NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pennsylvania, May 17 (Reuters) - Pre-tournament longshot Alex Smalley, who prior to this week had never been a contender in a major, heads into the final round of the PGA Championship on Sunday holding a two-shot lead and looking to hold off a packed leaderboard eager to pounce.
There were a tournament-record 22 players within four shots of the lead entering the final round at Aronimink Golf Club, where Smalley was the 18- and 36-hole co-leader before claiming the first outright 54-hole lead of his career with a two-under-par 68 on Saturday that brought him to six under on theweek.
Smalley, whose best result in a major is a share of 23rd place at the 2023 PGA Championship, will set off at 2:35 p.m. ET (1835 GMT) alongside Germany's Matti Schmid, a final group comprising two players without a PGA Tour victory. The last time that happened was at the 2022 U.S. Open with Matt Fitzpatrick and Will Zalatoris.
Also starting the day two shots off the pace along with Schmid are the penultimate pairing of Spaniard Jon Rahm and Canadian Nick Taylor and the third-to-last group featuring Swede Ludvig Aberg and England's Aaron Rai.
Among those a further shot back are Masters champion Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele.
Defending champion and world number one Scottie Scheffler, who started the day in a share of 23rd place and five shots off the pace, was even par through six holes after offsetting an early birdie with a bogey.
Kurt Kitayama, who went out in the day's fourth group, tied the major championship record for the lowest score in a final round with a sizzling bogey-free, seven-under-par 63 to reach three under on the week.
Kitayama joins Brad Faxon (1995) as the only golfers to card a final-round 63 at a PGA Championship and the ninth player to do so in the final round of a major.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in TorontoEditing by Toby Davis)
