Lone S. Korean left at PGA Championship struggles in 3rd round

Published : May 21, 2023 - 10:47 Updated : May 21, 2023 - 10:47

Lee Kyoung-hoon of South Korea hits a chip shot toward the fifth green during the third round of the PGA Championship on the East Course at Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford, New York, on Saturday. (EPA)

Lee Kyoung-hoon, the only South Korean player remaining at the PGA Championship, has taken a few steps back with a bumpy third round at the season's second major tournament.

Lee posted a round of five-over 75 on the East Course at Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford, New York, on Saturday, dropping to six-over for the tournament. Lee fell from a tie for 19th to a tie for 42nd place.

After an opening par, Lee picked up four bogeys over his next five holes, with a birdie on the par-5 fourth sandwiched in between.

Lee then had back-to-back bogeys on the ninth and 10th holes.

He went birdie-birdie on the 13th and 14th, before giving away those two shots with bogeys on the 17th and 18th.

Lee's four countrymen all missed the cut Friday: Kim Si-woo, Kim Joo-hyung, Im Sung-jae and the 2009 PGA Championship winner, Yang Yong-eun.

Yang remains the only South Korean player with a men's major title.

Brooks Koepka of the United States, a two-time PGA Championship winner currently playing on the Saudi-backed rogue tour LIV Golf, has seized the 54-hole lead at six-under, following a round of 66. It was the best score by anyone Saturday, and Koepka was one of just nine players to break par in the third round. (Yonhap)