Phil Mickelson says a 62 is possible at PGA Championship as rain halts third round

Much to his disappointment, Phil Mickelson teed off at 8:55 a.m. EDT on Saturday in the PGA Championship, exactly six hours before the final group of leaders was scheduled to play.

He made up a little ground, shooting two-under-par 68 at Baltusrol Golf Club to get to one under for the tournament. And the five-time major winner did return with a bold prediction about what might be to come.

Mickelson said he believed the first 62 in men’s major championship history would be recorded this weekend.

“I will be surprised if it wasn’t,” he said.

But much of the field never got a chance to make a run at immortality in the third round.

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A storm arrived in the afternoon, bringing lighting and heavy rain, and the horn blew to stop play 40 minutes before leaders Robert Streb and Jimmy Walker, tied at nine under, were supposed to tee off.

They never struck a shot. With a constant rain creating big puddles on the greens and fairways, play was suspended for the day with only 36 of the 86 players for the weekend having finished their rounds.

The weather created a tricky scenario for the rest of the tournament. The third round was scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. EDT on Sunday. The twosomes from the third round were to stay paired for the fourth, with the final round set to begin at 8:40 a.m.

The last group of the fourth is scheduled to begin at 3:25 p.m. — if there are no more delays. The forecast is bad, with more than a 70% chance of rain for most of the day.

Holding a major in the New York metropolitan area in the summer is to play weather roulette. If the tournament goes into Monday it will be the third straight time for a major at Baltusrol, following the 2005 PGA and 1993 U.S. Open. The 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black on Long Island also was forced to Monday by rain.

In a news conference, the PGA of America’s Kerry Haigh, who runs the championship, was peppered with questions about the PGA’s handling of the weather situation. He could have made the decision to send the players off the first and 10th tees Saturday, which might have allowed most of the field, though not the leaders, to finish.

Haigh responded that the Saturday forecast wasn’t much different from the previous days, and they were caught off guard by the intensity and length of the storm.

As for choosing to start on only the first tee, he said, “We feel it’s important for all of the players, in an ideal world, to play from the first tee and play the holes in order.”

The situation creates the odd scenario for contenders such as Kevin Kisner and Padraig Harrington. They shot 65s in the third round to move into ties for sixth and 10th, respectively, and will play hours before the rest of the leaders Sunday.

“That will be an interesting dynamic for sure … add to the excitement, actually,” Haigh said.

Jason Day, tied for third and two strokes behind the leaders, said he was pleased that he wasn’t rushed out to get a few holes completed.

“If you get off to a bad start, you’re thinking about it,” he said.

“Obviously, the rain is going to soften up the golf course, so you’ve got to be a little bit aggressive,” Day said. “It should yield a few more birdies.”

That was Mickelson’s point about a possible 62. He said the players could use the greens as dart boards, and with Baltusrol playing at a par of 70, eight birdies and no bogeys is required to reach the magic number.

Streb made eight birdies, with one bogey, on Friday afternoon in one of the least heralded 63s among the 30 that have been scored in major championships.

Mickelson enjoyed one of the most visible challenges for 62 at the British Open two weeks ago when his putt for the record burned the edge of the cup. Eventual winner Henrik Stenson shot 63 in the final round at Royal Troon.

“I just think that the course is playing to where you can fly six-, seven-, eight-irons at the hole. It’s going to stop right there, Mickelson said. “The challenge of Baltusrol is the greens, and when they are soft the challenge and difficulty is negated. All that extra roll and runoff is not coming into play.”

tod.leonard@sduniontribune.com