PGA Championship 2017 Live: Golfers most likely to catch 54-hole leader Kisner

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The  PGA Championship 2017  at Quail Hollow Club is the last major golf tournament of 2017. Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka and Sergio Garcia own each of the 2017 major championship titles this year already, while there are still a number of guys in the field searching for that first major victory.

Spieth had a chance to prove his dominance as he tries to become just the sixth player to complete the career Grand Slam. This will be his only shot as the youngest player to accomplish the feat, as Tiger Woods was the last to complete the Slam in 2000 at 24 years, 5 months when he hoisted the Claret Jug at St. Andrews.

In his first three rounds, Spieth didn’t set himself up to challenge the leaders on Sunday. He ended Saturday 3-over. Spieth tees off on Sunday at 11:05 a.m. ET.

Rory McIlroy went in with the best odds to win the 2017 PGA Championship, but again at 2-over, he hasn’t put himself into contention to challenge the leaders Kevin Kisner (-7) and Chris Stroud and Hideki Matsuyama (-6).

Louis Oosthuizen is the only major champion in the top-15 heading into the final round.  The 99th PGA Championship concludes Sunday, and a few golfers will be significantly richer after completing 72 holes at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina. The purse for the 2017 PGA Championship has risen from previous years to $10.5 million with the winner’s share standing at nearly $1.9 million and the runner-up still earning over the $1 million mark.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — When Hideki Matsuyama climbed the 48 steps from the Quail Hollow practice green to the first tee on Saturday, he took them two at a time, as if to show that the lead he held halfway through the P.G.A. Championship was not weighing heavily on him.

Since he made the cut at the Masters as a teenager in 2011, Matsuyama has been expected in his homeland, Japan, to become the first player from the country to win a men’s major. Six years later, the expectation of Matsuyama’s coronation hung over the course, as though balloons and confetti were ready to be released from the cover of clouds.

But the bounce in Matsuyama’s step could not hide his nerves, which revealed themselves in several loose swings in his round of two-over-par 73. Going into Sunday’s final round, he is tied for second with Chris Stroud (72) at six under over all, a stroke behind Kevin Kisner, who carded a 72 on Saturday.

“I’m disappointed the way I played today,” Matsuyama said through an interpreter. He added, “Probably the pressure had to do with it.”Television (all times EDT): Saturday — 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., TNT; 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. CBS. Sunday — 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., TNT; 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., CBS.

Field: 156 players (136 tour pros, 20 club pros).
Defending champion: Jimmy Walker.

Last week: Hideki Matsuyama won the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and Chris Stroud won the Barracuda Championship.Of course, he also played the final three holes in 3 over when he had a chance to run away and hide at this event. What that means is that he’s let a host of golfers back into the tournament who thought they were probably dead in the water.

Last year: Walker held on for par on the 18th hole at Baltusrol for a 3-under 67 and a one-shot victory over Jason Day. It was the longest final day in 64 years at the PGA Championship because of rain, with Walker playing 36 holes on Sunday. Day was trying to join Tiger Woods as the only players to win back-to-back in the PGA in stroke play. He hit a 2-iron to 15 feet and made eagle on the 18th.
Tough at the top: It has been 10 years since the No. 1 player in the world won the PGA Championship.

Notable: Jordan Spieth will have a chance to complete the career Grand Slam if he wins the PGA Championship. Of the five players with the career Grand Slam, none finished it off at the PGA Championship. … Quail Hollow has been host of the currently named Wells Fargo Championship since 2003, except that it moved to Wilmington, N.C., this year because of the PGA. … The opening five holes went through a major change after last year’s tournament, and the course now plays to the par-71. …

This is the third North Carolina course to host the PGA Championship. The others were Pinehurst No. 2 (Denny Shute won in 1936) and Tanglewood (Lee Trevino won in 1974). … Jason Day holds the PGA Championship record with eight consecutive rounds in the 60s. … The past three PGA Championship winners — Walker, Day and Rory McIlroy — each shot 68 or better in all four rounds. … McIlroy has won twice at Quail Hollow, including his first PGA Tour victory in 2010 when he closed with a 62. … Tiger Woods is the only player to win the PGA Championship back-to-back (1