ROCHESTER, New York: 2140 GMT: LEADERBOARD: -11 DUFNER; -9 FURYK, STENSON; -7 BLIXT; -6 SCOTT
Stenson had a 12′ eagle look on 13, but had to settle for a birdie.
Blixt made his third shot from the greenside bunker, but still managed a birdie.
2130 GMT: LEADERBOARD: -11 DUFNER; -9 FURYK; -8 STENSON; -6 SCOTT, BLIXT; -5 JOHNSON, PIERCY
Scott bogeys the 13th.
Back on 12 Stenson make par.
Dufner pars 12 after a putt attempt that looked amazing on approach, but broke just away from the hole.
Furyk also misses on a difficult putt attempt, but makes par.
2121 GMT: The 12th is the third easiest hole of the week. Three-to-one birdies to bogeys today.
Stenson is unable to make the birdie put.
On the par-5 13th, Scott keeps finding the deep grass and will have to battle for par.
McIlroy is 7 strokes off the lead, but has made a remarkable recovery from his earlier triple bogey with birdies on 9, 10 and 13.
2115 GMT: LEADERBOARD: -11 DUFNER; -9 FURYK; -8 STENSON; -7 SCOTT; -6 BLIXT; -5 JOHNSON, PIERCY
At 11, Stenson makes a nice downhill putt for par.
Furyk and Dufner are two of the straightest hitters in the league. Both hit perfectly placed tee shots for the par-3 11th.
Furyk putts first for birdie, but he’s to the right of the hole. He taps it in for par.
Dufner was right on line, but short on his putt. He also taps it in for par.
2105 GMT: Dustin Johnson enters the fray with a birdie on the 13th. He had a shot for eagle, but the long putt was short. He is now five back.
Blixt also makes a move with a birdie on 10.
Dufner misses a chance to widen the lead. He almost missed his second putt attempt, but he gets a lucky spin and it falls in for par. Despite his attempt to keep his face devoid of emotion, it looks like the pressure is starting to get to him.
Furyk makes a solid putt for par.
2055 GMT: LEADERBOARD: -11 DUFNER; -9 FURYK; -8 STENSON; -6 SCOTT; -5 BLIXT, PIERCY
Dufner pars the ninth for the fourth day in a row.
Furyk bogeys the ninth, making the turn in even-par.
Just ahead of them on the 10th, Stenson’s first shot leaves him up against a massive tree. He then escapes the bunker for an easy tap in putt.
2042 GMT: Piercy is in the clubhouse. After flirting with a record low score, he bogeys the 18th to finish on 65 and -5 for the tournament.
Day has also finished his round. Bogeys on the last three holes leaves him on 277 for the weekend.
2035 GMT: LEADERBOARD: -11 DUFNER; -10 FURYK; -8 STENSON; -6 PIERCY, SCOTT; -5 BLIXT
The eighth hole has produced no others today. It is a straightaway hole where long drivers can cut loose, but deep fairway bunkers lurk left.
Stenson makes the birdie putt on 8 – keeping the leaders in range.
The leaders both use sand wedges for their second shots. Dufner knocks it stiff.
Furyk misses his first putt attempt, but makes par.
Dufner taps it in to regain the solo lead.
2025 GMT: The leaders now face the 461 yard seventh hole. It’s got a fairway you really need to hit, flanked by trees to the right and a creek to avoid as well. This hole also has one of the smallest greens.
Dufner plays it safe and chips out short of the creek on his second shot.
Furyk faced a tricky third shot and almost hit the flag stick.
Both men are using oversized putter grips.
Dufner has no problem with the putt and makes par.
Furyk also drops it in.
Meanwhile, Day struggles on the 17th, missing a short putt. His bogey drops him to four under.
Stenson bogeys the 7th, but makes a beautiful tee shot on the 8th. He faces an uphill putt for birdie.
