Storm breaks and bad bounces rob McIlroy of any momentum at PGA Championship 

MOMENTUM: Quail Hollow gave and then immediately took away as momentum proved an elusive thing for Rory McIlroy during a heavily delayed moving day at the PGA Championship. Pic: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

Quail Hollow gave and then immediately took away as momentum proved an elusive thing for Rory McIlroy during a heavily delayed moving day at the PGA Championship.

The Irishman was forced to wait over five hours to get his third round underway after thunderstorms and lightning caused various headaches for organisers of the year's second Major in North Carolina. After making the cut by the skin of his teeth, McIlroy was originally due to be among the earliest starters around 8am local time but instead finally got going shortly before 2pm, starting off the 10th tee with American pair Xander Schauffele and Chris Kirk.

A course that has been a second home throughout the last 15 years with four pro wins here has been much more inhospitable to McIlroy this week and Saturday proved to be a whole lot more of the same. With afternoon winds picking up significantly the Masters champion fought hard to find inroads.

After starting with four-straight pars, an opening birdie finally arrived on the reachable par-four 14th as McIlroy launched his drive close to the front right fringe. While his eagle putt never threatened, he rolled in the birdie to get back to level-par overall with the scoreable par-five 15th next up.

Moving day had seen halfway leader Jhonattan Vegas come back to the field and some of the sport’s leading names head towards him, Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm all surging into the top 10. But at even, McIlroy was still just about within striking distance seven back. Then the door closed as quickly as it had opened.

McIlroy boomed another drive down the 15th. But in keeping with a week when he unexpectedly had to switch out the big stick after tournament officials deemed his usual driver “non-conforming, his tee shot turned into trouble. With winds now whipping in off the water directly a concerning fade became very worrying as it moved further right. The ball bounded off the cart path, over a fence and into a garden. Out of bounds. Momentum gone.

A brilliant chip gave him a chance of making a most unlikely par but it came up short by three inches. At the next McIlory spanked a drive 379 yards down the fairway yet couldn't take advantage and settled for par. That first bogey soon had another for company as he bogeyed the short 17th to move to 1-over for his round and 2-over overall, nine back of a leading pack that got more and more esteemed as the day progressed.

Two-time Major winner Rahm surged into the shake-up with some sparkling play. Two birdies in his opening three holes set the tone and he’d find four more before getting to the daunting Green Mile finish.