2021 PGA Championship: As winds shift, expect a different Kiawah for PGA final round

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – The winds that have battered and buffeted players for three days at the PGA Championship are forecast to flip to a new direction for the final round and transform the Ocean Course into an entirely different test.

“I think it will feel like a different course,” said Jordan Spieth, whose 68 on Saturday matched the best card from the early starters. “Every hole will play very different. I think that’s really cool. I kind of wish we had two and two days.”

After two days of incessant winds from the northeast, which made Nos. 14 through 18 play particularly tough, the breeze shifted to the southeast Saturday, creating more cross winds on many holes. But for Sunday’s final round, the direction will shift to the southwest with gusts in the afternoon up to 22 mph.

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For many in the field, the shift will create an entirely new set of challenges, but Rickie Fowler has at least an idea of what to expect.

“Two weekends ago we were here, [Patrick] Cantlay and I, and we played southwest wind for two days. I’ve seen the course in that wind. It’s not easy,” said Fowler, who rebounded with a third-round 69. “The first four are easier and the last five are a little easier. But No. 5 plays straight into the wind, the par 3, and then No. 6 through 13 is in off the left, which as a righty is not necessarily your favorite wind to go play in, so it’s a tough stretch in the middle of the course.”