All the leaders are now on the back nine at Valhalla, and the pace just keeps getting more and more manic at the PGA Championship. After a five-way tie during the early portion of the madness, the main contenders on the back nine now appear to be Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, and Henrik Stenson. There could be no better set of non-Tiger circumstances for the PGA of America.
2014 PGA Championship leaderboard: Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler take lead on back nine
We’re on the back nine at the PGA, and it’s madness.
The height of the four-man battle so far came during a 5 minute sequence at the 10th and 11th holes. It started with Rickie Fowler, who got up on the green in three but had a lengthy putt to post a red number on a hole where birdies are easily available. Fowler’s putter has been perfect all day, and this one he put dead center to take sole possession of the lead at 15-under.
Phil and Rickie were barely up on the 11th tee when McIlroy, playing one group behind them, fired an absolute rocket up the chute and somehow got his ball all the way back pin-high at the 10th. It was estimated that his 3-wood went some 281 yards to get back there, and whether he intended to run it up like that or not, it was an astonishing display of something that only Rory seems capable of doing right now (via The Big Lead)
And it came at the perfect time, because he was three shots back and running out of room. He steadily drilled the eagle putt to pull within one.
Shortly after that eagle, Phil decided to take his turn with a birdie of his own to jump up and match Fowler. Mickelson sent his tee shot at the par-3 11th right over the flagstick, leaving about 10 and a half feet to the cup. After a miserable year, Phil is finally putting and he poured this one in for the red number to get to 15-under. Phil’s looked nothing like this all season, but the game’s ultimate feel player obviously found something in that Sunday round at Firestone a week ago
The fourth member, Henrik Stenson, is a couple holes ahead of those big three. Stenson was the best player in the world from about July to the end of 2013, so he’s just as world class as the other three and should make a run over his final six holes.
Here’s a snapshot of the board as we come down the stretch:
| Place | Player | Score | Today | Thru |
| T1 | Phil Mickelson | -15 | -5 | 11 |
| T1 | Rickie Fowler | -15 | -4 | 11 |
| T3 | Henrik Stenson | -14 | -5 | 12 |
| T3 | Rory McIlroy | -14 | -1 | 10 |
| T5 | Jimmy Walker | -11 | -6 | F |
| T5 | Ernie Els | -11 | -6 | F |
| T5 | Ryan Palmer | -11 | -2 | 12 |
| T5 | Mikko Ilonen | -11 | -2 | 12 |
| T5 | Bernd Wiesberger | -11 | 1 | 9 |
| T10 | Victor Dubuisson | -10 | -4 | 17 |
| T10 | Jim Furyk | -10 | -3 | 15 |
| T10 | Graham DeLaet | -10 | -2 | 13 |
| T10 | Jason Day | -10 | E | 11 |
| T10 | Louis Oosthuizen | -10 | -1 | 11 |
| T15 | Charl Schwartzel | -9 | -5 | F |
| T15 | Marc Warren | -9 | -4 | F |
| T15 | Brooks Koepka | -9 | -4 | F |
| T15 | Lee Westwood | -9 | -2 | 15 |
| T15 | Kevin Chappell | -9 | -2 | 15 |
| T15 | Hunter Mahan | -9 | -2 | 15 |
| T15 | Steve Stricker | -9 | -1 | 13 |
| T15 | Jamie Donaldson | -9 | -1 | 12 |
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