A TRIO of birdies in the closing five holes continued Eddie Pepperell's climb up the field at the US PGA Championship.

The strong finish sealed a three-under-par 67 in the third round for the Abingdon golfer, backing up the 66 he finished off earlier on Saturday.

It moved Pepperell into the top 20 at Bellerive, Missouri, heading into Sunday's final round.

The Frilford Heath member had an early start on Saturday, returning to complete his second round, which had been suspended due to thunderstorms on Friday night.

After a quick break, he was back out for the third round.

Playing the back nine first, Pepperell picked up birdies on the 11th and 17th to reach four-under for the tournament.

Back-to-back bogeys immediately followed to send him back down the standings.

But the 27-year-old rallied, with birdies at the fifth, eighth and ninth.

It put him eight shots beind leader Brooks Koepka, who still had nine holes of his third round to play.