.

An extremely disappointing – and careless – bogey six on 11 for Matsuyama. Punishment for missing the green with wedge in hand. But it’s back-to-back birdies for his partner Bezuidenhout, who is back to where he started the day at -3. Meanwhile on 10, Mickelson lines up yet another birdie chance … and steers the most gentle of left-to-right sliders into the cup! The 2005 champ is five clear … though there are still 26 holes to traverse, so let’s try to keep everything in perspective. It’s not easy, though, is it?!

-10: Mickelson (10)
-5: Grace (10), Koepka (10), Oosthuizen (10)
-4: Streelman (12), Matsuyama (11)
-3: Bezuidenhout (11)

A huge break for Oosthuizen, whose drive just avoids topping into the drink. He’s able to whip a short iron onto the front edge of the green. Mickelson, from the centre of the fairway, swishes his wedge, twirls it like a baton, and watches it grip softly, eight feet from the flag. The exhibition continues. He’s feeling it this week!