Alex Smalley leading packed PGA leaderboard heading into final round: Absolute free-for-all

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa.— Buckle up. Sunday’s PGA Championship final round at Aronimink is guaranteed to be a wild ride.  Seat belts required. “An absolute free-for-all,’’ is the way Xander Schauffele described the tournament as it careens into the final round.  After two days of widespread player angst with what Schauffele described as “diabolical pin placements’’ coupled with whipping winds, Saturday’s third round morphed into one of the most fascinating days in recent major championship history.It began as a birdie fest with calm winds and more favorable pin placements.

That brought gangs of players into contention.But, as the afternoon wore on, the winds again cracked and played mind games with the leaders with later tee times. All of it left one of the most bunched final-round leaderboards in memory. Alex Smalley, a 29-year-old who’s seeking his first career win and is ranked 78th in the world, will take a two-shot lead into the final round at 6 under par after rallying from a 3-over start on his first four holes to shoot 68 thanks to birdies on six of his final 10 holes.Five players are tied at 4 under par — Jon Rahm, seeking to become the first Spaniard to win a PGA Championship, Ludvig Åberg, Aaron Rai, Nick Taylor and Matti Schmid.
 Then come four players at 3 under par, including major championship winners Rory McIlroy (66 on Saturday), Schauffele (66) and Patrick Reed (67), along with Maverick McNealy (71).A dozen players are at 2 under par, including Chris Gotterup from Little Silver, N.J., Max Greyserman from Short Hills, N.J., Cam Smith, who’d missed his last six cuts at major championships before this week, Justin Rose and Ben Griffin.World No.1 Scottie Scheffler, who struggled mightily with his putter Saturday, leads a group of players who are 1 under that includes three-time PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka and Rickie Fowler.In all, there are 30 players within five shots of the lead, 22 within four, 10 within thr...