DeChambeau Takes U.S. Open Lead
A wild, entertaining, and slow third round ends with the 2020 champion three ahead. McIlroy, Cantlay and Pavon lurk. Plus, 13th hole carnage and NBC has a rough day.
Round Three By The Numbers
3: Lead for DeChambeau (67) over McIlroy (69), Cantlay (70), Pavon (69)
3: Straight sub-par rounds for DeChambeau, the only player to do so
73.188: Third round scoring average (par 70)
66: Low third round (Collin Morikawa)
4:28: Round time for the final twosome Saturday.
18: Minutes between the final twosome’s finish and prior group
7,426: Course yardage Saturday, over 100 yards shorter than Friday.
323 yards: Third hole yardage Saturday (316 yards as the crow flies)
3: Players to drive and hold the green
66: Low third round (Collin Morikawa)
+1,198: Pinehurst No. 2 play to par through three rounds (+1,211 in 2014, +1,613 in 2005, +1690 in 1999)
+401: Par 3s through three rounds
+905: Par 4s through three rounds
-108: Par 5s through three rounds
Here’s what we know: the Golf God’s did not take this week off.
After disappointing us way too often at recent majors they’ve cooked up a Sunday doozy: peak Pinehurst in cooperative weather, a diverse leaderboard, looming man-drama capable of inspiring or deflating a key combatant, and, best of all, a U.S. Open that should come down to the very end. Assuming NBC can stay on the air.
Here’s what we know about the leaderboard:
A U.S. Open leader has held a three-shot cushion entering the final round 17 times but has only converted nine times and won the U.S. Open just twice with such a lead over the last seven opportunities.
Nine of the last 10 U.S. Opens were won by a player who was among the top 2 at the end of Round 3. (Jon Rahm is the outlier after starting the 2021 final round T-6 after 54 holes.) That would narrow this to a four-man race.
DeChambeau posted his seventh consecutive round of 69 or lower in major championship play.
Rory McIlroy will enter the final round of the U.S. Open inside the top 10 for the sixth year in a row.
McIlroy is paired with Patrick Cantlay on Sunday, the first time since last year’s Ryder Cup bro-haha with caddie-turned-wacky-towel-waiver Joe LaCava and since labeling Cantlay a “dick.”
Cantlay has just one top 5 in 28 career major starts.
The speedy Matthieu Pavon of France will play with the not-speedy DeChambeau Sunday.
Third-round leader Ludvig Aberg is five strokes back after tripling the short 13th.
DeChambeau has hit 26 +330 yard drives this week, seven more than Wyndham Clark and eight more than McIlroy.
DeChambeau is never dull. He talked about salting his balls after the round.
The final pairing of Ludvig Aberg and DeChambeau fell behind by a long par 5 Sunday and undoubtedly had NBC execs wondering if they would have to move the final minutes of action over to Telemundo 2 to pave the way for Olympic swimming trials. Mercifully, the final twosome picked it up after DeChambeau fumbled the 16th hole before a brilliant bounce-back birdie at the 17th to solidify his three-stroke lead.
Before we get to key quotes, the 13th hole, NBC’s rough day and the uneventful weather forecast, the Sunday essentials:
Here is the leaderboard:
And the highlights:
Quotable
Hit play above to hear Bryson discussing salty balls.
DeChambeau on being a fan favorite at Pinehurst. “It just gives me a spike in my adrenaline and allows me to focus more on delivering for the fans and for myself and for my family. It just inspires me.”
DeChambeau on a mid-round adjustment from physio Ryan Overturf: “It was tougher to get through on a couple shots. It's okay. I've had it for a long time now. It's just something that popped up. I've been playing a lot of good golf lately, and working on my house, trying to get my house finished, so I haven't really had time to rest like I want to. The two weeks I had off after PGA, I was really grinding and focusing on some stuff there. I wasn't really able to rest.”
McIlroy on embracing the questions that the golf course asks of you. “I think there's holes where you have to be aggressive. There's holes where you have to be conservative. There's hole locations that you can take on and hit wedges close to. There's hole locations you've got to stay away from. It tests your chipping. It tests your putting. It obviously tests your mental fortitude more than any other golf tournament.”
Cantlay on the course. “Pinehurst seems like a great golf course for me. You hit a lot of fairways and play smart around here, and you can move up the leaderboard with pars and just a few birdies. I played really smart today and was happy with how I grinded it out.”
Pavon on what people should know about him. “Nothing special. I just love golf. That's the thing. I'm just so happy to compete here inAmerica. It has been a remarkable journey for me. I just love so much competing here, and this is what I likepeople to know about me. I'm a pretty regular guy, and it'sjust awesome to be here and having a chance to share maybe the last round in a major in the last group with a guy like probably Bryson tomorrow.”
Aberg on his 13th hole triple bogey. “Obviously what happened to me on 13 is not ideal. It doesn't necessarily change the way that you try to approach this golf course. I think there's only a certain way you can play it. If you don't play that way, you're going to get punished. That's what I did.”
Scottie Scheffler (71/T42) on Pinehurst’s greens. “I'm having a lot of trouble reading these greens. I had a lot of putts today where I felt like I hit it really good. I looked up and they were not going the way I thought they were going to go.”
Collin Morikawa (66/T9). “Out here you can't play defensive golf. If you play defensive golf, it goes offline a little bit more, you're 35 yards away from the pin.”
Hole Of The Day
The front right spot chosen Saturday produced a wild swing from Friday’s second round and lured several players into disaster, with four “others” recorded, highlighted by Aberg’s triple-bogey seven.