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Defending champion Brooks Koepka will take a commanding lead into the final round of the US PGA Championship after none of his challengers took advantage of some rare flashes of fragility at Bethpage.<\/p>\nDefending champion Brooks Koepka will take a commanding lead into the final round of the US PGA Championship after none of his challengers took advantage of some rare flashes of fragility at Bethpage.<\/p>\n
Koepka, who had followed a course record of 63 with a 65 to set the lowest halfway total in major championship history, briefly saw his tournament-record seven-stroke lead reduced to five, but ended the day exactly where he had started.<\/p>\n
A third round of 70 left Koepka on 12 under par and seven shots ahead of world number one Dustin Johnson, Harold Varner, Luke List and Thailand\u2019s Jazz Janewattananond, with England\u2019s Matt Wallace and Japan\u2019s Hideki Matsuyama a shot further back.<\/p>\n
Koepka is seeking a remarkable fourth major victory in his last eight starts and, because of the US PGA\u2019s move from August to May, can become the first player to hold back-to-back titles in two majors at the same time following his US Open wins in 2017 and 2018.<\/p>\n
The 29-year-old missed a short birdie putt on the first after a 337-yard drive, but birdied the second and fifth before surprisingly missing from two feet for par on the ninth.<\/p>\n
Another bogey on the 10th, combined with List making a hat-trick of birdies from the 12th, meant the gap was down to five, only for Koepka to birdie the 13th and then see his rivals falter in the closing stages.<\/p>\n
American Xander Schauffele equaled the lowest score of the day with a 67 to share eighth place with Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott and Patrick Cantlay, but admitted Koepka\u2019s dominance was making for a strange atmosphere.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if the tournament is just less fun because I\u2019m 15 shots back or whatever it is,\u201d Schauffele said. \u201cBut it\u2019s very melancholic because every time I look up I\u2019m 10 to 12 back. No-one likes to play for second, but that\u2019s sort of what he\u2019s doing to us.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a weird thing. This is a major championship, and everyone is here to win, but there\u2019s only one guy who\u2019s absolutely just destroying this place. So I\u2019m sure he\u2019s having a blast. But for the rest of us, he\u2019s making it awfully boring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day Rory McIlroy had threatened to make a significant move after following an eagle on the fourth by coming within inches of a hole-in-one on the eighth, but eventually had to settle for a 69 to finish two over par and was left to join the chorus of approval for Koepka\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s awesome. It\u2019s so good,\u201d McIlroy said. \u201cIt\u2019s great to watch. He\u2019s definitely, in these events, playing on a different level than most anyone else.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hit the ball as good as I\u2019ve hit it in a while, gave myself plenty of chances. If I had made a couple of putts I could definitely have shot 65, 66 easily out there today.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at the last nine I played yesterday and the first nine today I was seven under par for those 18 holes so it\u2019s just about putting it all together on the right day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely felt like I left four or five out there, but you have to put it all together to shoot a really good score. I was close to doing that today but just not quite.\u201d<\/p>\n