Baird falters after a strong start, enabling Singh to surge to lead

HAVEN, Wis. (AP) -- The galleries came to the double dogleg fifth hole at the PGA Championship hoping to see Tiger Woods make a run at another major. Instead they got Briny Baird.
The golfers came to Whistling Straits expecting a copy of Carnoustie. They, too, got something else entirely.
But surprise does not always equal disappointment -- not with Baird and not with the golf course where he hopes to win his first PGA event. They are both quirky and well-pedigreed, if not well-known, and both are making a name for themselves this weekend.
It was moving day Saturday in the year's final major, and Baird moved more than most. Starting the day one stroke back, Baird reached the top of the leader-board with a 34 on the front nine before a triple bogey on No. 17 left him at 5 under through 54 holes.
"I said, 'You can put yourself in position where they're going to have to come catch you,' " said Baird, who was tied for 11th and seven shots behind leader Vijay Singh. "I'm a little [upset] -- very [upset]. But a lot of good stuff happened."
Baird falters
Baird improved to 10-under with a birdie on No. 6, but Singh, Els and Justin Leonard soon joined him and then passed him. Baird dropped a stroke with a bogey on the par-4 15th and fell off the leader-board entirely with a triple bogey on No. 17.
Baird was on the tee when a cheer came up on the 16th green that may have caused him to drive into a bunker. He couldn't reach the green with his second shot and found himself hard against the railroad ties that keep the putting surface from falling into Lake Michigan.
A three-putt hole
He had to chip away from the pin to get a clear line, and then he three-putted from 80 feet for a 6.
"You can't hit it left," he said disgustedly. "You have all the way to the clubhouse on the right and you're probably going to make no worse than a four. "I hit a bad shot."
Els was having some trouble of his own. He was within two strokes of the lead when he bogeyed the 15th to fall to 9-under. He dropped another stroke on the 18th and finished the day three behind Justin Leonard and tied for third with Phil Mickelson, Chris Riley, Stephen Ames and Darren Clarke.