Like a shrewd fighter lulling an opponent into complacency, The Country Club hit back hard on Saturday, rocking the game’s best and setting up a Sunday US Open with no clear favorites.
The wind picked up into the high teens. Greens dried up and throbbed. The rough, allowed to grow, swallowed wayward shots and held on. The field as a whole shot nearly a shot and a half worse than Friday’s average of 71.99, and Friday night’s -5 lead fell one shot to -4. At the start of the day, 23 players were underperforming; by Saturday night it was only nine.
“This place is a beast,” co-leader Will Zatoris said afterwards. “It’s just so easy to make mistakes out here, which of course you can do at big championships in general, but especially this one.”
The leaders
Zulatoris, who started the day four shots off the lead, took the clubhouse lead at -4 with a 67, the day’s low round. Zalatoris has made a habit of playing ridiculously well in Majors; In his last seven majors, he has five top-8 finishes, one missed cut and one retirement. He lost to Justin Thomas in a PGA Championship playoff last month but made his way straight back into the competition just four weeks later. But dispute is not a championship.
“Obviously there are a lot of big champions on this ladder and the job is far from done,” he said. “Not even close. But just keep doing what I’m doing. Make sure I get on the green as soon as possible, or at least minimize the mistakes.”
About 45 minutes after Zatoris took the solo lead, Matthew Fitzpatrick (-4) shagged 14 and 15 to draw in a tie with Zatoris and then shagged 17 to take the overall lead. Fitzpatrick, who has spent a lot of time on Next Breakthrough lists, is one of the few players in the field with country club experience as of this week, having won the 2013 US Amateur at Brookline. He returned a stroke on the 18th but still goes into Sunday tied with Zatoris.
The story goes on
“I certainly think so [the 2013 win] gives me an edge over the others, yes. I really think so. It’s a really positive moment in my career. It kind of kicked me off,” he said. “Coming back here and playing so well again kind of gives me confidence, round after round.”
The challengers
Jon Rahm (-3), the defending champion, shook off some early jitters to channel some of his Ryder Cup mojo – three birdies over four holes – and took the lead at -5 with two holes to play. But a disastrous 18th – he made two shots to get out of a fairway bunker, buried his approach in a greenside bunker and ended with a double bogey – cost him the lead en route to Sunday.
Even more impressive was the sharp relegation of Masters champion Scottie Scheffler (-2). He grabbed eighth place, rushing for 101 yards to go -6, the furthest under par so far this week. But he gave it all back and more on the back nine, playing five overs in just four holes. With a win on Sunday, Scheffler would be the first player since Jordan Spieth in 2015 to win both the Masters and the US Open, and steady play in the final few holes put him in a position to do just that.
“The US Open is very demanding mentally and physically. I think that’s all that makes this tournament so entertaining. You will be tested in all sorts of ways, be it physical, mental or whatever. “That’s why I show up here. I think it’s kind of fun. If every golf tournament was like that, it would be a long season for all of us. A couple of times a year, I think it’s a lot of fun.”
The most disastrous round of the day belonged to Collin Morikawa (+2), Friday night’s co-leader, who appeared to lose every bit of the touch that had generated a 66 on Friday. Two separate bogey-double-bogey back-to-backs helped wipe out his card, giving him +7 for the day and +2 for the week. Morikawa had been tinkering with a swing change over the coming week, and it finally caught up with him on Saturday.
Rory McIlroy (-1) did pretty much everything he could to squash his chances early, bogeying three of the first six holes to be up to five strokes off the lead. But he persevered, at one point putting in eight holes out of nine and staying within striking distance of the lead. Given that he’s managed to blow up almost every major with a bad round over the past eight years, the fact that he was able to hold together on Saturday could bode well for a run at a fifth major.
“It was one of the toughest days on a golf course I’ve had in a long time. I just had to grind it out, and I did that on the back nine,” he said. “I just kept going in the tournament. That was all I tried. Just keep hanging out.”
Also nearby: Keegan Bradley (-2), 2011 PGA Championship winner and a local Boston product. He threw the first pitch at Fenway Park earlier this week and walked up the fairway at 6 p.m. to a raucous reception in Boston.
“Honestly, it was one of the most amazing moments of my entire life,” Bradley said afterwards. “I feel like playing Fenway, playing Garden, playing Gillette Stadium. I felt like a Boston player there. That was a moment I will never forget for the rest of my life and I appreciate the fans giving me that and I hope they cheer again [Sunday].”
The tight ranking allowed for cameo appearances from several players who happened to have a good hole at the right time. Adam Hadwin also finished at -2, and Patrick Rodgers and Nick Hardy were among those who worked their way to within two strokes of the lead even as Aaron Wise, Hayden Buckley, Joel Dahmen and Matthew NeSmith saw their strong positions Friday night dried up .
(Painful) shot of the day
How tough was it out there on the greens at the country club? Travis Vick was 12 yards from the pin. After that chip, which he could only see roll and roll and roll, he was 75 yards away. He would go on to make a quadruple bogey nine on the hole:
Sunday conditions are expected to be cooler and windier than Saturday, meaning the US Open is set for an even more chaotic final afternoon.
Will Zalatoris finished his day at the US Open number 1. (Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
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Contact Jay Busbee at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @jaybusbee.