World number one Scottie Scheffler has allowed himself to think about what winning the PGA Championship would mean after a stunning third round put him three shots clear at the top of the leaderboard.

Scheffler had been three shots behind Jhonattan Vegas, who led at the halfway stage, going into the weekend and holed a bogey on the first to drop further back.

But after a three-and-a-half-hour delay due to thunderstorms, Scheffler surged three clear, getting an eagle on the 14th before three birdies in his last four holes to close on a score of 65.

"It [winning] would mean a lot. These tournaments are very important to us and you work your whole life to have a chance to win major tournaments, any tournament for that matter," he said, as quoted by Sky Sports.

"Tomorrow I have a good opportunity to go out there and try and win the golf tournament, but it's going to take another really good round.

"There's a lot of great players chasing me on the leaderboard and someone is going to put up a great round.

"It's up to me to go out there and have another really good round and finish off the tournament, I'm looking forward to the challenge."

Elsewhere at Quail Hollow, Bryan DeChambeau endured a difficult end to his third round as he dropped three shots between holes 16 and 18.

Leads by 3.#PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/sOlda03wRq

— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 18, 2025

DeChambeau's troubles saw him slip to T8 and five under, level with US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley.

"I played really good, just really disappointed with the way it ended," he said.

"I could have easily made a birdie on 17 compared to making double [bogey], but the wind flipped. 

"I left a few out there, had a couple great up-and-downs and made some birdies, but man, I was right there to shoot six or seven under today, but just didn't capitalise.

"It felt the same way in the first two rounds. It's really weird, I'm playing great golf, but just not scoring the way I can."

Rory McIlroy's slim hopes of back-to-back majors, meanwhile, are over after shooting one over to drop to T49 with a total score of two over after three rounds.