Notebook: Day 4 at the PGA Championship

Then, the ones that make the cut, like Holmes, will have to play their third round. A wayward second shot on the 14th hole led to a buried lie in a bunker and he wound up making double bogey on the 397-yard, par-4 hole.

Stricker said his game is starting to come together during a season in which he has played part-time after back surgery in December. Holmes had birdied three of his last five holes when rain and wind hit Whistling Straits so hard it not only ran the players off the course.

Even with the eight, he shot a 3-under 69, and his scorecard qualified as the craziest of the day with two eagles and six birdies, along with three bogeys. But you never know. His season best is T27 at the Crowne Plaza Invitational.

“I don’t get that too often, and that was special for me”, Stricker said after rolling in a 9-foot par to finish at 4-under 284 for the championship, with a 2-under 70 on Sunday.

He will be one of Jay Haas’ assistant captains for the Presidents Cup and is fully exempt through the 2016-17 season on the PGA Tour. He needed to finish in the top 15 at Whistling Straits to earn a spot in next year’s PGA Championship, but says he still wants to try to qualify for the majors – most notably the U.S. Open at Erin Hills near Hartford in 2017.

“I made some putts today, which I haven’t been doing this year at all”, he said. “It gives me a lot of confidence, a lot of momentum going into the next few weeks”. “I only played two tournaments back-to-back one time”. “But still played a pretty special round today”.