Stuart Franklin/Getty Images The final round of the 2018 PGA Championship got underway Sunday with Brooks Koepka in search of his second major of the season. The U.S. Open champion started the day with a two-shot lead over playing partner Adam Scott, with Jon Rahm, Rickie Fowler and Gary Woodland a further shot back. The final pairing started at 2:55 p.m. ET (7:55 p.m. BST). For a look at the live leaderboard, visit the PGATour's official website by clicking here. Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images Koepka set his lead with a round of four-under golf Saturday, doing much of his damage on the front nine and salvaging his score on the back nine. The 28-year-old is trying to do a rare double: Koepka's strong work from the tee and good approach play are perfect fits for the forgiving course at Bellerive Country Club, making up for some of his misses on the greens. Video Play Button Videos you might like Indeed, getting to the greens quickly has been key, per golf writer Justin Ray: Tiger Woods, who started the day tied for sixth place, has used the exact opposite approach: The course doesn't particularly suit his strengths, and as it has played so easy through three rounds, he could find it difficult to make up a four-shot deficit. The likes of Fowler and Rahm have also been in superb form, and they're not expected to drop too many shots, either. Jason Day, Justin Thomas and Shane Lowry started their rounds tied with Woods at eight-under, with Francesco Molinari and Dustin Johnson just a little further back. All still have a chance of making a major move up the leaderboard, but unless the putters of the guys at the top of the leaderboard go quiet, a win seems nearly impossible.<doc-sep>Stuart Franklin/Getty Images Tiger Woods might not have won the PGA Championship, but he is clearly back as one of the top golfers in the world. The 42-year-old shot a 64 Sunday to put him minus-14 in the fourth major of the year. He tallied eight birdies in an adventurous final round to help him finish alone in second place. Justin Ray of Golf Channel put his score in context: However, he wasn't able to catch Brooks Koepka, who won his second major of the year with a final score of minus-16. Woods' approach shots kept him in contention, including this beauty on No. 15: The birdie put him one stroke behind leaders Koepka and Adam Scott with three holes remaining. He added one more birdie on No. 18 after a tough par save on 17, but the two golfers in the final group never relented under pressure. Luck also wasn't on the side of the 14-time major champion, as he narrowly lost strokes on Nos. 11 and 14: Video Play Button Videos you might like Most of the drama in the day came on the front nine, which was as exciting of a stretch as we have seen from Woods in nearly a decade. After struggling with his putter during Round 3 on Saturday, he had problems off the tee in Round 4 and went his first nine holes without hitting a fairway. Michael Collins noted the extent of his problems with his driver: Fortunately, his wedge shots were much cleaner, and he was able to consistently recover from wherever he was standing. Woods had four birdies in the front nine, several of which came from difficult approach shots: Nothing compared to his effort on the ninth hole to earn a birdie from the cart path: Consistency was a problem, but Woods produced some of his best individual shots in a long time. Ron Sirak of Golf Channel summed up the first nine holes: He finally found fairways and greens on the back nine, which led to back-to-back birdies on Nos. 12 and 13. Another birdie on the 15th hole put the Wanamaker Trophy within his grasp, but he fell out of contention in the final few holes. Woods hasn't won a major since 2008 and hasn't earned a win yet in 2018, but considering his time off from multiple back surgeries, his recent performance has been outstanding. His lack of consistency was on full display this week, as different aspects of his game failed him at different times in each round. Bob Harig of ESPN.com discussed the missed opportunities: Still, Woods is still as talented as anyone on the PGA Tour if he can piece everything together. No one can excite a crowd quite like Woods in his Sunday red, either. If he can stay healthy moving forward, a tournament title may be right around the corner.