NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pennsylvania — Alex Smalley kept his composure amid pure chaos Saturday (Sunday in Manila) in the PGA Championship, when he vanished from the leaderboard with a shaky start and when he surged back in front with sublime shots along the back nine at Aronimink Golf Club.
His voice was calm and steady after signing for a 2-under 68 for a two-shot lead. He recognizes the stakes and the stage for someone who has yet to win on tour.
"I'm trying to downplay that as much as I possibly can just to make it seem like any other golf tournament, because essentially that's all it really is," Smalley said.
One look at the leaderboard would illustrate this PGA Championship is wildly different. Fourteen players had at least a share of the lead at some point Saturday. There was a seven-way tie for the lead with an hour left in the third round until Smalley's big finish.
And he's still left with an All-Star cast of contenders — 11 of them major champions — within five shots, a list that includes Masters champion Rory McIlroy and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele.
"I've never seen anything like this," Scheffler said when he finished with a 71, leaving him five shots behind. "I've never seen a leaderboard like this, this bunched up. Going into tomorrow, it's quite literally anybody's tournament."
Smalley at least gets a head start thanks to six birdies over his last 10 holes that helped him recover from the rough start to become the only player to break par in all three rounds of the tournament.
His finishing kick kept this PGA Championship from having the largest 54-hole logjam in major championship history. Midway through the third round, 28 players were separated by two shots.
Rahm and McIlroy were among those tied for the lead at one point. Schauffele and Patrick Reed were right behind. About the only one who failed to seize on the moment was Scheffler, who missed six putts inside 10 feet, four of them for birdie.
Smalley's final birdie putt from just inside 15 feet put him at 6-under 204, two shots ahead of the group that includes Rahm and three ahead of McIlroy, Schauffele and Reed.
"The challenge can also be kind of fun if you do well. That's probably the reason why the leaderboard is so bunched up," Rahm said. "And it's going to be such a good Sunday tomorrow."
It starts with Smalley, a 29-year-old who spent three years in the Wannamaker dormitory at Duke, the name on the heavy PGA Championship trophy to be awarded Sunday. AP
