NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Alex Smalley has never won on the PGA Tour, never contended at a major, never even held a 54-hole lead in his first 140 starts on tour.
Well, scratch that last one. The little-known golfer from Rochester, N.Y., made seven birdies and rallied on the back nine for a 2-under-par 68 to take a two-shot lead at the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club on Saturday.
Nearly two dozen golfers are in striking range at the second major of the year — a PGA Championship-record 22, counting Smalley, within four shots of the lead after three rounds.
Smalley enters the final round at 6-under 204, separating late in the day from a new group of contenders at 4 under par: Spaniard Jon Rahm (67 on Saturday), Englishman Aaron Rai (67), Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg (68), Germany’s Matti Schmid (65) and Canadian Nick Taylor (65).
Three major winners are three shots back at 3 under: Northern Ireland star Rory McIlroy (66), Xander Schauffele (66) and Patrick Reed (67). Joining them is Maverick McNealy, who shared the 36-hole lead with Smalley but bogeyed two of his last four holes to stumble to a 71.
If Smalley were to lift the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday night, it would mark one of the biggest upsets in recent major golf history. Smalley, 29, is playing just his fifth major and has never finished better than T23.
“Anybody who wants to play golf for a living dreams of winning on the PGA Tour when they’re younger,” Smalley said. “I recognize that I have an opportunity to do that (Sunday). I recognize that it’s on a stage that’s a little bit larger than most other Tour events. I’m trying to downplay that as much as I possibly can just to make it seem like any other golf tournament, because essentially that’s all it really is.”
Smalley appeared to take himself out of the picture when he bogeyed three of his first four holes. He quietly worked his way back by posting birdies at Nos. 7, 9 and 10 around a bogey at No. 8.
Smalley and McNealy each birdied the short par-4 13th to return to 4 under. Then Smalley holed a 27-foot putt straight uphill at No. 15 to take the outright lead before adding another birdie at the easy par-5 16th. He became just the second player to touch 6 under this week after McNealy spent a brief time at that score Friday.
Smalley couldn’t get up and down from a bunker at the par-3 17th and missed a par putt to drop a stroke. Then came a 14-footer for birdie at the last.
“By the time that I teed off, the wind had picked up and it became very difficult to hit a fairway, hit a green, even make a 3- or 4-footer,” Smalley said. “Hit a couple wayward shots early, didn’t make it easy on myself.
“I just try to keep putting one foot in front of the other and just tried to regain my tempo and rhythm in my golf swing because, when that gets off some, I can start hitting it a little wayward. So I just tried to focus in on that. Just tried to play smart and was able to get some back on the back nine.”
The PGA of America opened up the setup at Aronimink Golf Club — the third-round scoring average was exactly 70 after it stood at 72.6 for the first two days — but that failed to open up the crammed leaderboard.
The conditions were far more scorable Saturday morning than at any point of the first two rounds. Chris Kirk, Englishman Justin Rose and Norway’s Kristoffer Reitan took advantage with rounds of 65 after only one 65 was seen Thursday or Friday. That trio rose to 2 under for the championship, as did Germany’s Martin Kaymer (66), Chile’s Joaquin Niemann (66), Bud Cauley (67), Ben Griffin (67) and Aussie Cameron Smith (68).
Also in the 12-way tie at 2 under are Max Greyserman, Chris Gotterup, Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and Australia’s Min Woo Lee, each of whom settled for 71s after starting the day one behind the leaders.
The quintet tied for second all made mid-afternoon moves just before the wind really returned. Schmid, 28, will play with Smalley in the final pairing and has a similarly empty resume: five major starts, no victories on tour.
Other than Rahm, Taylor is the most accomplished of the group tied for second. He has five PGA Tour wins and is vying to join Mike Weir as the only Canadian men to win a major.
He was as happy with his 13 pars as he was with his five birdies Saturday.
“I made two great saves on 10 and 12, where I had to kind of wedge it out of the rough and then get up-and-down from 70 to 90 yards, which really kept the round going,” Taylor said. “Yeah, bogey-free round around here is no easy task, so I’m proud of that today.”
At one point, Rai, Rahm and Gotterup shared the lead at 5 under before late miscues took them back. Both Rahm and Rai bogeyed No. 18, and Gotterup had three bogeys on the back nine after playing his previous 27 holes in 7 under, including the only 65 on Friday.
Not to be overlooked, McIlroy followed an opening-round 74 that put him outside the top 100 with a bogey-free 67 Friday and a 66 Saturday. His irons and wedges were sharp, as none of his six third-round birdies came from longer than 12 1/2 feet.
“I think it’s just setting yourself little targets,” McIlroy said. “(Friday) I set myself a target of getting back to even-par for the tournament, didn’t quite get there, was one shy.
“Today, set myself a target of if I could get to 5 under par … again, didn’t quite get there, but I think just setting yourself these little targets, it helps you just lock in and focus on yourself and not really think about anything else that’s going on.”
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler missed several short putts on his way to a second straight round of 71. The defending champion is at 1 under, along with Brian Harman (66), Sam Burns (67), Brooks Koepka (68), Rickie Fowler (68) and others.
–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media
