After being forced to play half of his third round early Sunday morning while some players were still working on the practice range, Rory McIlory carded a 5-under 67 to take a three-stroke lead on the field heading into the fourth round at the 2012 PGA Championship.

In search of his second career major title, McIlory, who currently sits at 7-under par, leads Carl Pettersson by three shots with 18 holes left to play on a busy afternoon of golf from South Carolina's beautiful Kiawah Island. The two men will join Bo Van Pelt, who may benefit from wrapping up his impressive third round score of 67 yesterday, in the day's final group scheduled to tee off at 1:45 p.m. ET.

Although he fired a 4-under 68 in his third round to move back up the leaderboard, Cleveland native Jason Dufner remains 2-over for the tournament and is in a tie for 31st overall. Dufner will play his final round with Justin Rose and Bubba Watson, but will need a bit of help from his peers if he plans to leap back into contention.

Stay with this StoryStream for more PGA coverage, and be sure to check out SB Nation's golf hub for more news and analysis from Kiawah Island.