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Another birdie look for Bryson DeChambeau but his putt slips by.

Nial Foster
BBC Sport NI at Quail Hollow

Rory McIlroy looked relaxed yet locked in at Quail Hollow’s practice range. The crowd gasped as his driver sent balls soaring out of sight, the talk of the day. The world number two may be well off the US PGA lead, but with this impressive and encouraging range session, could round three be a game-changer for the Holywood man?

Could this be the day when Matt Fitzpatrick moves himself closer to a second major title?

Exactly a month ago the former US Open champion, described his game as, "rubbish, simple as that. It’s been awful. Yeah, it’s the worst I’ve ever played, in fact.”

The Englishman starts this round two strokes off the lead and having already recorded back-to-back 68s at Quail Hollow.

Not the start that Robert MacIntyre would have wanted. He finds the bunker from the first tee and eventually his par putt from about nine feet slides left of the cup.

The Scot back to three under.

Ryo Hisatsune is only 22 and he finished in a tie for 18th at the US PGA Championship 12 months ago.

And the Japanese player is certainly underlining his potential once again at Quail Hollow, chipping in out of the sand on the fourth, to move into a tie for seventh, four shots off the lead.

After that wayward tee shot, Bryson DeChambeau got himself into position to save par from seven feet and he remains one under for the day.

Rory McIlroy at Quail Hollow:

2010 - Makes the cut on number at +1, nine strokes behind of Billy Mayfair and wins.

2025 - Makes the cut on number at +1, nine adrift of 9 back of Jhonattan Vegas.

And McIlroy finds the fairway with his opening tee shot on the 10th.

How's Jon Rahm getting on I hear you ask? Good question, well he's started nicely actually with two birdies in his first four holes so at four under he's now in a tie for seventh.

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Five players overcame a seven-or-more stroke deficit after 36 holes to win a US PGA Championship:

• Bob Rosburg, nine back, 1965 at Minneapolis
• Bob Tway, nine back,1986 at Inverness Club
• Dave Stockton, eight back, 1976 at Congressional
• Don January, eight back, 1967 at Columbine
• Payne Stewart, seven back, 1989 at Kemper Lakes

Forty-seven players were within seven strokes of the lead entering the third round at Quail Hollow, so basically, all to play for.

Uh oh - after a great start, Bryson DeChambeau goes way left with his drive on the par-four third.

Needs a bit of luck.

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World number one Scottie Scheffler has not found his best game, yet, but is lurking dangerously:

"I like the position I'm in going into the weekend. Obviously I wish I was a little bit further up the leaderboard. I think I got a lot out of my game the last couple days.

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Matthieu Pavon may seem like a surprise name near the top of the leaderboard, but he really shouldn't be.

Over the last four majors, including this one, only three players have been in the top five on the leaderboard more often:

• 8 - Bryson DeChambeau
• 7 - Rory McIlroy
• 7 - Justin Rose
• 5 - Scottie Scheffler
• 5 - Matthieu Pavon
• 5 - Ludvig Aberg

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"Fancy seeing you again?"

Rory McIlroy and defending champion Xander Schauffele played together over the first two days and would have targeted being in one of the final groups to go out on Saturday, as usually that would have meant they'd have been bang in contention for another major title.

However, both only just squeaked in above the cut line and they would have been in one of the first groups out today - had the weather not caused a change of plans.

Both nine shots off the lead, they're by no means out of it - but they will need to make some serious inroads today.

Bryson DeChambeau has contended in plenty of recent majors, pipping Rory McIlroy to win last year's US Open of course.

He's under way with a birdie on the first. A monster drive, an approach that lands about 30 feet from the hole and he putts over a ridge on the green perfectly.

The American gets a look at a 12-footer for another birdie on two but it just lips out.

An ominous start, though.

BBC Sport NI checked in with Golf Digest journalist and equipment expert, Luke Kerr-Dineen to figure out what happened with Rory McIlroy's driver earlier this week after he had to switch out his first choice.

Gavin Andrews
BBC Sport NI at Quail Hollow

Lots of chat in the media centre at Quail Hollow about Rory McIlroy’s driver after he had to make a swap on Tuesday because the one he had brought was deemed 'non-conforming'.

The timing couldn’t really be any worse for the world number two - his biggest weapon taken away at a venue that is one of the toughest tests in the game off the tee.

It’s just a matter of time before he gets the replacement ‘dialled in’ as they say here in the States.

He needs some fireworks today if he’s going to produce something special. Remember, no-one’s ever won a major championship after making the cut on the number

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For the first time in US PGA Championship history, none of the top four players on the 36-hole leaderboard (Jhonattan Vegas, Matthieu Pavon, Matt Fitzpatrick and Si Woo Kim) are representing the United States.

That's some stat considering the USA has dominated this event in recent years - remember the last non-American winner of this event was Australia's Jason Day in 2015.

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Rounds of 68 and 70 put Scotland's Robert MacIntyre within four shots of the overnight lead.

The left-hander has three top-10 finishes to his credit in majors, including in last year's US PGA at Valhalla.

Is this going to be Bob's week?

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We've heard all about the mud balls this week, but Shane Lowry got even worse luck as his ball ended up in an old pitch mark on the fairway, turning a regulation pitch into a near impossible task.

He was fuming as he went on to miss the cut, and was also unhappy with an on-course TV broadcaster getting too involved.

"You hit a lovely tee shot, you're not expecting that," said world number 10 Lowry.

"I was obviously very annoyed with that because I felt like I had quite a bit of momentum going in the round, and standing there with 40 or 50 yards to the pin off the fairway it's an easy pitch shot for me - and I walk away making bogey."

Get the full story

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According to a report by SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio, Rory McIlroy had to change his driver just before the start of the tournament as the one in his bag was deemed to be non-conforming by United States Golf Association (USGA) testers.

McIlroy's struggles off the tee have been surprising at Quail Hollow - where he's won four times - as he's one of the best drivers of a golf ball on the planet.

There's no comment from McIlroy or the USGA on the matter at the moment, but it's certainly one to keep an eye on.