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♪ ♫ ♬ “Happy birthday to you / Happy birthday to you / Happy birthday dear Scottie (30), Happy birthday to you! ” ♪ ♫ ♬ It’s the final match of the 126th US Open. Scheffler belts his tee shot down the middle. Wyndham Clark, who was a bit wayward off the tee yesterday, takes iron for safety and finds the fairway as well. Everyone’s out! It’s on! More cheers for Scottie than Clark, by the way, which will partly be a popularity thing – America loves a winner, and Scheffler’s on the brink of a career slam – but also from a desire to witness a sporting contest. Nothing personal, Wyndham. That’s showbiz!
♪ ♫ ♬ “Happy birthday to you / Happy birthday to you / Happy birthday dear Tom Kim (23), Happy birthday to you! ” ♪ ♫ ♬ The penultimate pairing take to the tee, and it features the birthday boy Tom Kim. There’d be few more popular winners if the young Korean made it today, and he’s on the 1st in regulation, as is his playing partner Sahith Theegala, whose victory would go down very well with the gallery too. See also: Tommy Fleetwood, who knocks his wedge at 3 from 144 yards to four feet and tidies up for his second birdie in a row. Just the five more for another final-day 63 at Shinnecock, then! He’s -1.
The defending champion JJ Spaun didn’t make the weekend. Last year’s runner-up did, though, and Robert MacIntyre has finished his week with a level-par 70. He’s +7, and wouldn’t be human if he’s still not cursing Viktor Hovland for giving Spaun a read ahead of that tournament-winning putt. Meanwhile in other European news, Justin Rose has just made three birdies in a row, on 11, 12 and 13, to rise up the standings to +1. A top-ten finish within reach for the 2013 champ.
There have been quite a few shots of both Wyndham Clark and Scottie Scheffler going through their practice routines. Clark wedging an alignment stick through the loops of his trousers for real-time hip analysis; Scheffler missing a few short putts, which doesn’t augur well. Meanwhile here’s more good news for Clark courtesy of David ‘Not That One’ Howell: “The scoring variance has continued to be lower than in prior US Opens here, and low variance is obviously what a six-shot leader wants. Secondly, finding fairways doesn’t seem to be as important today. Lots of players have been scoring over par while hitting most fairways, and several of today’s best rounds have come in spite of missing a few. Considering that Clark has historically not been the straightest off the tee, it’s reasonable to assume he might find the fescue a bit under pressure, but that might not be a death sentence today.” Speaking of belt loops, any old excuse to enjoy the greatest zinger ever told …
Another final round of 63 in a US Open at Shinnecock is statistically, realistically too much to ask of Tommy Fleetwood. Surely. But he’s just raked in a long birdie putt across the par-three 2nd to join the group at level par in short order. Just the six more birdies needed. What better excuse to refresh the leaderboard for the first time in this report?
-7: Clark
-1: Scheffler, Theegala, Kim, Stevens
E: Fleetwood (2), Schauffele (2), Mitchell (1), Grillo
+1: Niemann (14), Woodland (9), Morikawa (2)
+2: Rose (12), Griffin (11), Hatton (11), Bhatia (8), Rai (6), M Fitzpatrick (2)
A lovely moment on 18 as the 17-year-old amateur Miles Russell walks up 18. The youngest player in the field is on in regulation, and having hit his approach, wears a smile as wide as Long Island itself as his caddie hands his official vest and bag of clubs over to his dad. Father and son make the last walk up the fairway together, and that is such a sweet moment. Russell Sr. (not that one, Pulp fans) helps Miles line up his final putt, a long right-to-left swinger that nearly drops. A tap-in for par and a final round of 70. He finishes the week at +7. His playing partner today, fellow amateur Jackson Koivun of North Carolina, birdies for a 68 and finishes at +5. He’ll be keeping an eye on what Ryder Cowan gets up to: the only player left who can beat Koivun to Low Amateur status and the Jack Nicklaus Medal has bogeyed 2 and is currently +3 overall through 4.
