Jason Day leads going into PGA Championship final

Hole 17: Day (-15) made a 30-foot putt for birdie to stretch his lead to two.

All Spieth needed at Whistling Straits Saturday was Day’s only hiccup, a double bogey from out of the bunker on the 15th hole. But Spieth said he won’t be thinking about joining Ben Hogan and Tiger Woods as the only men to win three majors in the same year when he tees off with Day on Sunday. He is one stroke ahead of reigning Masters and U.S. Open champion Jordan Spieth, who is in a second-place tie with Scott Piercy and Brendan Steele among those who have completed 36 holes.

The 22-year-old Texan birdied six of his last eight holes in a seven-under 65 for 203.

Still finding his way back to competitive sharpness following a five-week injury lay-off that left him inactive since the US Open in June, a fit-again McIlroy, 26, shot his best round of the week so far on Saturday as he carded a four-under-par 68 to move to six under for the tournament, six shots off the pace set by 54-hole clubhouse leader Branden Grace.

England’s Justin Rose returned to finish his round with a par on the 18th and stay third on eight under par.

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”.

He was joined on 10-under by American Tony Finau (69), while American Dustin Johnson and India’s Anirban Lahiri tied for eighth on nine-under 207. And then I think he’s dropped a couple of shots since then.

Jason Day is closer than he’s ever been to a breakthrough major championship victory after the 27-year-old forged to a two-shot lead heading to the final round of the US PGA Championship.

Rose admitted it was going to be “a bit of a drag” to face a 5am alarm call for the scheduled 7am restart on Saturday, but joked: “I opened my big mouth to the boys I was playing with and said the end was in sight”.

Hole 2: Jones (-12) lost his second shot to the right, but chipped onto the green and two-putted for par. That seemed to build his confidence as he promptly nailed a 16-foot birdie on the 143-yard par-3 12th.

Those final two round won’t feature Shane Lowry or Padraig Harrington both of whom failed to make the cut.

In the hunt at a major for the first time, Jones kept his cool even when his drive landed in a hospitality tent left of the ninth fairway and he chose to play off the blue carpet, over the white fence and just off the green.

“I’ve viewed them as very stressful and kind of hard to go out and play the next day but I’m enjoying myself, it’s been fun to be in pressure situations and it’s good to have the lead”.

Former world number one Tiger Woods refused to confirm whether his season was over after missing the cut for the third straight major in the US PGA Championship.

“I’m playing with Spieth”, Day said. I feel like it’s going to be an exciting finish. “But I’m just managing my golf ball better this week than I probably have in previous years on tour and I’m putting well this week”.

“I just need to get more consistent in tournament golf”.