The Latest: Mickelson closes ground at PGA

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (AP) — The Latest from the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits (all times local):

2:47 p.m.

Phil Mickelson has made up a lot of ground in the third round at the PGA Championship.

Lefty finished the day at 6 under and moved to 5 under for the tournament.

Mickelson birdied No. 17 before escaping a jam on the final hole. His second shot fell short of the green and landed on a steep, grassy incline.

But Mickelson’s next shot was near-perfect, chipping to within 3 feet of the hole to set up a putt to save par.

The fan favorite exchanged handshakes with Jason Bohm, who played with Mickelson on Saturday and finished with the same score. They’re both chasing Matt Jones, the leader at 11 under.

Boo Weekley made up seven shots in the third round to get to 6 under and a tie for ninth.

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1:55 p.m.

Rory McIlroy is moving up quickly on Moving Day at the PGA Championship.

After holing out from the fringe for an eagle on the par-5 fifth hole, he is 4 under for the day and 6 under for the tournament.

He’s not alone.

Phil Mickelson made five birdies over six holes to briefly get to 5 under. On No. 8, he hit a 190-yard shot from a bunker to within three feet of the hole for an easy birdie. He has since given one of those shots back.

And Boo Weekley is 6 under for the day, heading into the homestretch. He has three holes left and will likely finish at about the time leader Matt Jones, at 11 under, starts his third round.

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Here’s Mickelson’s shot: http://bit.ly/1TGos2k

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1:30 p.m.

Expect Jordan Spieth to go for it today at the PGA Championship.

Warming up in calm weather, and watching a bunch of low scores go up on the board, the Masters and U.S. Open champion said he knows it’s a day to be aggressive.

In a pre-round interview on TV, Spieth said he’ll let it all hang out and try to get closer to pins on his approach shots than he has in the opening rounds.

He said he figures if it works out, he’ll be able to score today. And if not, he said, he knows he’ll have some ground to make up tomorrow.

He starts the day at 6 under — five behind leader Matt Jones.

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1:13 p.m.

Guess who? It’s Boo.

Boo Weekley made three birdies over the first four holes on the back nine to get to 5 under for the tournament. He is tied for 10th.

Among those warming up: Jordan Spieth, who is at 6 under, David Lingmerth, at 7 under, and Justin Rose, at 8 under.

All are chasing Australia’s Matt Jones, who tees off in the last group with Jason Day. Jones holds the lead at 11 under.

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12:50 p.m.

Missed it by that much.

Rory McIlroy started his third round at the PGA Championship by getting agonizingly close to a birdie at No. 1. His 44-foot putt edged just left of the hole.

The world’s top-ranked player walked up to the hole, circled it, looked down and smiled. He tapped in for par.

McIlroy is 2 under for the tournament. He’s got a lot of room to make up on leader Matt Jones, who is 11 under and tees off later this afternoon.

Fan favorite Phil Mickelson has made up five shots while moving to 4 under for the tournament.

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11:50 a.m.

Phil Mickelson is taking advantage of calm weather early in the third round to go on something of a birdie binge at the PGA Championship.

He has made three over his first six holes to get to 1 under for the tournament.

But Mickelson has a long way to go if he wants to get in contention. He is still 10 shots behind leader Matt Jones, who tees off later this afternoon.

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10:46 a.m.

Only one club pro qualified to play the final two rounds of the PGA Championship. But there will be two of them knocking the ball around Whistling Straits in the third round Saturday.

Brian Gaffney of Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, New York, made the cut.

Michael O’Reilly, the head pro at Whistling Straits, is playing as a non-competing marker for Morgan Hoffman.

Hoffman would have otherwise played alone because there were an odd number of players left in the tournament after the cut.

O’Reilly’s job will be mostly to play fast, stay out of the way and keep Hoffman’s score. He has done this before. He got the call in 2004, the first time Whistling Straits hosted the PGA.

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10:15 a.m.

The third round is under way at the PGA Championship.

Among those on the course are former champions Keegan Bradley and Jason Dufner. They each started the round at 2 over par — 13 shots behind the leader, Australia’s Matt Jones.

Phil Mickelson tees off later this morning.

Jones and Day make up the all-Aussie final pairing. They’ll have plenty of time to get ready. Their tee time isn’t until 3:06 p.m. local time in Wisconsin.

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9:05 a.m.

Tiger Woods is signed up for next week’s Wyndham Championship. It doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll play.

After his second round finished up at the PGA this morning, he said he would discuss the plan with his team and decide in the next few days about whether to play next week in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Woods is ranked 186th in the FedEx standings. He would need to finish at least second alone to climb into the top 125 and make the FedEx playoffs.

During the post-round interview, Woods sounded like someone who knows he needs to play more golf to get his game in shape. He also sounded like someone whose 2015 season might, indeed, be over. He said he guessed his PGA Tour season might be coming to a close but that he’s still got plenty of golf to play around the world in exhibition and non-tour events.

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8:53 a.m.

Matt Jones is in the clubhouse with the lead at the PGA Championship.

He finished up a second round of 7-under 65 and is 11 under for the tournament. That’s two shots ahead of Jason Day and three in front of Justin Rose.

The final groups are wrapping up the second round. After a short break, the third round will begin, though Day and Jones won’t tee off in the final twosome until after noon.

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8:31 a.m.

No big surprise — Tiger Woods is heading home.

He played the last five holes of the second round at the PGA Championship at even par to finish at 4-over 148.

That is two outside the expected cut line. Woods will miss the cut for the third straight time in a major.

That has never happened before.

Matt Jones of Australia is 11 under with one hole to play, good for a two-shot lead over Jason Day, who wrapped up a round of 5-under 67 this morning.

There are a handful of groups finishing up the second round, which was suspended last night because of rain. Shortly after they’re done, the third round will begin.

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8:04 a.m.

Now, it’s Matt Jones in the lead at the PGA Championship.

Jones made a birdie to get to 10 under for the tournament, while fellow Aussie Jason Day finished his second round with a bogey and is in the clubhouse at 9-under 135.

About 60 players came back to Whistling Straits early this morning to finish the second round, which was suspended when a strong storm hit late Friday afternoon.

Jones will take a long break before teeing off for the third round later this afternoon.

Tiger Woods almost certainly won’t be around much longer. Returning for a 7 a.m. restart, he failed to get up and down from the rough on No. 14 and settled for bogey. He was at 4 over heading into his final hole. The projected cut was 2 over, so unless Woods holes out from the 18th fairway for an eagle, he’ll be done for the week.

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7:54 a.m.

Jason Day has a good chance of heading into the third round of the PGA Championship with the lead.

Tiger Woods has virtually no chance of sticking around for more than another hour or so.

Golf has started back up at Whistling Straits. About 60 players came back early this morning to finish the second round.

Day made a birdie on the par-5 16th hole to get to 10 under par. That puts him alone in the lead, one shot ahead of Matt Jones.

And Woods? He failed to get up and down from the rough on No. 14 and settled for bogey. That dropped him to 5 over, which is three shots outside of the projected cut line.