The China Mail - Pereira clings to lead as back-nine PGA drama begins

The 27-year-old from Santiago squandered a three-stroke lead, rebuilt it, then made back-to-back bogeys at the seventh and par-3 eighth holes before rescuing par with a 13-foot putt at the ninth to stay on 7-under at Southern Hills.

Americans Will Zalatoris and Cameron Young were one stroke back on 6-under after nine holes with England's Matthew Fitzpatrick fourth on 5-under, all hot on Pereira's heels in a tension-packed crucible as they sought a first major title.

American Justin Thomas, the 2017 PGA winner, made three birdies in four holes starting at the ninth to stand fifth on 4-under, only three back of Pereira.

Not since John Daly in 1991 has a player won in his PGA Championship debut, but 100th-ranked Pereira was attempting the feat after missing the 2019 US Open cut in his only prior major start.

Pereira, who quit golf for two years as a teen, could become only the third South American man to win a major title after Argentines Roberto de Vicenzo, the 1967 British Open champion, and Angel Cabrera, who took the 2007 US Open and 2009 Masters.

Pereira's opening three-stroke lead vanished, starting when he lipped out for par from six feet to bogey the par-4 third hole.

Zalatoris made a five-foot birdie putt at the fourth, then reached the par-5 fifth green in two and tapped in for birdie to share the lead.

But Pereira sank a birdie putt from just outside three feet at the fifth to reclaim the lead alone at 9-under.

Then Zalatoris barely escaped disaster at the par-3 sixth after his tee shot went into bushes beyond the green. He took a penalty drop into a cart path seam, chipped to eight feet and curled in a bogey putt.

At the seventh, Zalatoris drove into the right rough, plopped into a greenside bunker and missed a 10-foot par putt to fall back where he started at three behind Pereira -- then saved par from eight feet after bearly finding water off the tee at the par-3 eighth.

Pereira, meanwhile, hit a tree off the seventh tee on the way to a bogey, then was short of the eighth green and missed a 14-foot par putt, setting up his dramatic nine-hole putt to keep the lead.

Zalatoris, last year's Masters runner-up, has top-10 finishes in four of seven prior major starts.

Young, 25, has three second-place finishes this season but missed the cut in his three prior major starts.

Fitzpatrick, a seven-time winner on the DP World Tour, hasn't cracked the top-six in 27 prior major starts.

World number 17 Fitzpatrick, 27, and 30th-ranked Zalatoris, 25, are the top-rated players without a US PGA Tour victory. Not since 2011 has a player won a major for his first US tour title.

Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy, who began nine off the pace, made a charge with four straight birdies culminating at the fifth hole, but a bogey at six and 10 straight pars before another bogey at 17 left him five adrift.

- Spieth, Rahm well back -

England's Justin Rose and Tyrrell Hatton each shot 68 to share the clubhouse lead on level par 280 for 72 holes.

Three-time major champion Jordan Spieth, who could have completed a career Grand Slam with a triumph, fired a 69 to finish on 284.

Second-ranked Jon Rahm, the reigning US Open champion from Spain, would have overtaken Masters winner Scottie Schefflera for the world number one ranking with a victory. He shot 68 to finish on 286.

"It's a bit of a consolation prize to play good, but just errors," Rahm said. "Game is good. Swing feels good. So I'm not too far off."

G.Fung--ThChM