In his second participation in a Grand Slam, Chilean golfer Mito Pereira took the lead in the PGA Championship on Saturday with a brilliant start to the third round, while Tiger Woods experienced one of the worst days of his career in a ‘Major’.
Pereira, number 100 in the PGA ranking and without any title in his record, was breaking all odds in Southern Hills (Tulsa, Oklahoma) by leading the table with an accumulated eight under par and a two-stroke advantage over the American Bubba Watson, his main pursuer.
The last player to win his first PGA Grand Slam trophy was England’s Danny Willett at the 2016 Augusta Masters.
Pereira, 27, had only played one major before, the 2019 US Open, in which he did not make it to the weekend after missing the cut.
This Saturday, the golfer from Santiago started the day in second place, one shot behind the American Will Zalatoris, but he adapted much better to the rainy conditions of the course, which wreaked havoc on most players.
Zalatoris, number 30 on the PGA and without any trophies in his cabinet either, paid for the pressure by committing a bogey on his first hole and three others when completing his first nine.
Missing three affordable putts, the American allowed Pereira to quickly overtake him with two birdies on the first five holes.
Seeing the debacle of his groupmate, Pereira holed a birdie putt of almost 11 meters on the second hole that gave him a burst of confidence, although he later lowered the piston with two consecutive bogeys on the eighth and ninth holes.
Two shots away from the Chilean was Bubba Watson, two-time winner of the Augusta Masters, with -6 in nine holes.
Zalatoris was three strokes away and fellow Americans Justin Thomas and Cameron Young were four strokes behind.
Tiger in doubt for Sunday
Tiger Woods, for his part, lived a nightmare day on Saturday with a result of 79 strokes, nine over par.
The 46-year-old American star battled against fatigue and the rainy conditions of the Southern Hills course until he committed seven bogeys, five of them consecutively for the first time in a ‘Major’ tournament.
Tiger ended up posting his worst finish in a round of the PGA Championship, the second event he has competed in since his February 2021 car accident, but fell short of his worst Grand Slam finish, which is still 81 strokes. (+10) from the 2002 British Open.
"I didn’t do anything right. I didn’t hit a lot of good shots. Consequently, I ended up with a pretty high score."lamented Woods, who was left with an accumulated 222 strokes (+12) after 54 holes.
With few hours to recover from Friday’s strenuous effort, when he ended the day struggling to make the cut, Tiger had to get back into his work suit early on Saturday, this time to save face.
The winner of 15 Grand Slam trophies had expressed his wish for the weekend to be as hot as possible, but what he found was cloudy skies, a temperature of 13º and a wet and slippery field.
His worst moment came on the sixth hole, where he sent the ball into the water again and then stuck in the tall grass of the rough before committing a devastating triple bogey.
Later he chained an unprecedented five consecutive bogeys between the ninth and the thirteenth holes.
Woods put on gestures of disbelief and some helpless smile, while a crowd of followers did not stop encouraging him.
On the 15th hole, he left one of the few signs of his talent by signing his only birdie with a spectacular putt of 10.9 metres.
Tiger closed his course with three holes in par that left him in the group in last place in the standings, 20 shots away from Pereira.
When asked if he will contest the final round on Sunday, Woods replied: "Well, I’m sore. That’s a fact. We’ll do some work and see how it goes".
Woods requires physical therapy and ice baths after each round to recover from the aftermath of the multiple fractures he suffered in his right leg in the collision.
Another of the figures who also crashed on Saturday due to the hardness of the field was the Spanish Jon Rahm, who finished with 76 strokes (+6).
The number two in the world ranking dropped 24 positions to 65th place after a journey with six bogeys and no birdies.