OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — The closest Sam Burns has come to a major championship is sharing a house with a close friend who already has three of them. He has been inspired by Scottie Scheffler the last few years. The next step is to join him as a major champion.
Burns held steady after missing a short par putt late Saturday in the U.S. Open, responding with a beautiful pitch for a tap-in birdie and two scary putts down the hill from inside 60 feet to save par on the 18th hole at rain-soaked Oakmont for a 1-under 69.
That gave him a one-shot lead over major-tested Adam Scott and J.J. Spaun, with Viktor Hovland not far behind as the only four players to survive par.
Burns was at 4-under 206. He has five PGA Tour titles, the last one more than two years ago, and is coming off a playoff loss last week in the Canadian Open.
At stake for Burns is a chance for the 28-year-old from Louisiana to become the sixth American at 30 or under to capture his first major since 2020. Scheffler has won 19 times worldwide the last three years, including three majors, most recently last month at the PGA Championship.
“Scottie’s obviously an incredible player. I don’t think I need to say that,” Burns said with a laugh. “We obviously spend a lot of time together and being able to talk to him and just kind of learn from him and ask him questions, it’s been really cool.”
Scheffler has won his three majors in what turned out to be blowouts. Sunday at Oakmont was shaping up to be anything but that.
Scott, who only climbed back into the top 50 in the world less than a year ago and hasn’t seriously challenge in a major in nearly seven years, became only the third player at par or better for the opening three rounds in a U.S. Open at Oakmont.
He birdied three of his last six holes for a 67, getting into the final group when J.J. Spaun made bogey from the bunker on the 18th hole and shot 69. Scott is the only player among the top 10 who has won a major. That was 12 years ago at the Masters. No one has ever gone more than 11 years between their first and second major titles.
“Putting ourselves in these positions doesn’t just happen by fluke,” Scott said. “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.”
Spaun, who lost in a playoff at The Players Championship in March, kept pace with Burns throughout the back nine until the end. He looked comfortable under the pressure, making only two bogeys while matching pars with Burns over seven straight holes.
“It seemed like we were kind of back and forth,” Spaun said. “He would take the lead, I would take the lead, I would fall back, whatever. But it was fun. You can’t really play against your opponent; you got to play this course. There’s just so much on demand with every shot.”
The other survivor to par was Hovland, who has been smiling as much as anyone on a course that has been exasperating to so many all week. Hovland salvaged a bogey from an opening tee shot into the bushes and an exquisite shot off the muddied cart path.
But he hit the pin on the uphill ninth hole for birdie and hit an amazing wedge from the cabbage left of the 17th green for a tap-in birdie. He closed with a bogey from the rain-soaked rough on the 18th for a 70 and was three behind
“I’m well aware that I’ve got a chance tomorrow, and if I shoot a low round of golf tomorrow then anything can happen,” Hovland said. “But there’s a lot of good players around me. Adam Scott played a brilliant round today, just didn’t really miss a shot. That forces me to play some really good golf tomorrow.”
Carlos Ortiz turned in one of the most remarkable performances by going bogey-free for 30 consecutive holes. The streak ended on the 18th, but the Mexican still had a 67 and was very much in range at even-par 210.
Missing from the mix was Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 player who had won three of his last four tournaments coming into the U.S. Open. Scheffler never found any momentum, with one critical stretch coming right before the turn.
After holing a 20-foot birdie putt on the sixth, Scheffler saved par after driving into the rough on No. 7 and hitting wedge to 3 feet. But then what looked like a tap-in par on the long par-3 eighth turned into a shocking miss.
He wound up with a 70, moving him from a tie for 23rd to just outside the top 10. But he was eight shots behind Burns.
“I put myself in this position,” Scheffler said. “It’s not the position I want to be in, but I’ve done a good job of hanging in there and staying in the tournament.”
The best news for this U.S. Open was that it finished the third round without weather getting in the way. Oakmont received an inch of rain from when played ended on Friday evening. The USGA offered to refund tickets to spectators who didn’t want to traipse through the muck.
Divots taken from the fairways looked like pelts, and the greens were noticeable softer and more receptive. There was one spell midway through the round when umbrellas were out and the sun was shining.
Burns picked up birdies with a wedge from the fairway to a back pin on No. 5 and a tee shot to 7 feet on the accessible par-3 13th. Equally important were the three times he saved par from the fairway after getting out of position off the tee.
“I didn’t drive the ball as well as I would have liked to. But when I got out of position I feel like I did a good job of getting myself back in the fairway, having a wedge or short iron in my hand and giving myself a chance for par,” he said. “I was able to convert some of those and kind of kept the momentum going.”
Now it’s a night back at the house with Scheffler, where the conversation is more about kids than about golf.
“The conversation in the morning, we just hang out,” Scheffler said. “There will be two little kids running around. There’s nothing crazy, there’s not much to say. Sam’s been preparing for moments like this for a long time, and he’s put himself in position to win the golf tournament.”
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