Rain Becomes the Story Saturday at the Third Round of the PGA Championship

Steady rains greeted the first groups Saturday morning and continued through the opening holes of the leaders at Oak Hill.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – From the moment players arrived at Oak Hill Country Club on Saturday morning, all they could see and feel were raindrops. And it never stopped. And it seemed as if it would continue into the afternoon well after the leaders teed off at the PGA Championship.

How bad was it?

"It’s just really difficult to keep everything dry, and so it starts with a grip, and then from there, if you get water on the ball or the driver face, the ball can really go anywhere," said Jordan Spieth, who made the 36-hole cut on the number and shot 1-over-par 71 and moved inside the top 50 when he was finished.

“You have to do a good job of—it's just a different kind of routine, right? I was holding my driver face down as I was getting ready to hit, and I would set up and hit it pretty quickly. That really helped.

“I drove the ball well. It seemed like it was coming off pretty normal where there was two drives I think I hit—where right when I hit them, I looked up and I was like, 'oh, man, that's a water shooter.' You just have to be so accurate off the tee here, and the rain makes it more difficult to be accurate."

Spieth made four birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey.

Phil Mickelson, who made his 100th cut in a major championship this week, was unable to make a birdie in the difficult conditions. He had a double and three bogeys to shoot 75 and dropped into a tie for 67th.

“Well, it's going to play longer," Mickelson said of what the leaders will face. “I actually think it's easier to putt. It's easier to putt in the rain because they are smoother. You don't have spike marks. They don't get quite as away from you, and they were more receptive, I thought, the greens. So I thought that made it easier.

“But obviously the distance, the ball squirting off the tee, that's challenging. Rough is tougher. I thought it was a fun, fair test. So I really enjoyed the challenge. We saw some good scores out there. It's doable. I mean, there's birdie holes out there. It's not impossible. It's just playing difficult. But if you play well, I think you can shoot under par here."

Of the first 22 players to post a score on Saturday, only two— Tyrrell Hatton and Chris Kirk—were under par with 1-under 69s.