Day 2 holes away from PGA Championship

But even a compelling battle to win the 97th PGA Championship could not distract from the individual performance of Day, who exercised the demons from previous near-misses at numerous major championships to claim a belated victory. And now, his first career 54-hole lead in a major turns out to be two shots over the relentless Masters and U.S. Open champ, who blitzed the back nine in 30 to shoot 65. “But I’m going to have fun with it, and I’m pretty relaxed on the golf course“. “So with my confidence level and his stellar play right now…” I know it is a big day back home, as it is the Independence Day in India and it is good to play like that. “Everything I need to do is just make sure that I focus and prepare myself for (today)”. Making only his eighth appearance in a major, Jones sank a 15-foot putt at the par-four sixth before draining a 50-footer at the eighth on the way to a bogey-free seven-under-par 65 on a glorious sun-splashed morning by the shores of Lake Michigan. He capped off his day by dropping in a lengthy 34 foot birdie putt on the hard 17 hole.

Though Spieth also birdied five and six to remain two behind, Day drained a monster 50-footer to birdie the par-three seventh, shouting out “Yes” in celebration after his ball disappeared into the cup. He recalled saying: “You’ve got to be kidding me”. The Australian will tee off in the final pairing at the PGA along with Jordan Spieth, and in his post-round interview Day commented on his mindset heading into the final round and his anticipation to tee it up with Jordan. “And I said you’ve got to be kidding me. When is he going to slow down?”‘ Spieth said. “I couldn’t ask for anything better and to be able to finish it off and finish it off in style was an incredible feeling”.

The Queensland native would then stutter slightly, with a double bogey at the 15th after a miss-hit chip from s bunker seeing his lead cut by two. “I’m hitting some quick draws when I’m playing a normal shot”, he said. “Sixteen, I was very frustrated”.

As well as his three bogeys, the five-time major victor three-putted the 16th from long range for par and said: “It could have been in the low 60s and possibly broken the major record”. So, that would leave me eight or nine shots back. “Now, if I can start putting like I did (Saturday) or what I did at Quicken Loans a couple weeks ago, then we got something”.

Hole 1: Jones (-12) stuck his second shot to three feet and tapped in for an opening birdie.

“It was nice to get back in the zone”, said Spieth, who won the Masters and U.S. Open this year before falling just short in the British Open last month. “I haven’t won, but that’s something that is possibly a new experience for me tomorrow”. Day (-9) dropped the shot he gained on the first hole by hitting a series of wayward shots.

Outright second would be enough for Spieth if McIlroy did not finish in the top six, or a share of second with one other player if McIlroy was outside of the top 13.