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FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Brooks Koepka defends his championship title and his lead at the 101st PGA Championship. He tied Saturday to maintain a 54-hole lead at under 12 points. Koepka's accuracy dropped on his third trip around Bethpage Black, but he ended up on the positive side of the field on a day when the course continued to confuse the world's best players time and time again.
All that was subnormal was good Saturday and Koepka was able to keep his cushion despite some failures along the way with an even heat. The action below Koepka in the standings made things really interesting, as Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler were among the many players to be above average for the day. That left the door open to Harold Varner III, Hideki Matsuyama, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay.
Koepka may be poised for a second consecutive PGA Championship title and a fourth win in his last eight starts, but as we have seen with the winnings, there is still a lot of work to be done between the group. tight golfers with half a dozen strokes behind. Here's how the rank is after 54 holes:
1. Brooks Koepka (-12): This was his worst round of the tournament so far, not only with the score, but also with his form. Precision declined and some of those putts that fell in the first two rounds seemed to fall to a few inches. Nevertheless, I do not know how important it is, as he will be able to play defense again on Sunday to hoist the Wanamaker.
T2. Harold Varner III (-5): With only one boguey in his last 36 holes, it's clear that Varner has found something good here this week. His game on the greens was particularly impressive: he chained putts to qualify for a third round 67.
T2. Jazz Janewattananond (-5): Saturday was the best day of jazz on the tee-to-green, and he was one of the best putters on the pitch all week. A few failures in the last row that kept him out on Sunday with good chances of catching Koepka, but the week has always been monumental for Janewattananond in Bethpage. In addition, we learned today that Jazz was a monk. So it's delicious.
T2. Luke List (-5): It took creativity around the greens to record a third consecutive under-par, but his 69 was enough to stay ahead of the leaderboard on a day when accuracy dropped.
T2. Dustin Johnson (-5): That says something about the raw DJ talent: a round with tons of setbacks and adversity ends under foot. He was grinding his teeth all day long and was still finishing with 69. That was not the low figure he was shooting at, but by the time the last half bit against Johnson, it seemed like the new goal was to survive. He may be the only one to have the length and skill to catch Koepka, but it would take a lot to get well for the DJ and for Koepka for Sunday.
T6. Hideki Matsuyama, Matt Wallace (-4): The 13th, 17th and 18th of March were marked by a flurry of birdies which allowed Matsuyama to be in the top 10 as Sunday approached. Wallace had a difficult day, but he managed to tie at 4 under the race after a good performance on Thursday and Friday.
T8. Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay and Adam Scott (-3): Schauffele had putts on Saturday, and Cantlay and he had two of the best rounds of the mid-afternoon, each with a total of 68. Scott struggled to keep the ball in play in his second round of play. to retreat to the standings, and Spieth was knocked down by a double bogey in 9th place during a day in which the only real momentum was given birdies on 12 and 13.
CBS Sports was with you all the way Saturday to update this story with the latest scores, scans and highlights from the third round of the 101st PGA Championship. If you can not see the updates below, please click here.
Thank you for being past.
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