The start of the third round at the PGA Championship has been delayed by more than three hours due to dangerous weather in North Carolina.
The 107th edition of golf’s second major of the year was due to resume at 8:15am local time (1:15pm BST) on Saturday at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, with the high-profile pairing of Masters winner Rory McIlroy and defending champion Xander Schauffele scheduled to tee off second at hole one after both players only narrowly made the cut yesterday on one over par.
American duo Max Greyserman and Sam Burns were first out on the course after practice had earlier been disrupted by the threat of lightning, with the former about to take the first shot of the day when proceedings were halted due to looming thunderstorms.
McIlroy was a picture of frustration as he marched off, caught on camera with a profanity and a wry smile as a less-than-ideal competition continued for the Northern Irishman.
McIlroy had been the in-form favourite for a fifth victory at Quail Hollow and sixth major title overall after finally ending his 11-year wait for a prestigious career Grand Slam at the Masters last month, only to struggle notably with opening-round scores of 74 and 69 to leave him eight shots off halfway leader Jhonattan Vegas and only just squeezing into the weekend.
To make matters worse, McIlroy is also using a replacement driver at the PGA Championship after the one he intended to use was deemed as non-conforming by the United States Golf Association (USGA) on Tuesday.
It was later announced amid those severe weather delays that the action would not begin until 11:43am (4:43pm BST) on Saturday, with players set to compete in groups of three again rather than pairings and with play starting at both the first and 10th holes.
McIlroy and Schauffele will instead now tee off at 1:38pm (6:38pm BST) on hole 10, joined by Chris Kirk, who is also one over par for the tournament.
England’s Tyrrell Hatton - who is likely to face a fine for his sweary outburst on course on Friday - is part of the first group to tee off on the first hole at 11:43am (4:43pm BST) as part of those revised timings and groupings, along with Joaquin Niemann and Wyndham Clark.
First up on the 10th, meanwhile, is a trio containing England’s Matt Wallace, Northern Irishman Tom McKibbin and Rafael Campos.
The leading group, comprised of Venezuelan Vegas, England’s 2022 US Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick and Matthieu Pavon, will get underway at 1:55pm (6:55pm BST) on hole one.
Fitzpatrick and France’s Pavon are both two shots back from Vegas in a three-way tie for second place on six under par along with South Korean Si Woo Kim, who broke his own record for the longest hole-in-one in major history on the 252-yard, par-3 sixth on Friday.
Kim will resume at 1:44pm (6:44pm BST) on Saturday along with reigning world No1 Scottie Scheffler and Max Homa, both of whom are three strokes off the lead on five under par as things stand.
