The last hour of competition Saturday at Aronimink changed quite a bit at the PGA Championship. The whole story focused around how many players were packed near the top of the leaderboard, with some 30 men within three shots of the lead at one point.
Then Alex Smalley, the leader after Round 2, rattled off three birdies in four holes and built a cushion, no longer making the aforementioned stat the story. He gave one back late, to bring more back into the mix, but still then birdied the last hole and the 29-year-old Duke product shot 68 to take a two-shot lead into the final round.
Heady stuff.
A birdie on 18 & brilliant back nine. Alex Smalley will head into the final round with a two-shot lead. #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/b0vpS7pMBM
— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 16, 2026
Just think, Smalley, playing in only his fifth major, has only one top-10 finish this year and was not eligible to play in the Masters just a month ago. He tied for seventh place at Doral two weeks ago and tied for 17th last week at Quail Hollow.
Hot on his heels is a mixture of others who are untested in this spot, with others who absolutely are.
Smalley is playing in the last pairing with Germany’s Matti Schmid, playing in only his second major as a pro. But Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Reed are not far back. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler missed many shortish putts Saturday and is five shots back.
Here are the pairings for Sunday’s final round.
7:40AM ET
Brian Campbell, +16
Casey Jarvis, +10
7:49AM
Ben Kern, +8
Luke Donald, +8
7:58AM
Elvis Smylie, +7
Collin Morikawa, +5
8:07AM
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, +5
Kurt Kitayama, +4
8:16AM
Jason Day, +4
Ryan Gerard, +4
8:25AM
Matt Wallace, +4
Alex Fitzpatrick, +4
8:34AM
Sami Valimaki, +4
Rasmus Hojgaard, +4
8:43AM
John Parry, +4
Shane Lowry, +4
8:52AM
William Mouw, +4
Christiaan Bezuidenhout, +4
9:01AM
Alex Noren, +4
Patrick Cantlay, +3
9:10AM
Ryo Hisatsune, +3
Corey Conners, +3
9:19AM
Sahith Theegala, +3
Matt Fitzpatrick, +3
9:28AM
Sam Stevens, +3
Keith Mitchell, +3
9:37AM
Daniel Brown, +3
Daniel Berger, +3
9:46AM
John Keefer, +3
Michael Brennan, +3
9:55AM
Jhonattan Vegas, +3
Ryan Fox, +2
10:15AM
Chandler Blanchet, +2
Denny McCarthy, +2
10:25AM
Kazuki Higa, +2
Haotong Li, +1
10:35AM
Rico Hoey, +1
Jordan Spieth, +1
10:45AM
Taylor Pendrith, +1
Stephan Jaeger, E
10:55AM
Aldrich Potgieter, E
Justin Thomas, E
11:05AM
Cameron Young, E
Si Woo Kim, E
11:15AM
Andrew Novak, E
Andrew Putnam, E
11:25AM
Daniel Hillier, E
Dustin Johnson, E
11:35AM
Tom Hoge, E
Padraig Harrington, E
11:45AM
Michael Kim, E
Nicolai Hojgaard, E
12:05PM
David Puig, -1
Scottie Scheffler, -1
12:15PM
Harris English, -1
Rickie Fowler, -1
12:25PM
Brooks Koepka, -1
Sam Burns, -1
12:35PM
Mikael Lindberg, -1
Brian Harman, -1
12:45PM
Chris Gotterup, -2
Hideki Matsuyama, -2
12:55PM
Max Greyserman, -1
Min Woo Lee, -2
1:05PM
Cameron Smith, -2
Ben Griffin, -2
1:15PM
Bud Cauley, -2
Martin Kaymer, -2
1:25PM
Joaquin Niemann, -2
Justin Rose, -2
1:35PM
Chris Kirk, -2
Kristoffer Reitan, -2
1:55PM
Maverick McNealy, -3
Patrick Reed, -3
2:05PM
Rory McIlroy, -3
Xander Schauffele, -3
2:15PM
Ludvig Aberg, -4
Aaron Rai, -4
2:25PM
Jon Rahm, -4
Nick Taylor, -4
2:35PM
Matti Schmid, -4
Alex Smalley, -6
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Main Image: David Cannon
