Notebook: Spiething in the Rain, Michael Block Party Set for Sunday
ROCHESTER, NY - Some notes from the third round at the PGA Championship:
Spiething in the Rain
"Water shooters" is Jordan Spieth's term for when water gets on the face of a driver. He did his best to protect against them, but it was a day of water shooters at a rain-soaked Oak Hill.
For Spieth, who shot a 1-over-par 71, he would typically hold his driver face down as he was getting ready to hit his shot.
“I would set up and hit it pretty quickly, that really helped,” Spieth said of his routine. “I drove the ball well. It seemed like it was coming off pretty normal where there were two drives, I think I hit – where right when I hit them, I looked up and I was like, oh, man, that's a water shooter. You just have to be so accurate off the tee here, and the rain makes it more difficult to be accurate.”
Spieth came to Oak Hill with a bad left wrist and while he seems to have managed it well, it's still an issue on certain shots, which have cost him strokes and any legitimate chance to win this week.
“There's been a couple scenarios where I bailed out of a couple shots that if it weren't a factor, I wouldn't have, and unfortunately those shots did affect my score,” Spieth said. “I was hoping that wouldn't be the case here, but it's only been a couple times. My normal swings, it's not an issue.”
It's Michael Block's World
He is also the last club pro standing of the original 20 that came to Oak Hill to find fame and fortune.After three stunning rounds of even-par 70, Block sits in a tie for eighth with Justin Suh after playing with Justin Rose in Saturday’s third round. His next playing partner will be Rory McIlroy at 2:00 ET.
“I love Rosey but I can compete against these guys, to be honest,” Block said. “I can compete against them. I can hang. I can post a 3- or 4-under tomorrow, especially if I get the fairways rolling again.”
Block has played in 24 events on the PGA Tour with just four cuts made, a fifth if you include this week. But considering the last made-cut came in 2015, it seems likely this week is more an aberration.
With Block’s biggest payday at $75,000 at the 2014, Club Professional National Championship at the Dunes Club in Myrtle Beach, Sunday’s purse of $17.5 million could yield Block much more.
“I don't listen about what I might make or could make or anything like that,” Block said. “I pretty much am putting my head down.”
Stray Shots
- Phil Mickelson made the cut this week, for the 100th time in his major championship career. He becomes the fourth player to make 100 or more 36-hole cuts at the majors:
Jack Nicklaus 131
Gary Player 108
Tom Watson 101
Phil Mickelson 100 (including this week)
- The last club professional to be among the top 10 on the leaderboard after 54 holes of a PGA Championship was Bob Boyd (from Woodmont CC in Rockville, Maryland) in 1990 at Shoal Creek. He was T-10 after three rounds and ended up T-19.
- Defending champion and two-time PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas (T67) shot a 5-over 75, tying his highest round in this event.