Newtown Square (United States) (AFP) – Unheralded leader Alex Smalley has a pal in Sunday’s final pairing of the PGA Championship, and that might just ease the nerves of fighting a host of major winners for a dream victory. The 29-year-old American, playing in only his fifth major, has a chance to make his first PGA Tour title a major after another solid round at difficult Aronimink. Smalley fired a two-under par 68 in Saturday’s third round to grab a two-stroke lead on six-under 204 through 54 holes. He made birdies on three of the last four holes for his third under-par round of the week and will be joined by Germany’s Matti Schmid, in a pack on 206, in the last group.
“I’ve played with Matti a few times,” Smalley said. “I’m very familiar with him. Matti and I actually paired up together in the New Orleans event three years ago. We’re good buddies. We’re familiar with each other, so I think that will help both of us tomorrow as well. I’m looking forward to that.” Schmid, like Smalley, has never won a PGA Tour title. It marks only the second time in 23 years a PGA Championship Sunday final pairing hasn’t had a tour winner.
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“Definitely not the center of attention, but I still have to focus on doing the things I have to do well enough,” Schmid said. “Just focus on myself. Hopefully it leads to a really good round and then we’ll see.” Smalley prefers to focus on himself as well. “I just try to stay in my own little world and just try to take care of my business and hit each shot the best that I can,” said Smalley.
One round from a dream come true, Smalley is trying to make the event like just another tournament. “Anybody who wants to play golf for a living dreams of winning on the PGA Tour when they’re younger. I recognize I have an opportunity to do that,” Smalley said. “I recognize it’s on a stage that’s a little bit larger than most other tour events. I’m trying to downplay that as much as I possibly can just to make it seem like any other tournament.”
– ‘Would be pretty cool’ – Smalley hopes to lift the Wanamaker Trophy, which he has a link to from his days at Duke University. “It’s the Wanamaker Trophy and when I was in college, I stayed in the Wanamaker dorm for three years,” Smalley said. “So my parents and I have been joking that maybe this would be a tournament that I would win just because of that. It would be pretty cool to actually pull it out tomorrow.”
Smalley’s mother is on his support team as statistician and video maker. His father has come to watch this weekend to see his son face a brutal course whose sloped greens are challenging the game’s best. “Conditions are tough. It has been windy the last few days. Greens were a little firmer. I anticipate it’s going to be that way tomorrow, too. It’s going to be hot.”
“Any time you can shoot under par on a golf course of this caliber, under these conditions, anybody would take that,” Smalley said. “So I’m hoping to put up another under-par score tomorrow. We’ll just add them up at the end of the day tomorrow and see where that takes me.”
© 2024 AFP