2005 GMT: LEADERBOARD: -10 DUFNER, FURYK; -8 STENSON; -6 PIERCY; -5 DAY, SCOTT, BLIXT
The sixth has been an easier hole today. The 175 yard, par 3 famously gave up four aces at the 1989 US Open within the first 90 minutes of the opening round.
Dufner must decide whether to chip or putt. He goes with a 3-wood and the ball drifts to the right of the tee.
Furyk makes a beautiful long putt for birdie to put pressure on Dufner.
Dufner saves the par.
2000 GMT: Dufner takes the outright lead with birdie on the fifth.
Day struggles on the 16th, finding rough and a greenside bunker on the way to a bogey.
1956 GMT: LEADERBOARD: -9 FURYK, DUFNER; -8 STENSON; -6 DAY, PIERCY
Blixt manages a birdie on the dreaded fifth to go to five under.
Dufner makes a gutsy approach shot on the fifth to give him an easy birdie opportunity.
1950 GMT: Dufner ties it up with a birdie on the fourth as Stenson taps in for par.
Dufner now faces the only hole where he had a double in the tournament.
1944 GMT: LEADERBOARD: -9 FURYK; -8 DUFNER, STENSON; -6 DAY, PIERCY, SCOTT
No one has found the green on the 14th hole today (only three players managed it on Saturday) as Piercy finds himself in the bunker.
He plays out of it with no problem, but then misses a putt.
1936 GMT: Eagle for Stenson on the fourth.
Dufner and Furyk par again on the third.
McIlroy suffers after getting out of the hazard on the fifth and scores 7 on the par-4.
Day recovers on the 14th for par and is shooting the best round on the course right now.
1927 GMT: American Roberto Castro sinks an awesome putt on the 6th to move to four under.
Another birdie for Day on the 13th, but he’s way right off the tee on 14.
McIlroy finds himself in the rocks on the fifth.
1925 GMT: LEADERBOARD: -9 FURYK; -8 DUFNER; -6 STENSON; -5 DAY, PIERCY, SCOTT
Jason Day now has six birdies through 12.
McIlroy has a terrible missed putt on the fourth to land a par.
Dufner and Furyk both par the second.
1910 GMT: LEADERBOARD: -9 FURYK; -8 DUFNER; -6 STENSON; -5 PIERCY, STRICKER, SCOTT, BLIXT
Furyk and Dufner open with par. Scott Piercy hits his sixth birdie of the day on the par-3 11th to move to five under.
1905 GMT: McIlroy opens strong with par, par, birdie. Both of the Swedes bogey the first. Scott recovers from an opening bogey with back-to-back birdies.
1900 GMT: The final pairing takes to the course. Can Jim Furyk keep the lead? His first shot is left of the fairway – often called the nervous miss.
Jason Dufner says he doesn’t want to check the leaderboard until he gets to the 7th hole. He too misses the fairway with his opening shot falling in the right rough. He hasn’t hit the fairway on the first hole all weekend.
1850 GMT: Back at hole one the Swedes Stenson and Blixt are taking the course.
Blixt is honoring Sweden with a yellow shirt and blue hat. He hit the shot of the tournament at the 18th hole when his tee shot struck spectator Muhammad Khokar, who lives near the course.
The ball fell into a rear pocket of Khokar’s trousers.
“I never saw anything like that,” Blixt said. “It was very fortunate that he was standing where he was so I didn’t have to deal with too many trees and stuff like that.”
1845 GMT: There are birdies on the course today. American Scott Piercy has hit three in a row from hole 7 and Aussie Jason Day just hit his second in a row, fifth for the day.
1840 GMT: Now opening their rounds American Steve Stricker and Australian Adam Scott.
If Stricker, 46, were to win today he’d become the oldest player ever to get his first major.
Scott was the first Aussie to capture a green jacket with his first major win at Augusta National in April.
“Four back is well within reach,” Scott said. “Anything can happen in a major. We saw the pin spots get very tough today and scoring in the final groups was very difficult. With so much danger around, it’s hard to be completely free with major pressure on the line.
