HAVEN, Wis. - Ernie Els has suffered heartbreak during the final round of every major in 2004.
This time, it may have happened a day early.
Tied for the lead heading to the back nine at Whistling Straits on Saturday, Els made two crushing bogeys over the final four holes to fall four strokes behind leader Vijay Singh at the PGA Championship.
"I just couldn't get it quite on target," Els said. "I struggled a little bit off the tee and it ended up costing me. I know I can hit it a lot better than the way I played."
Els will have to if he wants to end the major disappointment of this season, which has seen him finish runnerup at the Masters and British Open and tied for ninth at the U.S. Open. During the third round, Els hit just four of 14 fairways and needed 31 putts. The 18th hole was particularly disappointing, as Els, for some reason, elected to hit an iron off the tee at the 500-yard par 4. He missed the fairway, and had no chance to reach the green, resulting in a bogey. "I have to play better," Els said. "I have to play as good as I can and remember that there is a lot of golf left. I have to believe that I still have a chance.
"The toughest thing is just staying patient. I just have to try to hang in there somehow and cough up some kind of a round."
COSTLY PENALTIES: Stuart Appleby played near-flawless golf, making four consecutive 3s at one point and finishing with what he thought was 4-under-par 68. Then he got the bad news: a four-stroke penalty for a breach of the rules at the 16th hole. Appleby hit his tee shot to the right into a bunker that was outside of the ropes. Before the tournament, PGA of America officials announced that all of the bunkers at Whistling Straits would be considered hazards. Appleby apparently didn't get the memo.
At the 16th, Appleby removed some twigs and leaves in the bunker, which meant a two-stroke penalty (Rule 14.4c).
He then grounded his club in the bunker, adding another two-stroke penalty (Rule13.4b). That meant his par 5 went down as a 9 and his 68 turned into 72.
"Basically, everyone had been walking through that bunker," Appleby said. "You have 30,000 people walking through there. I just don't understand how it becomes part of the course. So I lose two shots moving the piece of grass and two shots on grounding my club."
Appleby, however, admitted he had no one to blame but himself.
"You talk about saving shots in a round of golf," he said. "I basically could have saved four strokes by reading a piece of paper (about the rule) inside the locker room."
SHANKS: Even the pros have their ugly moments.
Darren Clarke had one at the 17th hole, where he shanked his shot so far right his caddie needed to determine yardage for his second shot to the green.
"I have no idea where that came from," he said. "It was completely out of the blue. I was hitting great shots and that one just came out of the blue. I was hitting a 4-iron and hit as good of a shank as you can see. It was one to be proud of."
RYDER RACE: Steve Flesch is ninth in the Ryder Cup standings and will make his first U.S. team today if he can hold his position among the top 10.
But it won't be easy.
If the team was determined Saturday, Florida grad Chris DiMarco and Chris Riley would move into the top 10, bumping out Flesch and Jay Haas. But a lot can happen. Flesch shot 67 to move within two shots of the top 10 at the PGA. Haas, who shot 71, was tied for 11th. Only players who finish in the top 10 earn points.
"Obviously I think everybody would rather make it on points, but there's a couple of guys who could knock me out," Flesch said. "I just want captain Hal( Sutton) to know that I'm going to go away kicking and screaming. He can make his own decisions, but I'm doing the best I can to make it on my own."
Sutton will have two at-large selections he will announce Monday.
BAIRD'S BUNKER: Briny Baird was in contention at 8 under until a poor tee shot at the 17th found a deep bunker next to the green. It took him two to get out, then he three-putted for a crushing triple-bogey 6. Baird shot 75 and was seven strokes behind Singh.
"I hit it left, it's as simple as that," he said. "You can't hit it left. You have all the way to the clubhouse right, if you want, and you're probably not going to make any worse than 4.
"Three putts was bad, but I could have been down there a lot longer than that."
