Brooks Koepka won the last two U.S. Opens and has his sights set on a third major championship.
The 28-year-old Koepka, ranked fourth in the world, shot 4-under-par 66 and holds a two-stroke lead over Adam Scott of Australia heading to the final round of the 100th PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis.
“I can really tune in the majors, and I have no idea why, they really get my attention,” said Koepka, who led by four shots after making five birdies on the front nine, but stumbled with bogeys on the 14th and 15th holes before making a 10-foot par putt on No. 16 and a two-putt birdie on the next hole.
“I feel like, if I do what I’m supposed to, I should win the golf tournament. Yeah, there’s a lot of star power, and it should be. It’s a major championship. You should see the best players in the world come to the top. And that’s what you have, and that’s what’s going to make this event very exciting to watch tomorrow.”
Koepka, whose only PGA Tour victory other than his two majors came in the 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open, carded a 54-hole score of 12-under 198.
Scott, the 2013 Masters champion who has been struggling through his worst season in nearly two decades and needed an exemption from the PGA of America to get into the tournament, birdied two of the last three holes to record a second straight 65.
Seventh-ranked Jon Rahm of Spain carded a bogey-free 66 and is three strokes back in a tie for third with ninth-ranked Rickie Fowler of Murrieta, who sank a five-foot birdie putt on No. 17 in a 65, and Gary Woodland, who made a triple-bogey 7 on the 10th hole in a 71 after leading after each of the first two rounds.
Four-time PGA champion Tiger Woods had five birdies on the front nine and closed with 10 straight pars in a 66 that left him four back in a tie for sixth with defending champion and second-ranked Justin Thomas (68), 10th-ranked Jason Day (67) of Australia, Stewart Cink (66), Shane Lowry (69) of Ireland, and Charl Schwartzel (69) of South Africa.
Sixth-ranked Francesco Molinari of Italy, who won the Open Championship last month at Carnoustie, is tied for 12th after a 68, while top-ranked Dustin Johnson birded three of the last four holes to salvage a 72 and is in a tie for 21st that includes third-ranked Justin Rose of England, who totaled 69.
Eighth-ranked Jordan Spieth was in the chase until a triple-bogey 7 on the 12th hole in a 69 and is in a tie for 28th, and fifth-ranked Rory McIlroy is tied for 45th after a 71.
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