Joaquin Niemann might be the one to take advantage of the relatively benign conditions. Out in 33, the Chilean, much touted as a major champion in waiting, has subsequently birdied 10 and now 13 to move to four under for his round, and +1 overall. He’ll be cursing his opening round of 78, and that toddler’s tanty on the par-four 6th, at which he took 11 strokes. A septuple bogey! Two tee shots out of bounds, a back-and-forth with the referee in a doomed attempt to get relief from fire ants in the fescue, and a two-shot penalty for a coptered club. Oh Joaquin! He’s currently +1 for the tournament, and in theory, if we factor out the butterfly effect and linear nature of history, would now be just one off the pace sans meltdown. A lesson for all you kids out there: keep your cool, it pays in the long run. (Though it is fun to launch a club in a fit of pique. Well, it is. It might not be right but it is. I don’t write the rules.)
Ludvig Åberg birdies the last for a final round of 66. Another major championship of what-ifs for the young Swede, who it’s easy to forget is still only making his 11th major-championship appearance this week. He ends the week at +3 and is the new clubhouse leader. Some more proof that there’s a score out there for the chasing pack. Only problem being, it’s also out there for Wyndham Clark, and look at the 64 he shot on Thursday when the wind was down.
Meanwhile here’s a reminder of how easily a six-shot advantage can be whittled away on a major-championship Sunday …
… plus memories of Brooks Koepka nearly letting a seven-shot lead slip. Suffice to say, Wyndham Clark, as dominant as he’s been so far, won’t be taking anything for granted just yet.
A six-shot lead, though. Courtesy of an old Joy of Six, here’s the story of how Arnold Palmer came from seven back in 1960 (though to be clear, 54-hole leader Mike Souchak was only two ahead of the field going into the final round).
“You’re dead,” scoffed golf writer Bob Drum. He’d just been asked by Arnold Palmer, two times a Master but yet to land his national title, if a final-round 65 could win the US Open. “Nah, you’re too far back, Arnie. That would do nothing.” Palmer threw his half-eaten cheeseburger down – it was lunch between the third and fourth rounds of the 1960 tournament at Cherry Hills near Denver, the final 36 holes in those days all played on the Saturday – and left the locker room in the lofty state of high dudgeon.
In fairness to Drum, his was a reasonable, if slightly tactless, response. Palmer came into the Open as the favourite, fresh from winning at Augusta, but he pushed his opening tee shot into a ditch, double bogeyed the first hole, and never quite got going. He’d putted poorly, and after three rounds was seven shots behind the leader Mike Souchak. There were 13 other players in between the two, including four-time winner Ben Hogan, Gary Player, former champ Julius Boros, the pop singer Don Cherry (!) and a promising young amateur called Jack Nicklaus. Yep, Arnie was dead.
Except, of course, Arnie wasn’t dead. Steam trailing from his lugs – “I was a little angry at Drum and his attitude,” recalled Palmer – he took to the first tee and attempted to drive the green at the short par four. His ball rolled to 20 feet. He didn’t make the eagle putt, but birdie was a good enough start. Come the 4th, he’d made four of them in a row. By the 7th, he’d made another two, by which point he was jigging across the turf in a syncopated manner, repeatedly tossing his visor into the air in celebration. A shot was dropped at 8, but he still reached the turn in 30 strokes, a new tournament record.
That pique-fuelled charge – followed by one last birdie at 11 – was enough to land Palmer the title. Souchak, unnerved by the ear-splitting noise generated by Palmer’s gallery – which now included Drum, the player greeting the hapless scribe on his arrival with a raised eyebrow and a wry “fancy seeing you here!” – fell apart. Young Nicklaus briefly held the lead but, callow and nervous, naively elected to putt over a ball mark and three putted, all momentum lost. Finally Hogan, who had hit 34 out of 34 greens in regulation on the final day going up 17, dumped his approach in water while striving too hard to nudge ahead of Palmer, then got wet again from the tee at the last. Palmer’s seven-shot comeback was the greatest in US Open history, the visor he launched on the final green still, it’s said, in orbit. Nice that Arnie celebrated so well while the going was good, because a mere six years later, he would, unlike his cap, come crashing back down to earth.
There were only two rounds under par yesterday. Emiliano Grillo shot 67 in the windiest of the conditions; Scottie Scheffler carded 69 after coming home in 32 strokes. It was tough. And it’s tough again today, of course … just not so tough. There isn’t as much wind, and though the greens are still hard and fast, there’s already been evidence that something is out there for someone. Maybe it’s already been done, because already there have been three sub-70 rounds this morning/afternoon, one more than the whole of Moving Day. Peter Uihlein, who shot 80 yesterday, has finished his week with a 66, a score that’s only been bettered in this tournament so far by Wyndham Clark (64), Collin Morikawa (65) and Joaquin Niemann (65), and matched by Xander Schauffele (66) and Dustin Johnson (66). James Nicholas has followed up yesterday’s 82 with 69. And Ben James has shot 67. So it’s on. Possibly. Another final round of 63 for Tommy Fleetwood? Let’s rule nothing out. An 83 is realistic too.
