San Francisco (AFP)
American Dustin Johnson, chasing a second Grand Slam title after the 2016 US Open, jumped 19 places to take control of the PGA Championship on Saturday in a complicated 3rd round for Brooks Koepka, nevertheless in the game.
For Tiger Woods on the other hand, it's probably over. His third day ended with four bogeys and two birdies which relegated him to 59th place (+2). He will therefore wait to win his 16th Grand Slam title.
Johnson, 5th in the world, managed to overcome his difficulties - a double bogey and a bogey - thanks to eight birdies, to make a card of 65 (-9 in total). Which makes it, in addition to its ranking, a serious candidate for the coronation in San Francisco.
On Saturday, nothing will have succeeded in disturbing him, not even the fact of having lost at the bottom of his bag his course booklet, of which his brother and caddy Austin had a duplicate, however, but not really up to date. “It was dated last week, but it worked well,” he said with a smile.
Johnson's lead is slim, one stroke, over a duo consisting of his compatriots rookie Scottie Scheffler and Cameron Champ, inexperienced at this point.
"I'm going to do my best not to forward what they're doing on Sunday and just play my game. It doesn't really matter what the other guys are doing. All I can control is me. - even ", he declared by way of Coué method.
- Koepka: "We will see" -
He knows, however, that at two strokes is the favorite of the event Brooks Koepka (-7), required to share 4th place with the American Collin Morikawa and the British Paul Casey, after having limited the damage at the end of the course.
The two-time defending champion had his third and fourth birdies on the 16th and 18th holes, just after committing three consecutive bogeys.
"Today I played better than my score can indicate" (69, -1), said the man who hopes to become the second player in history to achieve a "hat trick" at the PGA Championship after Walter Hagen In the 1920's.
Last year, in the lead, he had kept Dustin Johnson at bay to win. Here he is in turn in the shoes of the hunter. "I had capitalized. There, I don't know ... He's looking for his second Major. I'm playing well. We'll see," added Koepka.
Behind, a group of six players are three shots behind the leader: Bryson DeChambeau, author of a superb putt almost 29 meters long on the 18th hole, Tony Finau, Daniel Berger, the British Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood and the Australian Jason Day, who had been in the lead after the 1st round.
- Woods: "Finish under the" -
Haotong Li, a surprising leader on Friday and who had dreamed of becoming the first Chinese to win a Major, came down to earth, more precisely in 13th place.
Ditto for Mike Lorenzo-Vera, who was his runner-up and tumbled to 18th (-4) five strokes behind Johnson. Without making any noise, the other French competitor, Victor Perez, is in 30th position (-2), just ahead of the new world number 1 Justin Thomas (34th).
The latter did not lose heart after himself, because of the two bogeys committed at holes 16 and 18 (four in total) having weighed down a performance that could have been much better (six birdies). "I'm very pissed off. I let a good lap slip away, I didn't capitalize on my good start."
More stoic but no less disappointed, Tiger Woods saw his chances of securing a 5th PGA Championship vanish. After an encouraging start Thursday (-2), he finished at +2 on Friday, repeating this poor performance on Saturday, still weighed down by his putt in cool and windy conditions on Harding Park.
"I hope I can finish under the par, it's playable," said the "Tiger", however already looking to the sequel and the US Open in a month.
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