For the first two rounds at the 101st PGA Championship, Brooks Koepka looked superhuman.
On Saturday, he looked a lot more human.
First consider he shot an even-par round of 70, a number that might have let some players back into the hunt. But on moving day, there weren’t any significant moves thanks to the difficulty and a little bit of wind at Bethpage Black.
Koepka looked quite human when he missed a seven-foot birdie putt at the first hole then at the nine, he saw a two-foot tap-in lip out on him. Still he managed to go out in one-under par.
At the 10th, a stray drive, a short approach and a missed 18-footer for par gave him back-to-back bogeys for the first time in three days.
Still, Koepka held it together quite well and his 70 kept him at 12-under par.
Adam Scott and Jordan Spieth, who started the day closest to Brooks at five-under, couldn’t get it together. Scott and Spieth both recorded 72s and fell back to three-under, tied for eighth.
Koepka looked a bit weary after his round but insisted he played well. “I felt I hit it better than yesterday. I’m pleased. I’m striking it well. No range work today. I’ll go home relax and get ready for tomorrow.”
Koepka’s 70 was only three shots higher than the day’s low round. Harold Varner III, who has never won on the PGA Tour, shot his best round in a major as did the man called “Jazz” from Thailand with the tongue-twister of a last name — Janewattananond. Just call him Jazz.
Varner will be in unfamiliar territory — in the last pairing with Koepka. “This golf course is so hard,” said Varner, who played collegiately at East Carolina University. “You have to take your time on every shot.”
Jazz will play in the next-to-last pairing with another non-winner — Luke List. List had himself sitting at seven-under par with just two holes to play but a bogey-bogey finish blew his chances to play in the final group with Koepka.
