Padraig Harrington had good cause to be happy and not because he managed to complete his round before bad weather ruined the third round and preventing the final groups from starting their rounds on Saturday.
Harrington’s five under par 65 was his equal lowest ever in 69 Major appearances since making his Major’s debut in the 1996 US Open, and matching a 65 he shot during last year’s Open Championship at St. Andrews.
His PGA Championship prior best had been a closing pair of 66s to capture the 2008 PGA Championship at Oakland Hills.
The triple Major winner ended the day a shot off the clubhouse lead held by American Kevin Kisner, who also recorded a 65 before the suspension.
Padraig Harington on route to lowest score in the Majors – a 65 day three of the 2016 PGA
“I probably made the most of the round, certainly played average but made the most of it and took my chances. I hit the right shots at the right time and any of the shots I did hit didn’t do me any harm. It was one of those days, nice when you score better than you play.”
Harrington, chasing FedEx Cup points (he is 140th in the standings) as well as entering the fringes of contention for the PGA, albeit with plenty of catching up still to do on the frontrunners.
“I am in a nice position,” he said.
“I just want to play good golf. I haven’t really played that much over here in three months, all the way back to San Antonio when I really got any points over here, so it has been a long time. I do need to push up on that but there’s no point in chasing it.
“In my head I’m hoping the scoring goes the same it did the last time the PGA Championship was here (in 2005) when the leaders come under pressure on the golf course and maybe some guys behind, namely me, get a bit of momentum early on and can push on. If you do get momentum in the early holes you feel good and feel there are opportunities to make birdies.”
The top 10 players on the leaderboard did not make it out onto the course before an approaching thunderstorm forced play to be suspended at 2.15pm local time (7.15pm BST).
Persistent heavy rain then left parts of the course flooded before play was finally abandoned for the day shortly before 6pm local time, with a resumption set for 7am on Sunday.
However, similar conditions were forecast and any further delays would force the final major of the year into a fifth day, just as they did the last time Baltusrol staged the US PGA in 2005.
