The problem for those wanting a multiplayer spectacle during the weekend of the PGA Championship was that it required two things to happen. One, Brooks Koepka would have to start playing like someone else. Two, someone like Dustin Johnson or Justin Rose would have to start playing like Brooks Koepka.
In bursts, such hope existed. Both Johnson and Rose birdied the first, for instance, and Koepka somehow did not. At the ninth, Koepka missed from the sort of range that has troubled Rose all week, and at the 10th he followed Johnson's lead, missing the fairway to the right and making back-to-back bogeys for the first time in the tournament.
Eighteen months ago, Rose beat Johnson by 10 in the final round of the HSBC Champions in China, and it was enough to overturn an eight-stroke deficit. Johnson shot 77 then and he shot 77 just last month to squander a lead in the Heritage. Such numbers might tell you that no lead is big enough, not while there are 18 holes still to play.
The trouble is, while Koepka at last began to look fallible in a round of 70, everybody else had been that way since Thursday and he's built quite the head start in the meantime. And, as he bogeyed 10, it so happened that Johnson bogeyed 11, Matt Wallace bogeyed 12, Rose bogeyed 13 and Jazz Janewattananond bogeyed 14. Koepka had started the day with a seven-shot lead and that's exactly where it remained as he unleashed a cathartic drive down the 11th.
Leaderboard
-12 Koepka
-5 Varner III, Janewattananod, List, Johnson
-4 Matsuyama, Wallace
Johnson edged closer with a birdie at the 12th but could not take advantage of the 13th and that was the cadence of the round: what mistakes Koepka made felt insignificant, because whoever had gotten within five or six would soon fall back to seven or eight. Making a run at Bethpage is next to impossible.
Rose met his end at the 14th, where a double-bogey saw him fall a dozen off the lead, for those still counting. Johnson at least avoided a similar fate, holing from a fair distance to drop just one shot, but soon it was two: Koepka, a hole behind, was about to curl home a birdie putt after a wayward drive went unpunished.
For a time, Luke List appeared comfortable fending off the Black Course and actually closing the gap, but it didn't last. Five years older than Koepka and no less powerful, List is the sort of player who vexes those of us who watch this stuff every week. Effortless pulling apart of monster golf courses is his shtick, but so far he's not managed to do it for 72 holes and it wasn't much of a surprise that he couldn't quite finish off 18 here.
All of these players had the chance to at least play in the final group, but that dubious honour instead goes to Harold Varner III. The world number 174 had to earn it, going bogey-free in a round of 67, and if this tournament does not provide the drama it promised it at least provides a story or two. Varner is one of just two black golfers on the PGA Tour, the other being Tiger Woods. Should he pull off the unthinkable the impact might well be lasting.
Ultimately, Koepka's lead began at seven, and seven is where it remains entering the final round. Only a shocking collapse or one of the great rounds in the history of golf can deny him a place in the history books. Should this behemoth win on Sunday, a fortnight after his 29th birthday, he will become the first player ever to have successfully defended both the US Open and the PGA Championship, and the first player ever to hold two majors simultaneously having defended them both.
How will he remain focused? This is, after all, a player who has spoken more than once of his ambivalence towards the sport he happens to be extremely good at. Koepka does not watch golf in his spare time and reckons the final few holes should be dispensed with because it simply takes too long. Certainly, a few of his victims here would've welcomed a quicker kill.
Perhaps he will set his sights on certain numbers. Should he reach 17-under - unlikely, but not impossible - he'll enhance his own 72-hole scoring record in the US PGA. Should he win by nine, he will usurp Rory McIlroy, whose eight-stroke demolition job in 2012 stands as the most dominant performance since they changed the format from match play to stroke play in 1958.
It is quite rare to talk about records like these before they've been broken, but that's what Koepka has done to this championship. Ever since a closing burst on Friday night it has been a case of how far, and the answer is probably as far as he likes.
There will at least be something for someone to play for on Sunday, assuming if we may that Koepka will not collapse.
For starters, the likes of Varner, List and Janewattananond will have eyes on a top-four finish to secure an invite to next year's Masters. The latter in particular also has a realistic chance to climb inside the world's top 60 and earn a place in the US Open and these are no small achievements for a spindly 23-year-old from the other side of the world, one who has been professional for almost a decade but is only now starting to fulfil his considerable potential.
Until this week, Janewattananond had been best known for chipping in for eagle at the final hole of European Tour Qualifying School to earn the final card available back in 2017, not three weeks after those events in China where not only did Johnson collapse, but Koepka did too.
Perhaps we ought to remember that strange things do happen in golf, even if three days of the PGA Championship have so far only confirmed that which we knew already: this Koepka is bloody good.
Tee-times and key groups
Fourth round (all times BST, US unless stated)
12:35 David Lipsky, Rich Beem
12:45 Max Homa, Joost Luiten (Ned)
12:55 Corey Conners (Can), Marty Jertson
13:05 Kevin Tway, Kurt Kitayama
13:15 Ross Fisher (Eng), Andrew Putnam
13:25 Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa), Beau Hossler
13:35 Pat Perez, Rob Labritz
13:45 Charley Hoffman, Henrik Stenson (Swe)
13:55 Justin Harding (SA), Cameron Smith (Aus)
14:05 Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng), Lucas Herbert (Aus)
14:15 Paul Casey (Eng), Phil Mickelson
14:25 Cameron Champ, Alex Noren (Swe)
14:35 Graeme McDowell (NI), Ryan Vermeer
14:45 JT Poston, Thomas Pieters (Bel)
14:55 Kelly Kraft, Daniel Berger
15:05 Brandt Snedeker, Mike Lorenzo-Vera (Fra)
15:15 Thorbjorn Olesen (Den), Jason Kokrak
15:35 Bronson Burgoon, J.J. Spaun
15:45 Gary Woodland, Keegan Bradley
15:55 Francesco Molinari (Ita), Zach Johnson
16:05 Billy Horschel, Webb Simpson
16:15 Emiliano Grillo (Arg), Joel Dahmen
16:25 Matt Kuchar, Charles Howell III
16:35 Aaron Wise, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng)
16:45 Haotong Li (Chn), Adam Hadwin (Can)
16:55 Rory McIlroy (NI), Tony Finau
17:05 Abraham Ancer (Mex), Jason Day (Aus)
17:15 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha), Adam Long
17:25 Louis Oosthuizen (SA), Shane Lowry (Ire)
17:35 Jimmy Walker, Scott Piercy
17:45 Justin Rose (Eng), Sam Burns
17:55 Chez Reavie, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng)
18:05 Lucas Glover, Lucas Bjerregaard (Den)
18:25 Danny Lee (NZ), Danny Willett (Eng)
18:35 Sung Kang (Kor), Rickie Fowler
18:45 Jordan Spieth, Erik Van Rooyen (SA)
18:55 Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott (Aus)
19:05 Matt Wallace (Eng), Xander Schauffele
19:15 Dustin Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn)
19:25 Jazz Janewattananond (Tha), Luke List
19:35 Brooks Koepka, Harold Varner III
