Oakmont, Pa. — Sam Burns avoided repeated meltdowns that ruined the opening round at the US Open when he got caught up in a big save in his final hole for a 5-under 65 and a 36-hole lead. Above all, he had been going for a long time before the real calamity arrived at Oakmont late Friday afternoon.
Rory McIlroy threw the club in disgust and broke the tee marker. For punishment, he comes back for two more rounds.
Shane Lowry vaguely picked up the golf ball without marking it on the 14th green.
Sliston Lawrence has become the only player to reach six by standard. He quickly made six bogeys and double bogeys on his next nine holes.
Thomas Detley can thank him for his suffering. He had three double bogeys scrambled for the lead with four holes stretching.
“If I could avoid making a double bogey over the next two days, I would have achieved what I wanted to achieve,” Detley said.
And then there was Phil Mickelson. He was just outside the top 20, with two double bogeys in his final four holes in the 74 holes to miss the cut.
The cut may not be official until Saturday morning. If the second round wasn’t cruel enough, the play was stopped due to bad weather, just as Lawrence had a 4-foot putt in the final hole and finished a wild round approaching six hours. The rain hit the course that day, with 13 players not finished yet. Action will resume at 7:30am on Saturday mornings.
Scotty Schaeffler, who has won three times in his last four starts, had his sixth round in pars in a row at the US Open in an unfamiliar game. He still hurt 71 and was behind seven shots.
Burns was Oakmont’s regular birdie machine, playing under the cloud cover and small winds in the morning, washing his irons out so well that all six of his birdies were within 10 feet.
He was 3 under 137, one shot before JJ Spaun, and on the 18th he fell from the lead share with his sixth bogey in the 72nd round.
Burns and Viktor Hovland (68) each have 36 holes and fewer than 11 holes, and since switching to the PAR 70 in 2007, the three US have opened most in Oakmont. Hofland was two shots behind.
Only three players remained at the lowest price in seven years at the US Open.
Burns can only imagine it when he shot one shot from the lead and then played the final four holes in five overs if he wasn’t giving a finishing shock on Thursday.
“I played really well outside of the finish hole yesterday, so I think today is just about coming out mentally and trying to put together a good round,” he said.
“It was a shame, but there were too many good things to focus on the bad stuff.”
Burns is the second player in major championship history to lead 36 holes completely after coming out of the top 30 and 18. Curtis Strange did it at 1989 US Open.
Hovland drilled holes twice for a 50-foot shot from off-green. With a putter from the collar of No. 10, Eagle tip-in with a reachable Par-4 17 when he began the round. He also chopped up the second hole for a double bogey. But he was delighted to do it.
“I’m definitely tired and exhausted because I’m just focused on every shot,” he said. “I’m very happy with the 2 Under Par, but I also know at one point I was under 4. So it’s like I’m very pleased, but ‘Man, that might have been a bit low.’ But we are in a really nice place in two days so I’m a bit happy. ”
Adam Scott, who played in the majors in the 96th consecutive time, has another 70 people and joins Ben Griffin (71) with a perm 140.
Burns is one of the top putters on the PGA Tour, but lost by missing a five-foot putt to win the playoffs at the Canadian Open last week, three putts on the fourth playoff hole. This was about staying there and eliminating as much stress as possible on a merciless course.
There were no more putts than his 20 footer who climbed the ridge at No. 9. He pulled the drive to the left with a tough par-4 nine, took a penalty drop and hit it safely into Green to make a putt.
“That putt was a six-foot break, I don’t know,” he said. “Yeah, it was certainly good to make.”
Brooks Koepka had a 74, but only five were late.
John Rahm went from a red number at 75 to a red face, leaving him in the same place as Schaeffler. Rahm, who took a 35 putt, was asked if his score could show how tough Oakmont is playing.
“To be honest, I’m so frustrated right now, I’m too angry to think about my perspective,” he said. “It was very frustrating. There’s very few golf I’ve played in my life. There I put a good putt and didn’t smell the hole. It’s frustrating.”
It’s not just Oakmont. That’s mostly what we open. In that respect, Hovland was a curious competitor. He was everywhere with his swing, his expectations, his confidence. He has made progress by winning on the Florida swing. Perhaps the lack of expectations helped him.
“For some reason, I’m in a really great mental state this week,” Hofland said. “Both rounds are up and down very much, and I feel like if it was happening in another tournament a few times, then I might lose my heart a little bit there.
This report uses information from the Associated Press.
