Conditions at the PGA Championship were brutal to say the least, with the majority of players over-par on Saturday. One of the players who managed to join the under-par club though was Stephan Jaeger, who produced a one-under-par round that included three birdies and two bogeys.
The German currently sits on the cusp of the top-10 and, following his third round at Oak Hill, he gave an in-depth description of how tough the conditions were, with multiple professionals showing anger throughout Saturday.
Speaking after his round of 69, Jaeger gave huge praise to his caddie, with the 33-year-old stating: "I would wipe my brim (of my hat) because I don't water dropping down when I'm putting. Immediately after you hit the shot you give it to your caddie under the umbrella, they put it in. They do most of the work, but especially with the driver you don't really want water on the club face because the ball could go anywhere.
"Any wood, honestly. It's a lot of effort. I think I'm going to feel it here in a little bit once I sit down and calm down. I think the adrenaline will wear off a little bit, and I'm going to be pretty tired. It's a lot of thinking, a lot of golf course out there with the rain. But super happy with what we dealt with today."
When it comes to playing in the rain, there are aspects that you can manage but, with the conditions so harsh, it's imperative that you are prepared. In the case of Jaeger, it was in the form of seven towels in his bag!
"I think as long as the grips are dry and the club face is dry when you hit, that's pretty much all you can do. I think we had seven towels in the bag today. Seven. Just in case if one gets wet, you get a new one that's dry. I'm sure the bag weighed about 70 pounds today, which is not fun to carry around."
Jaeger wasn't the only one to praise his caddie. Jon Rahm, who had struggled throughout at the PGA Championship, had huge praise for his bagman, Adam Hayes, with the two-time Major winner stating that: "Adam is amazing. He had plenty of dry towels out there. It got to a point where there was some water collecting on the bottom of the bag, so every time you pulled a club out, the top was wet and you just have to do a lot of work. It gets to a point where it's patience. You know things are going to happen. You know you're not going to go out there and shoot very low and just try to limit the mistakes."
He went on to add: "He is in control of the bag. So how good he is at keeping the bag dry is very, very important so I can just take the umbrella and go. He sacrifices. He must be carrying about 35 pounds of water on him right now. You know, it's the little things that maybe I don't even realize, just making sure the grips are dry, the club heads are dry and positioning himself to help me out as much as possible. On a day like today, it's a lot harder for them, I would say, than it is for us."