1831 GMT: Now teeing off, Rory McIlroy. The defending champion has been working on his game since an equipment change to new sponsor Nike.
Last night, McIlroy recalled firing a final-round 62 at Quail Hollow in 2010 to win his first US PGA Tour title with a late charge.
“It gives me a bit confidence knowing that I’ve been in that position before and I’ve been able to win,” McIlroy said. “I know this is a major championship and it’s a bit different, but I felt good enough about my game that I could go out there and post a good one and at least give myself a chance.”
He’s paired with Lee Westwood.
Westwood has 61 major starts, the most of any active player never to have won a major, and has 16 top-10 finishes, half of them top-three finishes.
1822 GMT: Just finishing for the day is Tiger Woods. His major drought continues. He managed two rounds on par, but the rain early in the weekend gave players significant low scoring opportunities.
Woods ends the tournament on 284.
British Open winner Phil Mickelson is also in the clubhouse. He did not manage an under par round all weekend. He made a triple bogey at 5 and a double bogey at 7 on his way to a two-over 72 today, to finish on 292.
1815 GMT: Hole-in-one! The top contenders have yet to tee off, but earlier today South Africa’s Tim Clark aced the par-3 11th hole. He finished the day with a 5 over 75 and 290 for the tournament.
Also hot on the course this morning is American Keegan Bradley. He’s hit six birdies through hole 13, jumping 31 spots up the leaderboard.
1805 GMT: In a new, interactive twist, the PGA allowed fans to select the pin placement for the 15th hole.
More than 92,000 votes from an Internet poll determined that a water hazard is a major player for the par-3 hole.
AFP’s sports correspondent Jim Slater says this set up a dramatic risk-reward situation with the hole located 25 yards from the front of the green and only four yards from the right side of the green — and a lake that borders that edge of the putting surface.
“It’s probably the most dangerous of the hole locations, especially if a player is trying to get it close,” 14-time major champion Jack Nicklaus said. “But that hole also gives a player an option if he wants to play conservatively, because there is plenty of room short left.”
PGA of America president Ted Bishop said, “Our goal was to ensure that golf fans worldwide were more engaged with the 95th PGA Championship than ever before, and we are delighted with the results.”
1800 GMT: Welcome to AFP’s live report on the final round of the PGA Championship with the stage set for a nail-biting showdown at the Oak Hill Country Club. Stay with us throughout the afternoon for online coverage of all the action.
Jim Furyk holds a narrow one-shot lead after 54-holes with his no-risk strategy ensuring he was one of only two players to break par all three days.
The 43-year-old’s lone major title came at the 2003 US Open and he is confident he has a chance to get his hands on the winner’s Wanamaker Trophy.
“I’m not in the grave yet,” he joked after sinking two long putts to finish on a two-under par 68 on Saturday.
Furyk tops the leaderboard with a nine-under par 201, but recent history is not on his side. No 54-hole leaders have won a major this year.
Fellow US golfer Jason Dufner is a stroke back on 202 and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson on 203.
Dufner has enjoyed a topsy-turvy tournament and will be looking to claim his first major after squandering a four-shot lead with four holes to play at the 2011 PGA Championship.
The laid-back Dufner blasted his way to the front of the pack on Friday with a second-round 63 to match the lowest round in major golf history, but struggled to hit 71 in an error-strewn third-round.
Stenson, who like Furyk has hit three sub-par rounds at Oak Hill, is aiming to become Sweden’s first male major golf champion.
He will tee off with fellow Swede Jonas Blixt as the penultimate pairing at the 95th PGA Championship.
“We’re definitely increasing the chances with having two guys up there. We’re going out there and try our best,” said Stenson, who was second to Phil Mickelson at last month’s British Open at Muirfield.
Also still in the mix is Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy. The defending champion finished 54 holes on three-under par 207 with back-to-back birdies, an impressive feat with 17 the hardest hole on offer at Oak Hill.
“Making a birdie on 17 is like an eagle and then to follow it up with another on the last is even better,” McIlroy said.
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