US PGA Championship 2023: third round – live | US PGA

Stephan Jaeger becomes another player to lose his early momentum. Those birdies at 1 and 4 have been cancelled out by back-to-back bogeys at 6 and 7. The Korn Ferry Tour regular drops back into the pack at +2.

Lowry gets up and down from the bunker at 1, as you always knew he would. McIlroy’s chip from the side isn’t the best, his blade getting caught up in the thick rough. He leaves himself knee-knockingly short, but rams home the putt and both Irishmen walk off with their pars. They remain at level par for the tournament.

Lowry has a route to the green from his position wide left of the 1st fairway. But he can only find the bunker at the front right. Rory, from the middle of the fairway, pushes his second into the rough to the right of the green. Pin high, but he’s not left with too much green to work with. Lowry is probably in the better position now.

Phil Mickelson, having survived the cut at the PGA for the 27th time, a record he now shares with Jack Nicklaus and Raymond Floyd, smiles broadly when shaking hands on a third round of 75. He’s +10. Meanwhile Kazuki Higa, who led on Thursday for a while, after flying out of the blocks with four birdies in his first five holes, is back in the hutch with a 77. He’s +12, and the heady heights of -4 seem a lot further back in the rear-view mirror than Thursday morning.

Rory McIlroy takes to the 1st tee. A warm ovation on a distinctly cool day. The 2012 and 2014 champion has been wild with the driver this week, so he’s glad to find the fairway, albeit with the help of a slightly fortunate kick off a grassy knoll to its left. He’s going round today in an all-Ireland pairing with the 2019 Open champion Shane Lowry, who hooks into the trees down the left. They both start the day at level par for the tournament, well within striking distance of the leaders.

Tommy Fleetwood’s early momentum has been checked by bogey at 7. He drops back to +2 for the tournament. Collin Morikawa’s bogey at 5 takes him back to +1. Scoring isn’t getting any easier. Let’s hope the rain does indeed ease off in a couple of hours as forecast.

A couple of big names (and good mates) already back in the warm sanctuary of the clubhouse. Justin Thomas won’t be keeping hold of the Wanamaker Trophy: the defending champion shot 75 today and is well down the leaderboard at +10 overall. His buddy Jordan Spieth had a better day, shooting 71, but at +6 overall won’t be completing his career slam this year. Spieth speaks to Sky Sports: “We were prepared, we knew it was coming … it’s when you’re really leaning on your caddy … you have to keep your driver face dry … to play the last seven holes two under, I’m really pleased … it was really nice to squeeze out a couple under coming in, just to get a little more sleep tomorrow and maybe make a backdoor run at a top ten, or whatever it can be.”

To further illustrate how difficult play has been this morning … the world number one and new Masters champion Jon Rahm, the joint pre-tournament favourite alongside Scottie Scheffler, went out in 39 strokes. He carded six bogeys in his first ten holes. But he’s birdied the two par-fives, 4 and now 13, and walks off the 13th green with a huge smile on his face, sharing a joke with his caddy. A big difference from yesterday afternoon, which at one point saw him peeling off his glove in a manner which suggested he was about to wade into the gallery and throw hands indiscriminately. He’s clearly at peace now, having let this tournament go, and it’s so nice to see him so happy. He’s +8.

Having said that, all is not lost for those further down the leaderboard. The course will be very soft tomorrow after the hammering it’s taken today, so low Sunday scoring will be more likely than not. Yay, etc. Anyway, Tommy Fleetwood has been joined on that list of players -2 for their round today by Stephan Jaeger. The 33-year-old German is making his PGA Championship debut and sits at level par for the tournament, alongside the 2020 champion Collin Morikawa, who birdied 1. The first tentative moves of this here Moving Day!

-5: Scheffler, Conners, Hovland
-3: Suh, DeChambeau
-2: Koepka, Tarren
-1: Pendrith, Rose
E: Jaeger (4), Morikawa (4), Block, Straka, Mitchell, Lee, Svensson, McIlroy, Lowry, Bradley, NeSmith

In theory, while the course is playing longer in these dreich conditions, it should be easier to attack pins on more receptive greens. Only problem is, the rain has been so hard and relentless, it’s been a complete nightmare for the players, as they juggle umbrellas, wet gloves, soaked hats and flappy waterproofs. Theory is the first thing to go out of the window when it’s coming down in stair rods. So there’s not been much moving so far on Moving Day. To illustrate: right now, there’s only one player today at -2 or better for his round. That’s Tommy Fleetwood, and he’s had to rake in a 70-footer on 6 to achieve that. By way of contrast, 32 players are at least +2 or worse. However, when the rain stops, perhaps some attacking advantage will kick in for the final few pairings. Not the greatest news for the chasing pack, but there it is.

The weather. It’s been bucketing down in Rochester from the get-go. The course is playing long and soft as a result. Men with rollers mooch up and down the fairway to assist drainage, but there doesn’t seem to be any danger of pooling on the greens, the one thing that would stop play. That’s been put down to the excellence of the course redesign in tandem with a state-of-the-art computerised drainage system. By all accounts it can shift 15 inches of rain in a single hour, which is some going. The rain is expected to stop, or at least ease off, sometime around 3pm to 4pm local time (8pm to 9pm BST). Clear skies tomorrow. Elsewhere …

Preamble