Mito Pereira with three-shot lead at US PGA as Tiger Woods withdraws

Chile’s Mito Pereira will take a three-shot lead into the final round of the US PGA Championship, which will be played without the presence of a previous winner at Southern Hills.

Moments after Pereira birdied the 18th to bring round three to a close, tournament officials announced that Tiger Woods had withdrawn from a major for the first time in his career.

The news came as no real surprise given that Woods had earlier struggled to a nine-over-par 79, by two shots his worst ever score in the event and one which left him in joint last of the 79 players that made the cut.

Whether Woods – who won the 2007 US PGA at Southern Hills – will contest next month’s US Open remains to be seen, although he has previously stated his intention of teeing it up in the 150th Open Championship on the Old Course at St Andrews in July.

Playing in just the second major of his career, Pereira’s third round of 69 gave him a three-shot advantage over England’s Matt Fitzpatrick and halfway leader Will Zalatoris, with Cameron Young a shot further back.

Ireland’s Seamus Power will start the final round six off the pace, with Rory McIlroy 10 strokes behind after a disappointing 74 on Saturday.

Round of the day

Webb Simpson made the cut on the mark of four over par, but ended the day in a tie for 10th following a superb 65.

Shot of the day

Rory McIlroy was inches away from a hole-in-one on the 14th.

Statistic of the day

Tweet of the day

Hundreds of fans had complete faith in Tiger Woods as he played a recovery shot on the fifth

Key tee times (all BST)

1315 Abraham Ancer, Seamus Power
1325 Will Zalatoris, Cameron Young
1335 Mito Pereira, Matt Fitzpatrick

Weather forecast

After a chilly start with temperatures in the upper 40s, mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies will help temperatures rebound nicely, with highs warming into the upper 60s for the afternoon. It will be a breezy day with a northeast wind of 10-15 gusting to 20 mph at times.