Past Champs, Contenders Battle Feisty but “Fair” Saturday at Congressional

Congressional Country Club’s Blue Course showed its teeth on Saturday during the third round of the 85th PGA Championship.

The lead started at 6-under when the final group teed off at 1:40 pm ET with Vijay Singh and Cameron Percy. By the evening, it finished at 5-under with a four-way tie between Jason Caron, Phillip Archer, Angel Cabrera, and Retief Goosen.

For 2023 Senior PGA Champion Steve Stricker, who shot a 1-under 71 to get to a tied for sixteenth at 1-under for the championship, the course played difficult, but still gave players a chance to score.

“It was tough out there with the wind and the elements, but it’s a fair test,” Stricker said.

“The course will still let you make birdies and rewards good iron shots into these greens.”

There’s been plenty of rain this week on the property, especially Wednesday and Thursday, slowing down the course considerably. Stricker says the 15 mph winds and sunny conditions on Saturday have still not dried out the course completely.

“It’s not firm and fast yet, still hasn’t dried out that much, but it was a good and fair challenge for us out there today,” Stricker said.

Paul Broadhurst, winner of the 2018 Senior PGA Championship, felt the course was stern but not over the top.

“It’s playing very, very difficult and it’s hard to make a lot of birdies, but you can still score if you’re in the proper positions,” Broadhurst said.

Retief Goosen which matched Lee Westwood for low round of the day with a 4-under 68. The South African felt the course is playing particularly tough on the downwind holes with the fast and undulating greens.

“I don't know how strong the wind was for the guys yesterday afternoon, but yeah, some of the greens downwind, it's becoming a little difficult to stop it,” Goosen said.

The two-time U.S. Open champ looks at the leaderboard and sees seven major winners among those within 3 shots of the lead, excited to see how this one will all shake out.

“Yeah, there are quite a few major guys up there, definitely. PGA Champions,” Goosen said. “I'm looking forward to seeing where we are at the end of the day. The par-5s, 11 and 16, are probably for the guys today birdie holes. Hopefully maybe one behind, maybe two behind. Would be nice to be there close to the lead.”

Among those past major champs is Stewart Cink, who sits at 4-under and one shot back after a 1-under 71.

“It is really quite a test out there, so I was proud of the way I played. Hit a lot of solid shots,” Cink said. “Could have been a little bit better round overall score-wise, but all in all I think that same kind of golf tomorrow will be, it'll be in the running.”