Players braced for marathon

Stuart Appleby promised to keep attacking after moving within five strokes of the lead during the third round at the US PGA Championship.

Appleby, one of only two Australians to make the cut in all four majors this year, completed 12 holes on Saturday before bad weather halted play at Oakland Hills.

The Victorian picked up three birdies and one bogey to improve to four over, within striking distance of American leader JB Holmes, who was among eight players who did not even tee off.

Aaron Baddeley, the best placed Australian, completed only one hole, making par to remain three shots behind at two over, while Steve Elkington was five over after dropping one shot in seven holes.

"I've got to shoot some pretty good numbers coming in and tear up the course," Appleby said. "If I can get back to something like even par, that will be nice, but the whole course is a lot easier, so I don't think you'll see scores slipping down any more."

Appleby was frustrated that his momentum was halted by the delay, but he has been around too long to fret over things he cannot control.

After play was stopped shortly after 2pm, a series of thunderstorms rolled through, preventing any further competition for the rest of the day. Officials scheduled the round to resume at the crack of dawn, and were optimistic of completing the final round before darkness, but a Monday finish is a distinct possibility.

A total of 25 players completed the third round, including five of the eight Australians who made the cut, but none of the them moved into contention.

Argentine Andres Romero made the biggest move, shooting a sizzling five-under 65 that matched the course record.

"Almost perfect," Romero said of his round. "I can't believe it. I have a chance tomorrow."

That remained to be seen, although Romero's two-over 212 total had a good chance of being close to the lead starting the final round.

Romero took advantage of slightly easier conditions after the greens were watered overnight, shooting seven birdies.

It was a far cry from the second round, when he dropped six shots in three holes shortly before the turn.

Romero, who played the back nine first, had a quadruple bogey at the par-four 16th, where he put two balls into the pond guarding the green, and he also double-bogeyed the par-four 18th.

"After that I got mad and played not very concentrated the rest of the round," he admitted. "I couldn't come back after that eight, because I was mad. I was fighting for the lead and suddenly I was trying to make the cut, so I was going mad the rest of the round."

Romero, 27, is an exciting young player. He was in the hunt at last year's British Open, until his second shot at the 71st hole took a wicked bounce and ricocheted out-of-bounds. He posted his maiden US PGA Tour victory at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in March.