Burns Takes One-Stroke Lead Into U.S. Open Sunday
Adam Scott makes the last group after a 67 whil others move into contention. Plus, Oakmont's 15th goes birdie-free, Jack and Johnny talk, Quotables, and Sunday's forecast.
Round Three By The Numbers
-4: Leading score of Sam Burns (69)
67: Low third round by Carlos Ortiz, Adam Scott
82: High third round by Cam Davis
0: Former U.S. Open champions in the top 20
12: Rounds under par Saturday
72.671: Third round scoring average
0: Birdies at the 15th hole Saturday
1: Birdie at the 1st hole (J.J. Spaun)
Upper 14s: Stimpmeter readings after Saturday mowing
1.00”: Of rain Friday night into early Saturday
7,331: Third round yardage
5.25: Rough height after “topping off”
253: 8th hole yardage Saturday (299 on Friday)
65.67%: 8th hole green hit in regulation Saturday (29.68% Friday)
4:22: Time in hours and minutes for final twosome
Yet another front blew through early into Saturday’s third round. This time, as leaders battled through the latest burst that’s softened up Oakmont, the 125th U.S. Open began looking like we’d be drowing in Sunday boredom.
But thanks to a late burst by multiple contenders at the 17th hole along with the continued steady play of 36-hole leader Sam Burns, there is hope for another grand Oakmont finish.
As Saturday’s leaderboard crystalized with Burns, J.J. Spaun, Adam Scott and Viktor Hovland late in another grossly slow round, NBC’s Dan Hicks reminded us that 51 of the last 55 U.S. Open champions started round four in the top 5.
This being Oakmont, where zany stuff happens and otherwise nice golfers morph into Persons of Interest, there are caveats.
Going back to Johnny Miller’s epic 63 in 1973, three of the last five U.S. Opens at Oakmont saw the eventual winner come back from four or more strokes in round four. In the last two U.S. Opens at Oakmont, both winners were four strokes back after 54. While that keeps things within the current top five players, Oakmont’s rain softened conditions ever-so-slightly open the door for a Johnny.
Burns only made two bogeys Saturday despite hitting just seven of 14 fairways.
He’s hit only 23 of 42 fairways against a relentless chorus of “this is an old school U.S. Open where you must hit fairways.”
So we’ll see if he can pull it off Sunday playing against the conventional wisdom, much of which is fueled by anti-rollback types eager to see more rough and less pesky regulating all to keep their favorite ball company sending free product.
The fan favorite Saturday was clearly Adam Scott, the soon-to-be 45-year-old Australian who would be the second oldest U.S. Open champion in history behind three-time winner Hale Irwin (1990 Medinah).
According to Elias Sports Bureau, Scott the 2013 Masters champion would break the record for the longest time between a player's first and second major. The current mark is shared by Julius Boros (1952-1963) and Ben Crenshaw (1984-1995), who each went 11 years between their first and second majors.
Quotable
Sam Burns on what a win would mean. “As a kid growing up, you dream about winning major championships and that's why we practice so hard and work so hard. All these guys in this field I think would agree that to have the opportunity to win a major is special. I'm definitely really excited for tomorrow.”
Adam Scott on possibly winning Sunday. “Everyone out here has got their journey, you know. Putting ourselves in these positions doesn't just happen by fluke. It's not easy to do it. I really haven't been in this kind of position for five or six years, or feeling like I'm that player. But that's what I'm always working towards. It's not that easy to figure it all out. But if I were to come away with it tomorrow, it would be a hell of a round of golf and an exclamation point on my career.”
J.J. Spaun on his approach that’s seen him make 11 birdies and eight bogeys through 54 holes. “I'm trying to just let the course come to me. I'm not putting too much pressure -- and I think it's easy to not have the expectations out at a U.S. Open, especially like Oakmont, to have to feel like you got to get everything up-and-down or convert, so I'm just like, okay, if I make a bogey, I make a bogey. Everybody's making bogeys. So I think the key is not making double bogeys.”
Viktor Hovland on his game. “A little bitter about my driver. Just can't seem to figure it out. It's like a lingering problem all this year, so it's kind of pissing me off.”
Carlos Ortiz on what’s fueling his improvement this week. “I've worked hard on my short game with Pete, my long game with my coach Eduardo Miguel, and the putting with Eric, so I've been doing a good job on working on all the areas and I feel like I am a stronger player than I was before.”
Scottie Scheffler on adrenaline. “When I woke up after the PGA Championship this year, I literally felt like I got hit by a bus. Like I felt terrible. And it's just part of the adrenaline, part of competing for four days on a really difficult golf course, keeping your head in it for 72 holes, which is a long time, and just mentally it's exhausting. Physically it's a grind too. So if that's how I felt after the PGA, I can only imagine how Rory felt after winning the career Grand Slam, and it's not easy to show up every week out here and play well.
Rory McIlroy on just making the cut. “It's much easier being on the cut line when you don't really care if you're here for the weekend or not. (Laughing.) I was sort of thinking, do I really want two more days here or not. So it makes it easier to play better when you're in that mindset.”
McIlroy on what he’s looking for tomorrow. “Hopefully a round in under four and a half hours and get out of here.”
Oakmont Director of Golf Devin Gee after playing as a marker with Phillip Barbaree on Saturday. “I was surprised by -- the greens certainly weren't firm, but they were firmer than I thought they would be after that rain last night, and they were fast this morning.”
This And That
The USGA announced early on Saturday that due to rain and lack of access to select areas on the course, fans choosing not to weather the conditions could receive a full refund. Judging by the gallery sizes? There were few takers.
I can confirm from a club source the accuracy and location of Tron Carter’s Tweeted photo showing damaged lockers in Oakmont’s historic clubhouse. This act of vandalism is the work of 2023 U.S Open champion Wyndham Clark, who missed Friday’s cut dropping F-bombs before capping his day off by damaging the ancient lockers used by everyone from Bobby Jones to Arnold Palmer to Jack Nicklaus to Tiger Woods. You may recall that Clark recently hurled a club at the PGA Championship which nearly hit a marshal but inspired a press release from his sponsors at TMobile.