<doc-sep>ST. LOUIS – Tiger Woods was 3 over par through two holes at the 100th PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club on Thursday, but battled back to shoot an even-par 70. He was five behind the early first-round leader, Rickie Fowler, and feeling good about turning a potentially terrible day into a not-so-bad one. “It kept me in the golf tournament,” said Woods, who started on the back nine. “I could have easily gone the other way, being 3 over through two. A lot of things could happen. Not a lot of them were positive, but I hung in there and turned it around.” After being sidelined for years by various ailments, including four back surgeries, Woods is in the midst of a comeback season that has seen plenty of highs. At the Valspar Championship in just his fourth start this season, he shot four under-par rounds for the first time since THE NORTHERN TRUST in 2013. At The Open Championship at Carnoustie last month, he briefly seized the lead before struggling on the back nine and ultimately finishing T6. The top-10 finish nudged him into the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking and got him into last week’s World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone South, where he’d won eight times. He got into contention but shot 73-73 on the weekend to finish T31. Woods was not at his best again at Bellerive on Thursday. Of his 118-yard approach over water at the 11th hole, he said, “I stuck it in the ground,” coming up some 12 yards short on the way to a double-bogey 6. Still, he minimized the damage by making three birdies and no bogeys over his last 10 holes. He hit 9 of 14 fairways and 11 of 18 greens, and took 27 putts. “This is a long run,” he said, pleased to still be within five of the early first-round leader, Rickie Fowler. “These are marathons. These are four long days. They're slow rounds.” Woods had the same score as playing partner Rory McIlroy (70) and was one behind the third member of the group, Justin Thomas (69), the defending PGA champion who is coming off a victory at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational last weekend. Being grouped with two stars from the next wave had Woods in a reflective mind, and he recounted a story about playing with Jack Nicklaus at the 2000 PGA at Valhalla, which he had told at the PGA Champions Dinner here earlier this week. “Jack at Valhalla, 18 years ago, that was his last PGA, and he was telling me the story that he played with Gene Sarazen in his last PGA,” Woods said. “It's interesting what this game of golf can do, how we can basically last for so many different generations. “… The reason I was telling the story is because J.T. invited me to speak a little on behalf of himself and PGA of America, and J.T. was 7-years old when we were at Valhalla, and he was in the clubhouse when I made that putt on 18. So, kind of trying to tie in Gene Sarazen, Jack, and little J.T. there, and now he's PGA champion for the last year, 17 years later. So, it's pretty neat.”<doc-sep>Did you know you can save your preferences across all your digital devices and platforms simply by creating a profile? Would you like to get started? Yes, I'd like to register/log in Not right now No, never ask again<doc-sep>
Stuart Franklin/Getty Images There is a three-way share of the lead at the 2018 PGA Championship at Bellerive Golf Course in Missouri. Defending champion Justin Thomas sits on three-under after 10 holes, and he is joined by Stewart Cink and Rickie Fowler at the top of the leaderboard. Cink has completed eight holes, while Fowler has finished 13. PGA Championship Standings Justin Thomas (-3) Stewart Cink (-3) Rickie Fowler (-3) Rafa Cabrera Bello (-2) Ian Poulter (-2) Jason Day (-2) Hideki Matsuyama (-2) The full leaderboard can be found here. Three-Way Tie at the Top Three consecutive birdies from the 11th through the 13th marked a sensational opening to Cink's first round at Bellerive, shooting him straight to the top of the leaderboard. He was quickly joined by Thomas, who picked up two shots at the 11th and 12th: Video Play Button Videos you might like A third birdie at the 15th earned him a share of the lead alongside Cink, before Fowler joined them. Fowler went out in a one-under 34 and grabbed further birdies at the first and third holes. Ian Poulter in the Chasing Pack Poulter grabbed back-to-back birdies on the 11th and 12th holes to get his round off to a strong start. After he picked up another shot at the 15th, he claimed the sole lead in St. Louis. Golf Digest's Mike O'Malley and Action Network's Jason Sobel commented on his position: A bogey on the par-five 17th after he struggled to get out of a bunker saw him slip back into the pack, though. Tiger Woods Recovers After Poor Start Woods got his PGA Championship bid off to an inauspicious start, as he was three-over after just two holes, per ESPN Stats & Info: The 14-time Major-winner struggled to keep his shots on the fairway, and having left himself with a long putt for par on the 10th, he ended up having to salvage a bogey from 10 feet. On the 11th, he had to two-putt for a double-bogey. His round made a turn for the better at the 12th, helped by finding the fairway from the tee on the 12th: Three successive pars followed, with the latter requiring an excellent shot after more excursions into the rough: He slipped back to three-over on the 16th, though, having yet again made a poor tee shot, but finished his first nine with a birdie to card two over at the turn, before he grabbed another shot on the first to continue a promising recovery.