Alex Smalley Tops PGA Championship Leaderboard Heading Into Final Round

Alex Smalley entered the third round of the PGA Championship as co-leader with Maverick McNealy. But after an up-and-down round that saw five other golfers score five-under par, Smalley managed to emerge as the sole leader by two strokes.

Smalley's round started about as bad as it gets, with bogeys on three of his first four holes. It seemed like his long-sought first PGA win was doomed to collapse on the front nine before he rallied with two birdies to finish the first half with a score of 37.

Then things started to really come together on the back-nine. He birdied on four of his next seven holes and finished the round with a birdie on 18 (offset by a bogey on 17) to finish with a far better score of 31 on the back-nine.

His 68 on the day helped extend him from four-under par to six-under par heading into the final round. According to FanDuel via PGATour.com, his +480 odds are the best of winning the hold thing, just ahead of Jon Rahm (+500) and Ludvig Aberg (+550).

A tight field in the final round

Smalley may be the favorite but things can change just as quickly for him as they did for a slew of other golfers at Aronimink Golf Club today.

Five golfers shot a 65, including Matti Schmid and Nick Taylor, who both went from 30th to a five-way tie for second with Rahm, Aberg and Aaron Rai.

Rory McIlroy, who finds himself in a four-way tie for third right now, had his strongest outing of the tournament too. He was one of another six golfers to score a 66, and boasts the fourth-best odds of rallying to win the whole thing at +700.

As for Rahm, he's one of only three golfers who has yet to score below a 70 this week (Smalley and Rai being the others) and is intent on making the PGA Championship the third major in his pursuit of a career Grand Slam.

But Smalley is in the lead for a reason. He's the only golfer to score a 69 or better in all three rounds and while his rough start today might not inspire a ton of confidence, he might only need to be one or two holes better on Sunday to take home his first-ever PGA win.

Can Smalley fend off rallies from the other players, or will he be caught lacking at Aronimink tomorrow?

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This story was originally published May 16, 2026 at 6:49 PM.