The 2026 PGA Championship is now 54 holes complete, and it might be time to ask who is the third round leader Alex Smalley? Well, the native of Rochester, New York is 29 years old, has never won on the PGA Tour before, and is ranked 78th in the world.
Smalley qualified for the 2026 PGA Championship because he was 19th on the list in PGA Championship points with 310,000. The top 70 on this list over the last year qualify for the second major of the year. Smalley has been very consistent this season with only one missed cut. That came at the Famers Insurance Open in January. Smalley’s best result was a seventh place finish at the Cadillac Championship.
After two rounds at the 2026 PGA Championship, Smalley was the co-leader alongside Maverick McNealy of Portola Valley, California. Now he is the leader by himself at -6. In the third round, Smalley shot a Saturday score of two-under-par 68. He had seven birdies and five bogeys. Smalley birdied the seventh, ninth, 10th, 13th, 15th, 16th, and 18th holes, and bogeyed the first, second, fourth, eighth, and 17th holes.
There are nine golfers in contention. Those two back of Smalley and in second place at -4 are Canadian Nick Taylor, England’s Aaron Rai, Germany’s Matti Schmid, Spain’s Jon Rahm (2021 United States Open and 2023 Masters champion), and Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg. Those three back and in seventh place at -3 are Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy (the 2011 United States Open champion, the 2012 and 2014 PGA Champion, the 2014 British Open champion, and the 2025 and 2026 Masters champion), American Xander Schauffele (2024 PGA Championship winner and 2024 British Open champion), McNealy, and American Patrick Reed (the 2018 Masters champion).
