San Francisco (AFP)

The American Dustin Johnson took control of the PGA Championship, the first Grand Slam of the season, Saturday after the third round which proved complicated for the favorite Brooks Koepka, nevertheless well placed, and fatal for the legendary Tiger Woods.

Johnson, 5th in the world, overcame a double bogey and bogey, thanks to eight birdies, to return a card of 65 (-9 in total) and to be one stroke ahead of a duo composed of his compatriots Scottie Scheffler and Cameron Champ. A nice jump of 19 places for the winner of the US Open in 2016.

American Collin Morikawa, Briton Paul Casey and Brooks Koepka share 4th place at two lengths. The latter, double defending champion, limited the damage by making his third and fourth birdies at the 16th and 18th holes, just after three consecutive bogeys. Still in the game for the final victory, he will nevertheless have to tighten his game on Sunday.

Just behind, a group of six players are three shots behind the leader: Bryson DeChambeau, Tony Finau, Daniel Berger, Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood and Jason Day, who had been in the lead after the first round.

China's Haotong Li, surprising leader on Friday, fell to 13th at four lengths. And the French Mike Lorenzo-Vera, who was his runner-up, fell to 18th place with five strokes.

For Tiger Woods, on the other hand, it's probably over, after a third lap which ended with four bogeys and two birdies (+2) having relegated him to 59th place. He will therefore wait to clinch his 16th Grand Slam title, which would also have been his 5th in the PGA Championship:

After an encouraging start Thursday (-2), Tiger finished two strokes above the par Friday, repeating the poor performance on Saturday, still weighed down by his putt in cloudy, cool and windy conditions on the Harding Park course.

Justin Thomas, finally, still struggled to assume his status as the new world number one. Two of its four bogeys were framed at holes 16 and 18, putting down a performance that could have been much better thanks to six birdies. "I am very upset. I let a good lap slip away, I did not capitalize on my good start", railed the American, provisionally recovered to 34th place (-1).

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