Rahm (-9) misses; that’s a huge chance gone. Unlucky break on the tee shot.
LEADERBOARD
-10 Scheffler (12)
-9 Rahm (14)
-7 Poston (13), DeChambeau (15)
- 6 Fitzpatrick (16), English (65)
DeChambeau (-7) follows up his birdie on 14 with another on 15. Brilliant flop shot from the rough. Rahm (-9) with an average bunker shot on 14. Will have an eight footer for a share of the lead.
Scheffler (-10) burns the left edge with his birdie putt on 11. Poston (-7) goes birdie, bogey birdie as he starts the back nine. Rahm (-9) is unlucky again this time with tee shot to the short 14th, that hits the green but kicks into the bunker. Noren (-5) drops another shot.
Rahm (-9) lips out for birdie on the 13th, a brilliant putt with four feet of break. So unlucky.
DeChambeau (-6) birdies the 14th with a gorgeous flop shot from high above the green and in the rough. Rahm (-9) slightly tentative with a birdie putt coming down the slope. Scheffler (-10) regains the lead with a momentum restoring birdie on the 10th. Noren (-6) bogeys. That was down to a poor tee shot and a fatted recovery. Two visits to the sand in the one hole. Poston (-6) bogeys 11.
Scheffler (-9) from 285 yards puts his second to 10 in the greenside trap. Noren (-7) lays up after finding sand off the tee.
LEADERBOARD
-9 Scheffler (9), Rahm (11)
-7 Noren (9), Poston (10), Fitzpatrick (14)
- 6 English (65)
EAGLE: England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick rolls in an eagle putt having hit the green at the short par four, 14th. The tournament is coming to the boil nicely.
AND THEN THERE WAS NONE. Rahm (-9) birdies the 11th, that’s three in four holes. He joins Scheffler on nine under and is joint-leader. The American finds a fairway on the par five, 10th.
AND THEN THERE WAS ONE. At the turn Scheffler (-9) is just one clear of Rahm (-8). The American took 37 shots, three bogeys and a birdie. An errant driver is causing him not end of problems. Noren (-7) turns in one over. Scott (-5) makes bogey on the short 14th.
Noren (-7) finds the sand with his approach to nine. DeChambeau (-6) is in close on 12 but misses. Scheffler (-10) is 50 yards short of the ninth green having found deep rough off the tee. His pitch charges through to the back apron.
LEADERBOARD
-10 Scheffler (8)
-8 Rahm (8)
-7 Noren (7)
- 6 DeChambeau (12), Scott (13), English (65)
Fitzpatrick (-5) bogeys the 12th. However Rahm (-8) is now just two behind Scheffler, who has missed the ninth fairway, after his exquisite short game earns a birdie on the par five, 10th.
[ Denis Walsh watched Rory McIlroy struggle at Quail HollowOpens in new window ]
It’s a putting contest on eight for Scheffler (-10) and Noren (-7). The Texan takes two for par, Noren (-7) does likewise.
Poston (-6) makes a couple of birdies to slide back into the DMs of the tournament.
LEADERBOARD
-10 Scheffler (7)
-7 Rahm (8), Noren (7)
- 6 DeChambeau (9), Scott (11), Fitzpatrick (11), English (65)
Scheffler (-10) can’t take advantage of the par five, seventh after a poor tee shot but Noren does (-7) making birdie.
Finau (-5) bogeys the par five, 10th. That’ll hurt.
Riley’s (-3) just suffered a snowman , a triple bogey eight at the par five, seventh. Rahm (-7) moves into solo second with a birdie on the eighth.
LEADERBOARD
-10 Scheffler (6)
-7 Rahm (8)
- 6 Noren (6), Finau (9), DeChambeau (9), Scott (11), Fitzpatrick (11), English (65)
Even Scheffler (-10) nods as Homer might say. His run of brilliant par saves comes to an end with a bogey. However the Texan will have two great birdie chances some up at seven and eight. Noren (-6) makes par, while Matt Fitzpatrick joins the cluster on six under.
Scheffler (-11) a little heavy handed with his chip across the green. DeChambeau (-6) joins the chasing posse with a birdie on the ninth, as does Tony Finau (-6) with a similar outcome on the same green. Rahm (-6) can’t make birdie on the par five, seventh.
It’s not as if Scheffler is playing very well but his scrambling/putting has been par excellence you might say. The Texan misses the par three, sixth green with a pulled four-iron. Noren (-6) pushes his tee shot with a three-iron right.
Scheffler (-11) airmails the fifth green with a gap wedge from a fairway trap. His bunker shot comes up nine feet short. No problem, he rolls it in the middle. Noren (-6) misses his birdie putt. Rahm (-6) in the trees at seven hits a decent recovery but he can only escape to heavy rough short of the green. Riley (-6) gives back the birdie on the previous hole with a bogey on the sixth. It’s Scheffler by five.
Riley (-7) was out of position on five, but his flop shot disappears into the hole without a bounce for a slam dunk birdie to mix my sporting metaphors. Outrageous.
