Branden Grace
Last Updated: 16/08/15 2:16pm
Branden Grace has the chance to make amends for his near-miss in the US Open after a brilliant third-round 64 lifted him to 12 under at the 97th PGA Championship.
Grace, who held a share of the lead with three holes to play at Chambers Bay only to drive out of bounds on the 16th, capped a stunning round in style by holing a bunker shot on the 18th for his eighth birdie of the day.
The South African cruised to the turn in 33 and then ignited his charge with three straight birdies from the 11th, and he picked up another at 16 before providing his grandstand finish.
"I think I'm finally getting the hang of America," said Grace. "This is a dream to play out here. I think I've been playing some great golf.
"The US Open was a good one coming into this and even the Open Championship (he was 20th at St Andrews), just getting the confidence up, knowing that I can do it, can play in this environment and under this pressure.
"I'm as excited as can be. It's another chance, this is what we all play for. We all play to give ourselves the opportunity to get close to a major championship and we're all here for the same reason - we want to win this thing.
"It's just about getting out tomorrow, getting out on the first tee with a smile and hopefully the smile can be there all day."
Grace admitted he got "a little greedy" with his approach to the 18th, which came up short of the green, adding: "I got fortunate. My ball stayed up a little bit on the upslope, which made it a little bit easier. Then it was just trying to get it up there, trying to make it land soft and I managed to do it with a great bunker shot."
Grace’s playing partner Martin Kaymer rolled in long putts at 12 and 17 on his way to a 65 on the third day at Whistling Straits to leave him four shots behind leader Jason Day at 11 under par.
Kaymer said he and Grace motivated each other to record low third round scores.
"It was a great day and I played with Branden, who had an even better score, so we really fed off of each other. It was nice to play," the German said.
"The thing is, when I missed a shot, he made a great shot or the other way around. You don't want to fall behind, you want to keep going because he was running away a little bit at the beginning and I said to Craig (Connelly, his caddy) 'we need to make something happen' and obviously the birdie on 12 was huge.
"The crowds love Germans here, which is very nice. I won here five years ago so I have a lot of supporters here."
Kaymer has finished strongly for the most part at this tournament and he is hoping to take that form into the final round.
"Fifteen, 17 and 18 are tricky ones, 16 standing on the tee box you are hopeful of a four and then finish par, par and that is fortunately what I have done the last three days.
"It is always difficult to back up a 65 so I don’t want to keep my hopes too high; I am obviously going to keep playing the way I play.
"There were a couple of putts today (which) shouldn’t go in – it was a bonus. But the way I played, I think 67 would have been a decent or a regular score. Now with 65 it is just important tomorrow that I don’t compare myself to what happened today."
