Alex Smalley leads but dozens enter Sunday in contention at PGA Championship

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. – The third round at Aronimink Golf Club was wild and if you picked unheralded Alex Smalley to emerge from a logjam of a leaderboard on Saturday to take a two-shot lead heading into the final round of the 108th PGA Championship , well, it probably paid better than Napoleon Solo at the Preakness Stakes. Playing in the final group, Smalley, 29, bogeyed three of the first four holes to lose the lead but he hung tough and birdied four of his last six and seven of the last 12 holes to shoot 2-under 68.

He’s the only player in the field to break par in each of the first three rounds. “If you told me I’d shoot 2 under after my start,” he said, “I would’ve told you that you were crazy. ” Crazy was a Moving Day round when 14 different players held or shared the lead, including Masters champion Rory McIlroy, who was T-105 after the first round, two-time major winner Jon Rahm and Swedish sensation Ludvig Aberg.

At one point, there was a seven-way tie for the lead before Smalley broke the deadlock. In all, 22 players enter the final round at or within four shots of the lead, the most in PGA Championship history. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” world No.

1 Scottie Scheffler said. Scheffler, the defending champion and four-time major winner, shot 71 and is five back largely due to a balky putter. He ranked 73rd of the 82 golfers in Strokes Gained: Putting on Saturday.