OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — The pounding rain arrived far too late to douse so many of the meltdowns across Oakmont on Friday in a U.S. Open that produced a brilliant round by Sam Burns and a litany of collapses and tantrums typical in a major that prides itself on being the toughest test.
Only three players remained under par.
Still to come are two more rounds on an Oakmont course that ruined good scores with remarkable swiftness on a day when rounds took nearly six hours to complete.
“There’s no hole where you can get up there and just hit it and not really pay attention to what you’re trying to do,” Burns said after a 5-under 65, giving him a one-shot lead. “I think it requires a lot of focus on every shot, and even when you’re in the rough and you’re trying to get it back in the fairway, it’s just every shot is difficult.
“I think over time that’s just pretty taxing.”
Scottie Scheffler battled just to salvage a 71 — the sixth straight round over par in a U.S. Open for the No. 1 player — and then headed to the range with arms flailing while venting frustration on why the ball wasn’t going where he wanted. He was seven shots behind and felt he was still very much in the hunt for a second straight major.
Rory McIlroy flung a club on No. 12 and smashed a tee marker on No. 17, made a birdie on his last hole and then declined to share thoughts on his round or anything else for the sixth straight round in a major.
Shane Lowry was having such a tough time that he picked up his ball on the 14th green without marking it, a one-shot penalty that turned his 77 into a 78, not that it mattered.
That was the mental side. The physical part of golf looked even worse.
Thriston Lawrence became the only player to reach 6-under par. He promptly made six bogeys and a double bogey over his next nine holes. He was still 1 over — four shots behind — and was ready to hit a 4-foot par putt when the round was halted because of weather.
The South African had to return Saturday morning. Have a nice night.
“A bit frustrating in that sense, but those are the rules,” Lawrence said. “It’s an important putt. Each shot means a lot in a championship like this.”
He returned at 7:30 a.m. Saturday and made the putt to finish his 74, and then a seven-hour wait before starting the third round. Phillip Barbaree Jr. had to par the ninth hole, the toughest at Oakmont, and made a 5-footer to be among 67 players to make the cut at 7-over 147.
Thomas Detry can appreciate the suffering. He was challenging for the lead until three double bogeys in a four-hole stretch.
“If I can avoid making a double bogey on those next two days, I will have achieved what I wanted to achieve,” Detry said.
And then there was Phil Mickelson, in his 34th and likely final U.S. Open. He was just outside the top 20 until two double bogeys in his last four holes for a 74 to miss the cut.
It was the highest U.S. Open cut since it was 8 over at Shinnecock Hills in 2018. Zach Bachou, who was 15 over with one hole to play, was the only player who didn’t return to finish his round. He still received $10,000, along with everyone else who missed the cut.
Burns played in the morning and missed all this chaos, posting a 3-under 137 that no one could match the rest of the day. He wound up one shot ahead of J.J. Spaun, who fell out of a share of the lead with a bogey on the 18th, his sixth in a round of 72.
Burns and Viktor Hovland (68) each have 11 sub-par holes over 36 holes, the most in three U.S. Opens at Oakmont since it switched to a par 70 in 2007. Hovland was two shots behind.
Burns can only imagine where he would be if not for a shocker of a finish Thursday, when he was one shot out of the lead and then played his last four holes in 5-over par.
“I played really well yesterday other than the finishing holes. So I think today was just kind of getting mentally ready to come out and try to put a good round together,” Burns said.
“It was unfortunate, but there was too much good to focus on the little bit of bad.”
Hovland twice holed 50-foot shots from off the green — a putter from the collar on No. 10 when he started his round, and chipping in for eagle on the reachable par-4 17th. He also chopped up the second hole for a double bogey. But he was happy to be done.
“Definitely tired, exhausted because you’re just focusing so much on every single shot,” he said. “I’m very pleased with 2-under par, but also I know that I was 4 under at some point. So it’s like very pleased, but also, ‘Man, that could have been a little bit lower.’ But we’re in a really nice spot after two days, so I’m just kind of happy.”
Adam Scott, playing in his 96th consecutive major, had another 70 and joined Ben Griffin (71) at even-par 140.
Scheffler was among those who had little room left for mistakes. He opened with a birdie on No. 10, but then didn’t find another fairway until he came up just short of the green on the 17th, 50 feet away for eagle. Four putts later, he had a bogey.
It was a grind all way, battling his swing and the rough, making a number of key par putts that kept the round from getting worse.
“Today was, I think with the way I was hitting it, easily a day I could have been going home,” Scheffler said. “And battled pretty hard to stay in there. I’m 4 over. We’ll see what the lead is after today, but around this golf course I don’t think by any means I’m out of the tournament.”
Neither is Brooks Koepka, who had a 74 but was only five behind.
Jon Rahm went from red numbers to red in the face with a 75, leaving him in the same spot as Scheffler. Rahm, who took 35 putts, was asked if his score could illustrate how tough Oakmont was playing.
“Honestly, too annoyed and too mad right now to think about any perspective,” he said. “Very frustrated. Very few rounds of golf I played in my life where I think I hit good putts and they didn’t sniff the hole. So it’s frustrating.”
That’s not just Oakmont. That’s most U.S. Opens. In that respect, Hovland was a curious contender. He has been all over the place with his swing, his expectations, his confidence. He won during the Florida swing and is making progress. Perhaps no expectations helped him.
“For some reason I’ve just been in a really nice mental state this week,” Hovland said. “Both my rounds have been very up and down. I feel like a couple times if it would have happened at another tournament, for example, I could have potentially lost my mind there a little bit. But I felt like I kept things together very well.”
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