Xander Schauffele

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Notebook from a spectacularly sunny day at Valhalla Golf Club for round three of the 106th PGA Championship:

*Xander Schauffele's course and major championship record nearly came with an expiration date. Two days after Schauffele set the Valhalla record and tied the major championship record by shooting a 9-under 62, Shane Lowry.

Credit Lowry with six birdies on the front nine and three more on the back nine for another 62. Mark it down as only the fourth 62 ever at any major championship.

After getting to 9 under on No. 17, Lowry stuck his drive on 18 in the right rough. Lowry reached the green in three but missed an 8-foot putt for history.

*Justin Thomas took the lead for shot of the day, chipping in from the deep rough for birdie 2 on No. 14.

The shot deserves more love than that. Thomas pulled his tee shot left of the pin into the second cut. His ball was 88 feet from the pin. He had to lift the ball out of the grass over a ridge while carrying a trap. It got more difficult from there. The ball traveled downhill, leaving it at risk of rolling past the pin.

Did not happen. It rolled into the cup. The roar from 14 carried across the entire course. The birdie was the fifth of the day for Thomas, taking him to 9-under, four strokes off the lead.

*A lack of wind and soft greens contributed to favorable conditions for multiple players early on Saturday. Justin Rose and Lowery both birdied five of the first seven holes to move up the leaderboard, Rose moving to -10 and Lowery to -9.

Lowery was not finished. He also birdied the ninth hole, for a 6-under 29. It was the first 29 on either the front or back nine at Valhalla in the four PGA championships played here.

The fourth hole became a must-birdie hole for the top players after the PGA of America moved the tee box forward more than 25 yards to encourage players to shoot for the green off the tee box. They did with 8 of the top 21 players shooting a 3 on the (no longer) 372-yard, par 4.

*Rory McIroy positioned himself to defend the PGA title that he won here 10 years ago by stringing together five birdies and two pars on holes 4 through 10.

*Scottie Scheffler was not one of those players. After playing a 9-under the first two days, Scheffler gave back three strokes on the first three holes Saturday. He scrambled out of trap on the right side of the fairway and thick grass on the left before posting a double-bogey 6 on the second hole. Then Scheffler three-putted from about 40 feet on No. 3.

His struggles continued on the fourth hole. Scheffler's drive wound left of the green and then rolled across the cart path, out of bounds under a white fence. After taking a one stroke penalty, Scheffler needed two chip shot to reach the green. He made a 15 foot put for bogey.

It was the first time Scheffler played the first four holes in 4-over in a major championship in his career.

*There’s a distinctly California flavor to the PGA leaderboard after the first two rounds.

The top three players — Xander Schauffele (-12); Collin Morikawa (-11) and Sahith Theegala (-10) — are Californians who played college golf in their home state.

Schauffele is a San Diego native who played for Cal State-Long Beach and San Diego State. Morikawa grew up in Los Angeles and played for California-Berkeley. And Theegala grew up in Orange, California, and played at Pepperdine.

The threesome will tee off at 1:40 p.m. Morikawa has won pair of major titles: the 2020 PGA title and 2021 Open Championship. The players are grouped in threesomes instead of traditional Saturday pairs because a number of players had to finish their second rounds Saturday morning and organizers were determined to get the tournament back on schedule.

Schauffele is 0-27 in major championships but he does have a dozen top-10 finishes.

Theegala is playing in his ninth major. His only top-10 finish came at the 2023 Masters when he finished ninth.

*Scheffler arrived at the course without incident. At 9-under, Scheffler played in the next-to-last group with Thomas Detry and Mark Hubbard, starting at 1:29 p.m.

Scheffler, the top player in the world, is trying to win his fifth tournament since mid-March as well as his second major this year after winning the Masters in April.

*Golf’s youth movement is in full flight. According to Elias Sports Bureau, this is the first time in PGA Championship history that every player who made the cut is age 35 or younger.

The oldest player competing over the final two rounds will by Mark Hubbard, who is 35.

Among the top three Schauffele is 30, Morikawa is 27 and Theegala is 25.

IMAGES | Round 3 of the PGA Championship at Valhalla

*Elias has also determined that 78 players finished the first two rounds under par. That is the most a record for any major championship. The record was 71, set at the 2006 British Open at Royal Liverpool.

*Only two of the 21 club professionals made the cut — Jeremy Wells of Fort Myers, Florida, and Braden Shattuck of Springfield, Pennsylvania.

Wells played the first two rounds at 2-under par while Shattuck one stroke behind.

*According Elias, with Jon Rahm failing to make the cut, Hideki Matsuyama has the longest streak of making the cut at major championships at 16. Matsuyama is 7-under, five strokes behind the leader.

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