OAKMONT, Pa. — Sam Burns had all the momentum in the world coming into this week at Oakmont Country Club.
The 28-year old from Shreveport, Louisiana, is coming off a runner-up finish last week at the RBC Canadian Open, where shot a final round 62, but lost to Ryan Fox in a four-hole playoff.
His momentum was briefly interrupted Thursday when he carded a two-over 72 that included three bogeys and a double bogey over his final four holes. But he bounced back Friday with a 5-under 65 that propelled him to the top of the 36-hole leaderboard at 3-under heading into the weekend of the 125th U.S. Open Championship.
“I played really well yesterday other than the finishing holes,” Burns said after his round Friday. “So I think today was just getting mentally ready to come out and try to put a good round together. I feel like I’ve been playing well coming off last week and into this week and my round yesterday. Really just trying to get yourself in position out here and give yourself as many looks as you can.”
Statistically, Burns has been the best putter in the world this year. Among all players on the PGA Tour, he’s gaining an average of 1.056 strokes on the greens.
Through two rounds, Burns has the most birdies in the field with 11 and is second in the field in putting (1.63).
“I practice it a lot, and I try to keep it very simple,” Burns said of his putting. “I think if you look at putting, the ball is rolling on the ground. There’s a lot of imperfections on grass. There’s a lot of different lines the ball can go in, depending on the speed. So if you try to be too perfect with putting, it can drive you crazy. I just try to really read it, put a good roll on it, focus on the speed and hope for the best.”
During the second round overall, Burns gained a whopping 9.69 strokes on the rest of the field.
After starting on the back-nine on the 10th hole, Burns made six birdies, including a bogey on hole No. 1.
His 65 is the lowest round of the week so far amongst the field, but it all could’ve come undone after his drive on his last hole (No. 9) went left off the tee and bounced into the long grass out of bounds.
After taking a penalty drop, he got up-and-down to save par, rolling in a 22-footer on the green that just fell into the cup on its final roll.
“It’s obviously a difficult hole. It’s a blind tee shot kind of up the hill and was trying to hit a fade off the left side and just pulled it a bit,” Burns said. “Then that putt was, I don’t know, six feet of break? It was a nice one to make, for sure.”
STORMY END
At 8:15 p.m., tournament organizers blew the horn to suspend play due to stormy weather in the area with 13 players still left on the course. Three of whom were inside the cut line, including Thriston Lawrence (1-over), Chris Gotterup (5-over) and Philip Barbaree, Jr. (6-over).
Those players will have to come back Saturday morning to finish their rounds before the third round can begin.
STEADY SPAUN
The level of difficulty of the course at Oakmont calls for a certain level of patience and resilience.
In golf, that’s often easier said than done. But after two rounds, J.J. Spaun remains in contention on one of the world’s toughest courses.
The first-round leader at 4-under, Spaun maintained even par through his first nine holes with two birdies and two bogeys. But then things got testy on the closing stretch, as he bogeyed three of the final four holes to finish the day with a 2-over 72 that left him alone in second on the leaderboard at 2-over overall.
“It was more of a true U.S. Open round I feel like — a lot of back-and-forth, a lot of grinding, bogeys,” Spaun said. “I saved all those from Thursday’s round. It was still an overall good, positive day. I’m still right there and got 36 holes to keep it up and see what happens at the end.”
OAKMONT BITES BACK
Oakmont continued to exact its toll on the field.
After the completion of the first round on Thursday, the day began with 10 players under par. By the end of the morning wave, it was already down to five and by the end of the second round, only three players were still in red numbers — Burns, Spaun and Viktor Hovland.
It’s the fewest number of players under par after 36 holes at the U.S. Open since 2012 at The Olympic Club.
At one point, Hovland was in competition with Burns for the low round of the day. But after two bogeys in his final four holes on No. 6 and 8, he finished with a 2-under 68 to sit at 1-under overall alone in third heading into Saturday.
“I’ve definitely felt better about it,” Hovland said of his swing. “But still haven’t been overly confident in my ball striking up until recently. Last week, we saw some really good progress, and earlier this week was very happy with some of the shots that I was hitting out there in the practice rounds. Super excited that I was able to take that out with me in the tournament.”
GNARLY NINE
Regardless of whether players have teed off on No. 1 or No. 10, the front-nine has taken apart its share of scorecards after two days.
During the first round on Thursday, Oakmont’s front-nine (37.7) played a hair under a stroke harder than the back-nine (36.9) on average.
But on Friday, the scoring difference between the front-nine (38.4) and back-nine (36.3) ballooned to roughly two full shots.
Four of the course’s top-five most difficult holes come on the front-nine, including Nos. 2, 3, 8 and 9. But a running theme so far during the week has been the distinct lack of getable holes on the course overall. On any given hole, a birdie, bogey or even worse are all equally possible because of the rough and the greens.
“I think mentally, there’s just no kind of gimme hole,” Burns said. “There’s no hole where you can get up there and just hit it and not really pay attention to what you’re trying to do. I think it requires a lot of focus on every shot, and even when you’re in the rough and you’re trying to get it back in the fairway, it’s just every shot is difficult.
BELOW THE LINE
After the morning wave on Friday, the projected cut line sat at 7-over, which is where it would remain by the end of the day.
Notable names to miss the cut include defending champion Bryson DeChambeau (10-over), 2016 champion Dustin Johnson (10-over), Justin Thomas (12-over) and Justin Rose (14-over).
In what could very well be the final U.S. Open appearance of his career, six-time runner-up Phil Mickelson just missed a birdie putt on the 18th hole that would have put him inside the cut line. He finishes the tournament at 8-over overall.
Rory McIlroy began the day at 4-over, but opened with double bogeys on the first and third holes. He closed with a pair of birdies over the final four holes to make the cut at 6-over in a tie for 47th.
For the second-straight day, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler struggled to get much going. He was once again up-and-down with four birdies and five bogeys to card a 1-over 71 to put him at 4-over overall in a tie for 23rd.
“I feel like I battled really hard. It’s challenging out there,” Scheffler said. “I was not getting the ball in the correct spots and was paying the price for it. Felt like me getting away with 1-over today wasn’t all that bad. It could have been a lot worse.”
Only two players in the top-eight of the leaderboard are past major champions — 2013 Masters champion Adam Scott at even-par overall in fourth and five-time major champion Brooks Koepka at 2-over overall tied for eighth.
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