JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — Brendan Steele is playing in his first major championship. Jason Dufner has never won a PGA Tour event.
It’s hard to tell at the PGA Championship.
The no-names stayed cool on a sweltering Saturday at Atlanta Athletic Club, setting up a final round that will be short on recognizable faces but could end a major drought for the Americans. Steele shot 4-under-par 66 and was tied with Dufner, who joined him at 7-under 203 with a 68.
Keegan Bradley, another guy playing in his first major, bounced back from a double bogey at the first hole for a 69 that left him just one stroke back heading to the final round, another perfect fit for what is developing as the theme of the year’s final major.
Who are these guys, anyway?
“It feels pretty good,” Steele said. “This is something else.”
Tiger Woods, defending PGA champion Martin Kaymer and several other stars are watching from home, failing to make the cut. U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy, who came into the week as the favorite, struggled to a 74 with his ailing wrist and won’t be a factor today.
Into the void stepped several Americans known only to the most ardent golf fans. But they’ve put the U.S. in position to capture its first major title since Phil Mickelson won the 2010 Masters. Since then, it’s an 0-for-6 drought, this country’s longest of the modern Grand Slam era.
The 34-year-old Dufner, who had not made a cut since late May, showed his moxie after a couple of three-putt bogeys knocked him out of the lead. He bounced back with a birdie at the 15th, the longest par-3 on the course, and made it two in a row by rolling in a 12-footer at the next hole.
He has the closest thing to a home-course advantage among the leaders — he lives about two hours away in Auburn, Ala., and is used to playing in the blistering heat and on Bermuda greens.
Steele, a 28-year-old Californian, birdied five of the first 10 holes, shaking off a double bogey at the seventh when he drove into a swale on the left, tried to putt it on and watched in dismay as the ball rolled back to his feet.
Bradley, the 25-year-old nephew of LGPA Hall of Famer Pat Bradley, got off to a jittery start. He drove his first shot into a bunker, did the same with the second and wound up taking a double-bogey 6. But he quickly steadied himself, dropping only one more shot with a bogey at the seventh on the way to a 204.
There were some familiar names lurking near the top. Forty-seven-year-old Scott Verplank had two late birdies for a 69 and headed to the clubhouse at 205, his creaky body holding up in the heat. Steve Stricker, the top-ranked American in the world at age 44, was another stroke back after a 69 of his own.
Neither of the old-timers has won a major title. Maybe this will be their week.
Jim Furyk was in the mix until he put two balls in the water at the 18th and took double bogey. His 73 dropped him to 209, a daunting six strokes off the lead. He was joined by the world’s top-ranked players, No. 1 Luke Donald (68) and No. 2 Lee Westwood (70).
Donald closed within a shot of the lead until a brutal finish. He drove into a bunker at the 18th and had no choice but to blast out into the fairway. Then, going at the flag a little too aggressively, he dunked his third shot in the water and wound up taking double bogey.
Masters champion Charl Schwartzel was at 208 after a 66.
“The course is just very penalizing,” the South African said. “I just played a little bit more — I want to say conservative maybe — but more clever. A few of the holes that were inviting me the first two rounds, I took with a bit more caution.”
David Toms, who won the PGA the last time it came to Atlanta in 2001, went even lower with a 65 and like Schwartzel was five shots back.
