Oakland Hills holding up in round 3

Once more, morning was the time to score at Oakland Hills.

Hours from when leader J.B. Holmes was to tee off Saturday at the U.S. PGA Championship, the wind was already whipping through the layout in suburban Detroit, creating havoc with some early rounds but also offering some opportunities to climb the leaderboard.

Judging by early scores in the third round, the course was permitting low rounds to those who started early.

Andres Romero was at 3 over through 11 holes, posting five birdies to pick up four shots on par. Thailand's Prayad Marksaeng was also at 3 over after 10 holes after starting the day at 6 over.

Holmes was at 1-under 139 through 36 holes, a shot better than Ben Curtis, Justin Rose and Charlie Wi. All were scheduled to tee off in mid-afternoon.

Holmes had a 2-under 68 Friday morning when Curtis and Rose posted tournament-low 67s. The first-round co-leaders, Robert Karlsson and Jeev Milkha Singh, both had their 68s after starting their rounds in the morning.

Chez Reavie, playing without a marker, completed his round in less than 3 hours and shot a 78. In the next group, Peter Lonard shot his third consecutive 74 and Richard Green had a 79.

"I'm a 74-74-74 man," Lonard joked. "I'm very consistent."

The Australian said it appeared the pin placements were more accessible than in the earlier rounds, but he said that gusting wind and the crispy and quick greens would cause lots of problems for the field.

"If they don't water the greens during the day - as I think they did on Thursday - the greens were pretty hard and firm and fast at 9 o'clock so they're going to be really firm and fast by 2:30 or 4 o'clock," he said. "This is probably the toughest course I've ever played. The rough is high, and even if you're a good driver you're going to miss four fairways. And the greens are tricky; you're always putting up slopes."

Lonard said he thought that a score of 3 or 4 over might win the tournament.

"It's rough," he said. "But somebody's going to enjoy it by the end of the week."

Others near the top of the leaderboard who had yet to tee off in the third round were David Toms (141), Sergio Garcia (142) and Phil Mickelson (143).