The PGA Championship leaderboard has been topped by newcomers and unknowns for most of the week. Now it seems this trend will continue to the end as the PGA Championship leaderboard results become finalized today.
Few fans had heard of Jason Dufner, Brendan Steele, Keegan Bradley or Scott Verplank before these last few days. It now appears that one of them will become a first time major winner after they showed no signs of fading back on Saturday's third round.
Dufner and Steele are tied for the lead at -7 overall - even though this is Steele's very first major championship appearance and Dufner has never won a PGA event. Bradley is one shot back although he is a rookie, while the 47-year-old Verplank sits alone in fourth at -5.
The only recognizable name still on top of the PGA Championship leaderboard is first round leader Steve Stricker in fifth place at -4. Masters winner Charl Schwartzel - himself an unknown when he won the Masters four months ago - joins Adam Scott and David Toms among those tied for eighth at -2. Jim Furyk and Lee Westwood are among those tied for 13'th at -1 and will need a lot of help to win.
While there are few star players in contention going into the last round, this is a golden opportunity for the likes of Dufner and Steele to become stars by winning today. Dufner, Steele, Bradley and Verplank have never come this close to winning a major - so whoever wins will complete an improbable week of success.
That won't make as many headlines as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson or Rory McIlroy winning. Since Woods and Mickelson are in major slumps and McIlroy got hurt to start the tournament, this unlikely PGA Championship leaderboard is the next best thing to seeing a big star win.
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