In Dreary, Cold Conditions, Webb Simpson Fires Saturday 65 at PGA Championship

The 2012 U.S. Open champion made the cut on the number at Southern Hills and was T17 after he signed for a 65 in British Open-like weather.

Author:
John Schwarb
Publish date:
May 21, 2022

TULSA, Okla. – Webb Simpson soared up the leaderboard early Saturday at the PGA Championship with a remarkable round given the conditions.

After temperatures near 90 degrees for the first two rounds, Tulsa turned into a British Open site for the third round with mid-50s temperatures, a cold wind and occasional mist. And in the middle of all that, Simpson shot 65 – launching up the leaderboard from T64 at 4 over all the way to T17/1 under when he signed his scorecard.

“That’s probably in the top two, three best rounds I’ve ever had in a major, considering the conditions,” said Simpson, the 2012 U.S. Open champion who has four other top-10 finishes in majors.

“Today was a test of the mind as well as physically, because we had a mist out there all day, the clubface is getting wet, it's blowing sideways, the ball is going way shorter. It was a lot of adjusting on the fly.”

Simpson, who had made the cut on the number, had two birdies and two bogeys on the front side, shooting even par, then caught fire with a birdie-eagle-birdie stretch from Nos. 12-14, the highlight being a 3 on the par-5 when he holed out from 71 yards. He added one more birdie at the 17th to shoot 30 on the back nine.

“To get a low round in a major championship, you need a run like that,” said the 36-year-old North Carolinian. “Those first few holes on the back are a nice opportunity to make birdies, still it wasn’t easy today.

"Typically, I want it to be really hot. I feel like I’ve grown in the area of not getting too ahead of myself. I love the (British) Open Championship for that reason, it’s in your face all day. I think today what I did well is I just adapted to the conditions and made a mental note to not complain about anything."

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