After failing to win any of the past six majors, the US held the top five spots heading into the final round of the PGA Championship with unheralded duo Brendan Steele and Jason Dufner sharing the lead at seven-under-par.
Steele, who had not played a hole on the USPGA Tour before this year, is ranked 121st in the world, but he fired a confident four-under 66 at Atlanta Athletic Club, while, all around him, many of the sport’s elite struggled.
Steele has at least got a USPGA Tour win under his belt, he was victorious in the Texas Open in April, which is more than the 34-year-old Dufner, who has played most of his golf on the second-tier Nationwide Tour, can claim. Dufner carded a 68.
Britain’s Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, the top-ranked players in the world but neither yet to secure a major title, both looked well poised to mount challenges.
However, like so many this week, their prospects were hampered by misfortune on the tricky final four holes.
Instead, another US rookie, Keegan Bradley, was a stroke behind the leaders after showing intense concentration through his round of 69.
Veteran Americans, Scott Verplank and world No. 5 Steve Stricker, carded matching 69s and were respectively two and three shots behind the pacesetting pair.
Europe’s closest challenger was Dane Anders Hansen, whose consistent week continued with an even-par 70 to follow his rounds of 68 and 69.
Hansen is four strokes off the pace along with yet another unfancied American, DA. Points (71).
If there is to be an unprecedented seventh consecutive non-American win in a major then the best bet looks to be Masters champion Charl Schwartzel of South Africa, who achieved a rarity of a bogey-free round on the challenging Highland course as he put himself in contention with a 66.
Tied with Schwartzel, five strokes off the lead, were Swede Robert Karlsson (67) and Australians Adam Scott (70) and John Senden (72).
However, Saturday belonged to the Americans, who seemed to be as surprised as everyone else to find themselves leading a major at the end of the third round.
Dufner, who cuts a casual figure on the course with his lank hair and slight paunch, ended his round in impressive fashion — making a mockery of the difficult 15th and 16th where he made birdies and then showing exactly how to handle the difficult water-protected 18th green with a confident par.
Also lurking in contention was American David Toms, winner in 2001 when the PGA Championship was last held here, who fired a best-of-the-day 65.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite