The country club lagged behind on Saturday as golfers faced a much tougher scrutiny in the third round of the 2022 US Open. Pars felt like birdies, bogeys felt like pars, and birdies felt like highway robberies. As a number of top players battled to conquer the firm, fast and windy conditions of Brookline, Massachusetts, there were two men who stood out from the rest and catapulted themselves to the top of the leaderboard in the process.
Those two would be Will Zalatoris and Matthew Fitzpatrick, whose names now occupy the top spot at 4 below. Two of just three players in the top 10 who played rounds under par on Saturday, the men who will be teeing off last on Sunday were simply superb on their third sets of 18 holes.
By consistently finding fairways and potting putts when needed, this is now the second major championship in a row that Fitzpatrick will be a member of the final group on Sunday. While things didn’t go his way in Southern Hills — and neither did Zulatoris — the good vibes from his 2013 USA Amateur win at Country Club may be just what propelled him to the finish line.
“I think it gives me an edge over the others, yes,” Fitzpatrick said of his past success at the country club. “I really think so. It’s a real, obviously positive moment in my career. It kind of kicked me off.
Here’s a breakdown of the US Open 2022 finals leaderboard:
T1 Will Zalatoris, Matthew Fitzpatrick (-4): These two experienced heartbreak at the PGA Championship, albeit in different ways. While Zulatoris lost in a playoff, Fitzpatrick just didn’t have it in the finals at Southern Hills. They should both learn from that experience and I wouldn’t be surprised if they go up against reigning US Open champion Jon Rahm on Sunday.
“I think especially when I left the PGA it gave me a lot of confidence and confidence that I belong in this situation,” Zalatoris said. “It’s a difference between thinking it and then actually being in the situation and believing it. So, I think that’s probably the biggest change. I’ve gotten myself into this situation a few times in my career and of course I have to get out there and get out of it [Sunday].”
3. Jon Rahm (-3): It was quite a rollercoaster Saturday for the typically quiet Rahm. The Spaniard bogeyed on the easy par 5 eighth, turned, and slid up again on the par 13th par 4. However, he then showed the determination of a champion and birdied three of his next four holes to climb below the solo lead by 5. A slightly swept drive shot to the final hole found the bunker, and when he dropped his second shot at his feet, a double bogey followed shortly thereafter. Dinner will taste sour, but victory is still within reach and will be even sweeter if he can successfully defend his crown.
T4. Scottie Scheffler, Adam Hadwin and Keegan Bradley (-2): A birdie-birdie finish on Thursday propelled Scheffler into a strong second round, and perhaps his par save in the 18th on Sunday can do the same. The world no US Open in the same season.
T7. Sam Burns, Rory McIlroy and Joel Dahmen (-1): I can’t imagine many Dahmen beating Morikawa in three shots but he did it and after playing his first eight holes 4 overs he stabilized the ship. With 10 straight pars, he still finds his name in the top 10 and just three shots behind Zatoris and Fitzpatrick. Burns and McIlroy will be popular fan picks, and rightly so. But what if I told you it was Dahmen who ranked in the top 15 in both strokes won from tee and strokes won on Saturday? At 1 under, he’s hitting the ball significantly better than his peers, and if he can steal Rory’s powers on the greens for just one round, he could steal that national championship too.
T11. Denny McCarthy, Gary Woodland, Aaron Wise and three others (+1): McCarthy started the day with a tie for 56th after cutting the number. Reminiscent of Webb Simpson’s third round at the PGA Championship, his 2-under-68 was the best round for most of the day until Zatoris came in with a 67. McCarthy nearly gained two shots on the approach and while off the tee the numbers are looking bad, this was due to his lack of distance as he hit 11 of 14 fairways. Right with the driver whose irons are trending in the right direction and is considered the best putter in the field, maybe, just maybe, McCarthy can shock the world.
T17. dustin Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama, Collin Morikawa and five others (+2): Morikawa tried to warn us that his game wasn’t at its best, and when The Country Club bared its teeth, that reality finally surfaced. At one point the two-time major champion, the betting favorite, met a slow, painful death on Saturday, eventually signing a 7-over-77. Nothing was going right for Morikawa; However, he has to think something close to 4 below Sunday might be enough to get leaders thinking.
T25. Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay, Justin Thomas and five more (+3): Will Thomas pull another rabbit out of his hat? Seven strokes off pace, that’s exactly the deficit he overcame en route to his 2022 PGA Championship win. Not only does he have to chase the man he defeated in those playoffs, but he also has to overtake a number of superstars. For that reason, I can’t say I’m too optimistic that Thomas, Cantlay or Spieth will make any significant noise in the finals.
“I would feel better if I was five or six shots up,” said Thomas. “These guys have a lot of golf left. Selfishly, for my sake hopefully they can stay within striking distance because this is a great place to post. Hope I can get hot [Sunday] and then post a number and give them a score to look at for a few hours.