(My Sportsbook) - Nick Watney held a three-shot lead over fellow American Dustin Johnson and Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy when the final round of the PGA Championship got underway Sunday.

Watney, a two-time PGA Tour winner, was seeking his first major championship at the age of 29 and trying to hold off a chase pack that included nine players within five shots of his lead at 13-under par.

With six top-10 finishes this season and more than $1.78 million in earnings, Watney is hardly a dark-horse contender. This is not Shaun Micheel, who was No. 169 in the world when he came from nowhere to win the 2003 PGA Championship.

Watney, one of the best ball-strikers on tour, was No. 31 in last week's rankings, just ahead of Geoff Ogilvy and 2009 PGA champion Y.E. Yang.

Still, his performance in this championship can be considered surprising.

Prior to this year, Watney had never posted a score better than 75 in his two previous starts at the PGA Championship, missing the cut in 2007 and '09.

After three fog-delayed rounds at Whistling Straits, however, his scorecard read: 69-68-66. He was the only player to break 70 in all three rounds.

Three shots behind Watney sat Johnson, 26, who has played well since his disastrous stint as the 54-hole leader at the U.S. Open; and the 21-year-old McIlroy, long a star in the making who is looking to build on his maiden PGA Tour win at the Quail Hollow Championship. Both players are also seeking their first major championship.

Four shots back were Australia's Jason Day, China's Wen-Chong Liang and Germany's Martin Kaymer, all looking to make some history.

Day was seven years old when Steve Elkington won the 1995 PGA Championship, the last time an Australian captured the season's fourth major. Day is looking to snap that 14-year drought.

If Kaymer wins, meanwhile, he would make Germany the eighth country with a PGA champion. A victory for Wen-Chong Liang would give China its first major championship winner, one year after Yang earned South Korea's first at the PGA.

It's not until you reach the group of players who are five shots back that you find your first contenders with prior experience at winning major championships.

The foursome is led by former U.S. Open winner Jim Furyk, prior Masters champion Zach Johnson and the '95 PGA winner Elkington. It also includes Jason Dufner.

In all likelihood, these are the players Watney will have to contend with on Sunday. He certainly won't feel a charge from Tiger Woods, who started the round 10 shots back; or Phil Mickelson, who trailed by 12 shots.

What will Sunday's final round look like? Who knows. But this is how some recent PGA Championships were won:

'NICE JOB, YANG!' (2009)

Woods' struggles, at least on the course, can be tracked back to last year's PGA Championship, which marked the first time he was ever defeated after holding the 54-hole lead at a major championship.

Yang provided us one of the most surreal finishes of all time: the sight of Woods walking up the 18th fairway surrounded by a boisterous gallery that was mostly cheering for somebody else for once.

Clinching the victory with one of the all-time great hybrid shots to 10 feet at the last hole, Yang closed with a birdie to become the first Asian-born man to win a major championship.

He shot a final-round 70 at Hazeltine, beating Woods by three, and celebrated by lifting his golf bag over his head. One spectator's words summed up the day perfectly:

"Nice job, Yang!" a young fan screamed.

PADDY'S DAY (2008)

Padraig Harrington holed a gutsy 12-foot par save to complete a two-shot victory at Oakland Hills and become the fourth player ever to win the British Open and PGA Championship in the same season, joining Walter Hagan, Nick Price and Woods in fine company.

Indeed, it was Harrington who took control of the sport while Woods was sidelined following his victory at the U.S. Open, winning back-to-back majors -- his second and third in two seasons.

Harrington was the first European to win the Wanamaker Trophy since Tommy Armour in 1930 and the first European to take home consecutive majors.

Sergio Garcia and Ben Curtis tied for second place. Still without a major, Garcia missed one of his best opportunities that Sunday when he held the lead on the back nine.

WOODSIAN (2006-07)

Woods may have been beaten by Yang at last year's PGA, but he still owns four titles at the year's final major. The last two came in back-to-back years at Medinah in 2006 and Southern Hills in '07.

His victory in '06 moved him to second place alone on the all-time list with 12 majors (he currently holds 14, four shy of Jack Nicklaus' record) and came a month after he won the British Open.

Woods shot a 68 in the final round, beating Micheel by five shots in an outcome that was never really in doubt. He won the '07 PGA in similar fashion, closing with a 69 to beat a pesky Woody Austin by two and Ernie Els by three.

That may look close, but it was not. Said Els after Saturday's third round: "If I was not a golfer -- a fan on the couch -- I'd be putting my house on him."

It was a hot, steamy four days at Southern Hills and it was still around 100 degrees when Woods hoisted the trophy on Sunday.

PHIL GETS NO. 2 (2005)

Mickelson got up and down for a birdie on the last hole to win the '05 PGA Championship by one shot over Thomas Bjorn and Elkington. He captured his second major championship in a rain-delayed Monday finish, shooting his second consecutive 72 to polish off a wire-to-wire win.

Baltusrol marked Mickelson's second win in seven majors. He famously broke through for his first at the '04 Masters, ending an 0-for-46 career drought.

It marked the first Monday finish at the PGA Championship since 1976 at Congressional.

VIJAY IN A PLAYOFF (2004)

The first time the PGA Championship was held at Whistling Straits, Vijay Singh defeated Chris DiMarco and Justin Leonard in a playoff after all three players ended at eight-under 280.

Singh birdied the first hole of a three-hole aggregate playoff, then sealed the win with back-to-back pars for his second PGA Championship.

After DiMarco and Leonard made pars on the first two playoff holes, Singh carried a one-shot lead to the final hole. He hit three-wood off the 18th tee, then knocked a utility wood onto the green to set up his winning par.