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Ludvig \u00c3\u0085berg, of Sweden, hits from the fourth tee during the third round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at Aronimink Golf Club, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Newtown Square, PA. (AP Photo\/Carolyn Kaster)<\/p>\n
Carolyn Kaster\/AP Photo\/Carolyn Kaster<\/p>\n
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 The PGA Championship, <\/a>where no one could take control Saturday, is now the major that practically everybody can win.<\/p>\n Alex Smalley at least gets a head start thanks to his sublime play on the back nine at Aronimink Golf Club, with six birdies over his last 10 holes for a 2-under 68 and a two-shot lead.<\/p>\n His finishing kick kept this PGA Championship from having the largest 54-hole logjam in major championship history. There was a seven-way tie for the lead with an hour to go in the third round, and players with the highest pedigree all within range.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Fourteen players had at least a share of the lead Saturday. Midway through the third round, 28 players were separated by two shots. And not just any players.<\/p>\n Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy were among those tied at one point. Xander Schauffele and and Patrick Reed were right behind. About the only one who failed to seize on the moment was defending champion Scottie Scheffler<\/a>, who missed six putts inside 10 feet, four of them for birdie.<\/p>\n Smalley’s final birdie putt from just inside 15 feet put him at 6-under 204, two shots ahead of Rahm, three ahead of McIlroy Schauffele and Reed.<\/p>\n Scheffler made a 9-foot bogey putt on the last hole and was five behind.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like this,\u201d Scheffler said. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen a leaderboard like this, this bunched up. Going into tomorrow, it\u2019s quite literally anybody\u2019s tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n But it starts with Smalley, the 29-year-old who lives in North Carolina and is playing only his fifth major, never cracking the top 20. He’s also never won on tour, but he’s been rounding into form lately. He is coming up three straight finishes in the top 20.<\/p>\n He looked like he might crack early, playing in the final group with Maverick McNealy, spraying the ball off the tee and opening with three bogeys in four holes to disappear from the enormous crowd atop the leaderboard.<\/p>\n But even amid the big gusts and fast, scary greens, Smalley was resilient as ever. He took the lead with a 25-foot birdie putt on the par-4 15th \u2014 551 yards into the wind \u2014 stretched it two shots by reaching the par-5 16th in two for another birdie and then had a bogey-birdie finish.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n