Preamble
If Wyndham Clark doesn’t turn the 126th US Open into a procession, we’ll have one heck of a story on our hands. After a third round of 70 mainly constructed on a foundation of world-class scrambling, but also featuring one of the great US Open fairway woods to set up eagle at 16, Clark established a six-stroke lead …
-7: Wyndham Clark
-1: Scottie Scheffler, Sahith Theegala, Tom Kim, Sam Stevens
E: Emiliano Grillo, Keith Mitchell, Sam Burns, Xander Schauffele
+1: Tommy Fleetwood, Collin Morikawa, Matt Fitzpatrick
Selected others: Aaron Rai (+3), Rory McIlroy (+3), Gary Woodland (+3), Duston Johnson (+4), Justin Rose (+4)
… and nobody has ever given up such a 54-hole advantage in US Open history. The largest lead lost after three rounds is five, by Mike Brady to Walter Hagen in 1919, though Arnold Palmer won from seven back in 1960 and Johnny Miller did it from six behind in 1973. So depending on how you want to look at this, a win for anyone other than Clark today is either without precedent or proven to be possible. History teaches us nothing.
Even so, it’s unlikely that Clark will be doing anything other than lifting up the big old cup. However he’d have surely picked a different player to be the next cab on the rank, and his playing partner today: the world number one Scottie Scheffler, the career slam almost within touching distance. Those players to claw back a big deficit again: Walter Hagen, Arnold Palmer, Johnny Miller. Talent out of the top drawer, where Scheffler also resides. And it’s the US Open, at the notoriously difficult Shinnecock, where you can bet the USGA will have one or two final tricks up their sleeve. If Clark’s nerves start rattling, and someone in the chasing pack goes on a heater, you never know. Or maybe Clark will simply do what he did yesterday: grind, fight, hold firm, then play another majestic fade into the 16th to set up a carpe-diem eagle. We’ll find out soon enough. Here are today’s tee times (all BST). It’s on!
12.45pm: Dylan Wu, James Nicholas
12.56pm: Peter Uihlein, Russell Henley
1.07pm: Patrick Rodgers, Eric Lee (a)
1.18pm: Neal Shipley, Hideki Matsuyama
1.29pm: Adrien Dumont de Chassart, Nico Echavarria
1.40pm: Caleb Surratt, Ben James
1.51pm: Jackson Van Paris, Spencer Tibbits
2.02pm: Kurt Kitayama, Max Greyserman
2.18pm: Marek Fleming (a), Jacob Bridgeman
2.29pm: Johnny Keefer, Ludvig Åberg
2.40pm: Ryan Fox, Angel Hidalgo
2.51pm: Miles Russell (a), Jackson Koivun (a)
3.02pm: Robert MacIntyre, Chris Gotterup
3.13pm: Harry Higgs, Andrew Putnam
3.24pm: Michael Brennan, Jordan Spieth
3.35pm: Bud Cauley, Ben Kohles
3.51pm: Cameron Young, Joaquin Niemann
4.02pm: Laurie Canter, Justin Thomas
4.13pm: William Mouw, Niklas Norgaard
4.24pm: Max McGreevy, Justin Rose
4.35pm: Ben Griffin, Tyrrell Hatton
4.46pm: Pierceson Coody, Dustin Johnson
4.57pm: Ryo Hisatsune, Gary Woodland
5.13pm: Akshay Bhatia, Rory McIlroy
5.24pm: Maverick McNealy, Brian Harman
5.35pm: Zac Blair, Aaron Rai
5.46pm: John Parry, JT Poston
5.57pm: Sungjae Im, Michael Kim
6.08pm: Ryder Cowan (a), Alex Fitzpatrick
6.19pm: Corey Conners, Keegan Bradley
6.35pm: Matt Fitzpatrick, Collin Morikawa
6.46pm: Tommy Fleetwood, Xander Schauffele
6.57pm: Sam Burns, Keith Mitchell
7.08pm: Emiliano Grillo, Sam Stevens
7.19pm: Tom Kim, Sahith Theegala
7.30pm: Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark
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