By Andrew Both
KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. (Reuters) – Players enjoyed a rare respite from Kiawah Island’s whipping winds, and several took advantage of the relatively benign conditions early in the third round at the PGA Championship on Saturday.
After two days enduring a relentless easterly breeze, the 81 players who survived the cut could hardly have asked for more conducive conditions, at least those with morning tee times, as the flags barely fluttered in a mere light zephyr.
Americans Webb Simpson and Billy Horschel were among those to make hay while the sun shined, both picking up four strokes in 14 and 13 holes respectively, six strokes from the lead.
But Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy, the 2012 champion here, seemed unlikely to pull off a successful encore, dropping one shot in seven holes to slip to four over.
Although the breeze was forecast to strengthen slightly during the afternoon, by the time halfway leaders Phil Mickelson and Louis Oosthuizen tee off, it should be nothing like the first two days, when birdies were at a premium.
Officials responded to the conditions on Saturday by stretching the course slightly to 7,770 yards, almost the longest in major history.
American Mickelson and South African Oosthuizen tee off at 2.40 p.m. local time (1840 GMT), one stroke ahead of American Brooks Koepka and two in front of Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and South Africans Branden Grace and Christiaan Bezuidenhout.
Fifty-year-old Mickelson on Sunday could become the oldest player to win any of the four championships that comprise the modern grand slam.
Oosthuizen, a runaway winner of the 2010 British Open at St. Andrews, has the dubious honour of being runner-up in all four majors, including two playoff losses.
Matsuyama, meanwhile, is attempting back-to-back major wins after his historic Masters victory last month, the first in a major by a Japanese man.
(Reporting by Andrew Both; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