Rahm (-6) with another clutch putt but like dogs that chase cars there is a shortened lifespan for pros that putt for pars. Noren (-7) with a poor bunker shot, three visits to the sand in four holes. Poston (-5) watches another shot go. DeChambeau (-5) gets a shot back with a birdie on the seventh. Scheffler (-11) watches his first putt come up five feet short but he tidies up for par. Noren (-6) makes another bogey. The challenge to Scheffler is fading fast.
LEADERBOARD
-11 Scheffler (4)
- 6 Noren (4), Rahm (5), Riley (4), English (65)
Scheffler’s (-11) bunker shot comes up one revolution short of going in for a birdie. Noren (-7) can’t capitalise on his fine approach.
Noren (-7) knocks his second to three in to about 15 feet, Scheffler (-11) tugs his approach into a greenside trap. Rahm (-6) makes a huge par save on four.
Harris English (-6) birdies the 18th for a six under par, 65 and the clubhouse lead. Scheffler (-11) finds the third fairway, as does Noren (-7). DeChambeau (-4) bogeys the fifth.
LEADERBOARD
-11 Scheffler (2)
-7 Noren (2)
-6 Rahm (3), Poston (3), Riley (3), English (65)
Adam Scott (-5) walks in his birdie putt at the seventh. That’s a brilliant bunker shot from Noren (-7), down to about two and a half feet. He holes.
Scheffler (-11) rolls in the 10-foot downhill snaking putt. Now that’s how to maximise a great break from his tee shot that ricocheted around the trees.
Noren (-7) has found the sand once again, a low bullet through the trees that runs through the green. Scheffler (-1) caught a huge break off the tee shot. It could have gone anywhere but he’s got a shot at the green and duly hits the putting surface. Kim (-5) birdies the third.
Scheffler (-10) misses the second fairway, as does Noren (-7) but the American’s is the more grievous issue as he pulls it wildly into the trees. DeChambeau (-5) is wearing a pained expression after another mishit.
Noren (-7) leaves his birdie putt short but Scheffler (-10) does his rivals a favour by also dropping a shot at the first, missing from about six feet. It’s been a nervy start all round. JT Poston (-6), Riley (-6) and Jhonattan Vegas (-5) all bogeyed the first too.
Si Woo Kim (-4) has started bogey, bogey. Scheffler’s rivals are either going backwards or at the very least not making any forward momentum. Noren (-8) thinned his bunker shot; he’s about 12-feet for par.
DeChambeau (-5) shouts ‘are you kidding,’ as his nine iron to the par three, fourth comes up about two clubs short. Davis Riley (-6) drops a shot at the first. Jon Rahm (-6) makes a good par, after an errant tee shot. Noren (-8) finds a pin-high bunker with his second to the first green. He was 5/5 in sand saves yesterday. He’ll be desperate to keep that run going.
Scheffler (-11) hit a beautiful drive down the right side of the first fairway. Noren (-8) finds centre cut. The Swede has 10 victories on the DP World Tour. He tore his hamstring earlier this season and was out for four months. He spent that time coaching a softball team. As you do.
American Ben Griffin (-6) is an early mover on the course, four under through eight holes. Scheffler makes his way to the first tee, alongside Noren.
A bit of club throwing.
McIlroy’s just completed his final round, an hour before the leaders go out. McIlroy shot a one over par, 72, four bogeys and three birdies to finish on three over for the tournament, one ahead of his Holywood clubmate Tom McKibbin, who closed with an eventful two over par, 73.
McKibbin suffered four straight bogeys from the second to the fifth, responded with birdies on seven, eight, 10 and 12 before, dropping shots on 16 and 17, two of the three holes on the dreaded Green Mile closing stretch of holes. He closed out his tournament with a gutsy five-foot par putt on 18.
Tee times (US unless stated)
7.20: Jon Rahm (Esp), Si Woo Kim (Kor)
7.30: Davis Riley, JT Poston
7.40: Scottie Scheffler, Alex Noren (Swe)
Hello and welcome to the Irish Times Golf Blog of the final round of the US PGA Championship from Quail Hollow. Can anyone catch world number one Scottie Scheffler who takes a three-shot lead into the final 18-holes? Sweden’s Alex Noren is his nearest pursuer. John O’Sullivan here, and I will attempt to answer these and other questions during the time it takes Scheffler to get from his opening tee shot to the final putt on the 18th green.
In other golfing news the Dublin Journalists will be trimming the rough at Moyvalley golf course tomorrow, a selfless act on behalf of the participants. While the quality won’t be the same, some of the swearing might be a similar vintage especially if there are any ‘mud-balls’ and there’ll definitely be three-putts with the probability of ‘four-stabs.’
Scheffler’s best finish at the US PGA was a couple of years ago when he was tied second alongside Victor Hovland behind the eventual winner Brooks Koepka. A double US Masters winner (2022, 2024), Scheffler will be hoping to take the second step towards a Grand Slam by claiming the Wannamaker Trophy, which goes to the winner at Quail Hollow.
Speaking of which, golf’s most recent Grand Slam winner Rory McIlroy, who completed golf’s greatest feat in claiming all four Majors by winning the US Masters, was a four-time winner at Quail Hollow and a favourite this week but his post Augusta celebrations perhaps left him a little under-tuned at least that’s the way his game looked this week.
