PGA Championship leaderboard: Strong back nine has Jordan Spieth among the leaders

Jordan Spieth entered the third round within range of the leaders, but initially struggled to stay there. While many other players were racking up red numbers, Spieth was making par after par. That changed on his second nine and and six birdies on the closing nine helped vault him up the leaderboard and just off the lead.

Speith made the turn at 1-under on his round and 7-under for the tournament. At the time, that was six strokes off the lead. Then he started doing things like this.

Spieth had a few opportunities early on, but hadn’t made many putts prior to rolling in that birdie at No. 12. His third straight birdie putt was even easier, thanks to a perfect approach shot into No. 13. When you hit shots like this at Whistling Straits, red numbers are going to follow.

That proved to be his first of two stretches of three straight birdies. He picked up another shot on No. 16, rolled in a birdie on No. 17 and hit a wonderful approach into No. 18 to finish off the round in style. The putts didn’t drop early, but they sure did late. The key to the round early was avoiding any dropped shots and he finished with seven birdies and no bogeys for a round of 65. He is now in the clubhouse at 13-under and will likely find himself among the final pairings on Sunday, possibly even in the final group.

★★★

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