Smalley takes two-shot lead into final round of US PGA Championship but big names lurk

The leaderboard was spinning like a tombola at Aronimink on Saturday, where at one point or another just about every player in the field had a birdie putt to take a share of the lead and then a bogey putt to let go of it again. When the drum finally stopped turning, Alex Smalley, a 29-year-old from North Carolina who has never won a professional golf tournament, was top of the leaderboard on six under, two shots clear of a five-way tie for second. No disrespect to Smalley, the world No 78, but t

Philadelphia loves an underdog, but it’s probably best if the trumpeter waits another day before he strikes up the opening notes of the Rocky theme. There are 21 players within four shots of a share of first, and eight major champions among them. Jon Rahm, who has finally rediscovered his major touch, is in the group closest behind him on four under, and Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Reed are all only one further back than that. Justin Rose, Martin Kaymer, Cameron Smith and Hideki Matsuyama are grouped on two under. Even Scottie Scheffler , whose stone-cold putter cost him a handful of birdies, may still fancy his chances from five shots off Smalley’s lead. It is the most congested major leaderboard anyone can remember. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” Scheffler said, “I’ve never seen a leaderboard this bunched up. It’s quite literally anybody’s tournament.” Smalley was playing in the final pair, along with Maverick McNealy, and until he pulled clear by making a birdie on the par-five 16th, he was part of a six-way tie for first place. It would have broken the record going into the final day in a major, beating the five-way tie at the Open at St Andrews back in 1933. Instead Smalley’s out in his own. It is the first time in his life he’s had the 54-hole lead in a professional tournament. “I don’t like being in the spotlight a whole lot,” he said on Friday night.

Key points

• Philadelphia loves an underdog, but it’s probably best if the trumpeter waits another day before he strikes up the opening notes of the Rocky theme.
• There are 21 players within four shots of a share of first, and eight major champions among them.
• Jon Rahm, who has finally rediscovered his major touch, is in the group closest behind him on four under, and Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Reed are all only one further back than that.
• Justin Rose, Martin Kaymer, Cameron Smith and Hideki Matsuyama are grouped on two under.
• Even Scottie Scheffler , whose stone-cold putter cost him a handful of birdies, may still fancy his chances from five shots off Smalley’s lead.