Haven, Wis. ? The galleries came to the double dogleg fifth hole at the PGA Championship hoping to see Tiger Woods make a run at another major. Instead they got Briny Baird.

The golfers came to Whistling Straits expecting a copy of Carnoustie. They, too, got something else entirely.

But surprise does not always equal disappointment — not with Baird and not with the golf course where he hopes to win his first PGA event. Quirky with impressive pedigrees but not well known, both are making a name for themselves this weekend.

It was moving day Saturday in the year’s final major, and Baird moved more than most, albeit more backward than forward at the end. Starting the day one stroke back, he reached the top of the leaderboard with a 34 on the front nine before a triple-bogey on No. 17 left him at 5 under through 54 holes and needing a lot of help to have any chance at his first victory.

“I said, ‘You can put yourself in position where they’re going to have to come catch you,”‘ said Baird, who was tied for 11th and seven shots behind leader Vijay Singh. “I’m a little (upset) — very (upset). But a lot of good stuff happened.”

Masters champion Phil Mickelson joined the leaders quickly after another blazing start with three birdies on his first four holes, a 40-foot par save that he called the key to his round and two more birdies to make the turn in 31, just one shot behind.

But he couldn’t keep it going, three-putting the 11th from long range and picking up only one more birdie for a 67. At least he still has a chance to become the first player since Jack Nicklaus in 1975 to win the Masters and PGA in the same year, and he can break new ground as the first to finish in the top three at all four majors.

“The only major championship I’ve won is the only major I’ve led after 54 holes,” said Mickelson, tied with four other golfers, including Ernie Els, at 8-under 208. “It’s tough to catch up on Sunday, but it’s a lot better than being six back. I’d like to be in the lead or tied, but I like it a lot better now than I did five hours ago.”

Els, a runner-up at the Masters and British Open this year, hasn’t given up either on his chance to win the third leg of the career Grand Slam.

Phil Mickelson celebrates a birdie on the ninth hole. He was four strokes behind the leader after Saturday's third round in Haven, Wis.

“Anything can happen on this course,” Els said.

A lot did on a picture-perfect day at Whistling Straits:

l Stuart Appleby thought he shot 68 and was still in the mix when he walked off the 18th green, but then had to take a four-shot penalty on the par-5 16th. Hitting into a bunker beyond the ropes, where the gallery had been walking, he removed some twigs and leaves (two-shot penalty) and then grounded his club (two-shot penalty).

The PGA of America said earlier in the week all bunkers would be treated as hazards.

“You talk about saving shots in a round of golf,” he said. “I basically could have saved four strokes by reading a piece of paper inside the locker room.”

l Scott Verplank, 14th in the Ryder Cup standings, was 1 under for his round when he went to the bathroom after hitting his tee shot on No. 5. Running to catch up to his group, he stepped in a grass-covered hole and twisted his right ankle — the same foot that has ailed him since the Masters — and shot 77.

l Baird pulled his tee shot over the cliff left of the par-3 17th. He didn’t make it up the 40-foot slope, then had to play back toward the fairway some 80 feet from the flag and wound up with a triple-bogey.

l Tiger Woods was 3 under through six holes and standing over his tee shot when a photographer inadvertently clicked his camera. Woods badly pulled his shot, and it caromed off a mound and through the green, setting up a bogey in a round where he couldn’t afford any.

“I should get my focus back but I couldn’t do it,” he said.