Brooklyn, Mass. – Will Zhalatoris and Matt Fitzpatrick averted the carnage and disaster that brought golf’s best Saturday to the US Open and set the tone for the final day of existence.
Zlatoris, who lost in the three-hole playoffs at the PGA Championship last month, scored just one bogey A – an amazing performance for a 3-under 67 on an animal on the Brooklyn course.
“I felt like I had 61 shots,” Zaltoris said. “Whenever I make a mistake, I can get away with it or do something weird.”
Fitzpatrick, who was already champion at the country club in 2013 with his US amateur title, was as stable as ever, scoring three birdies with 68 runs in the last five holes. He will be in the Major’s final group for the second time in a row.
Most importantly, he did not make any double bogies.
So the previous winner John Rahm was eliminated from the lead in the final. The Spaniard thought he’d seen it all – with a back-to-hand shot from the base of a tree on the eighth hole – when he swiped three times through the sand in two bunkers.
Reham’s first shot from the Fairway Bunker hit his lip and almost landed in his footsteps. His next shot found a closed lie in the green bunker, and two putts later he had 71 and one forward one back.
His swing on the last hole did not bother Rahm. In any case, he said it was getting dark and he didn’t see his ball sitting in the sand. The USGA extended the television show from the final group at 3:45 p.m.
Reham was looking ahead instead of what he had left behind.
“I have 18 holes and I’m just one shot back,” he said. “That’s the important thing.”
Zalotoris and Fitzpatrick were 4-under 206, the same score as the 54-hole lead when the US Open last finished at The Country Club in 1988.
It is not that Rehm had all the leadership rights. It was so wild at Brooklyn on Saturday that Raheem was one of eight players who at times had a lead. All three, including two-time leading champion Colin Morikawa, did not make it into the top 10.
Morikawala, who had a 36-hole lead with Joel Dahman, had a double bogey on the seventh and 13th holes and could have been third after a fractured weight at No. 4 without making a 25-foot put for the bogey. . He scored 77 runs.
Seven of the top 12 players who went on Saturday made at least one double bogey in strong winds and cold temperatures and made this sweater season in June.
Rory McLaughlin was not on that list. His bleeding was slow, mainly from a putter who was not behaving. He birdied in the 73rd round.
All this, and it was far from US Open decision making.
“It was one of the hardest days I’ve ever had on a golf course,” McIlroy said. “I just wanted to fine-tune it and I did it in the last nine. Playing that back-nine was still a really good effort today, I thought. It just gave me a place in the tournament. What I was trying to do. Just keep messing up.”
Twenty-three players were equal to advance to the third round. There are only nine left with 18 holes, all separated by three shots.
That includes the local star — Francis Oumate may not be the type, but Keegan Bradley is so big in Beantown that he heard his name out loud and proud as he walked to the 18th Green. A former PGA champion, he called it “probably the highlight of my entire life.”
He gave them reason to be happy. From three overs to seven holes, Bradley responded with passion and birdies, five of whom scored 69 in his final 11 holes.
He was behind two shots from Adam Hadwin (70) and Schaffler. McIlroy was three times with Sam Burns (71) and Dehman, who did not birdie in his round of 74, but remained in the game as he made no major mistakes.
The average score was 73.5 and only seven players equalized. Danny McCarthy cut the number to 3-overs. He completed 68 years before reaching the post of leader. At the end of the day, he was 11th, five shots behind.
The US Open played the same in all respects.
“I knew it was going to be difficult,” Dehman said. “I had no idea it would be so difficult.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
