The winner after one of the US Open’s most dramatic final days – image Jeff Haynes USGA
As one sits down to try and describe today’s final round of the US Open at Oakmont, it is hard to know just where to start.
Beginning the day with Sam Burns one ahead of Adam Scott and J.J. Spaun, within an hour or so it appeared as if it might develop into a battle between Burns and Scott with Spaun bogeying five out of his first six holes.
But of course, this was the US Open and this was Oakmont, and six or so hours later it would be a case of the last man standing being Spaun himself, who staged a remarkable and gutsy rebound from early adversity to hole an 70 footer at the last to win by two over Robert McIntyre.
The two most likely winners of the event early in the day, Burns and Scott would eventually shoot rounds of 78 and 79 respectively and finish 7th and 12th but, while they were disadvantaged by what was a 90 minute weather delay beginning at 4.00 pm, many others would become contenders over the last two hours or so of play.
Spaun was the victim of some early bad breaks, none more so than, after a bogey at the first, his pitch to the short par 4 second hit the flag and spun back some 50 yards.
But, to his credit, he managed to put those aside, although when play resumed, Spaun was four shots off Burns’ lead and three behind Scott and given the breaks he had suffered over the opening few holes, his chances of even contending seemed forlorn.
But then came a series of pars to settle things, and when he holed a 30-footer for birdie at the 12th he was heading in the right direction.
Spaun needed the help from others and that would come in the form of a demise from both Burns and Scott and when he birdied the 14th from 25 feet after a fine shot from the rough he had the lead over a faltering Burns and Scott, with Tyrell Hatton and Carlos Ortiz entering the fray to be also one back.
The coup de grace for Spaun was yet to come, however. His magnificent tee shot to the driveable 17th finished 20 feet behind the hole and although he would not make the eagle, the birdie took him ahead of McIntyre, who had finished earlier with a round of 68 and held second place alone.
All Spaun then needed to do was to par the last, a task easier said than done, but not only would he be up to the task he did even better by holing the most unlikely of birdie putts to win by two.
When asked how he managed to recover from such a horror start, Spaun would say, “It just, it felt like, as bad as things were going, I just still tried to just commit to every shot. I tried to just continue to dig deep. I’ve been doing it my whole life.
“I think that’s been the biggest difference this year has been being able to do that. Fortunately, I dug very deep on the back nine, and things went my way, and here we are with the trophy.”
Spaun was asked about advice he had received during the weather break from one of his coaches and what had been said.
“Oh, it was on the range. Yeah, it was kind of the theme for how the day was going. They were just like, Dude, just chill. If you’re for — if you were given four shots back going into the back nine on Monday, like you would take that. They just said, Just let it come to you, be calm. Stop trying so hard.
“That’s what I was doing. I felt like I had a chance, a really good chance to win the U.S. Open at the start of the day. It just unravelled very fast. But that break was actually the key for me to winning this tournament.”
The monster putt at the last, which would see him winning by two, was assisted by his playing partner Viktor Hovland having the almost exact putt immediately ahead of him.
“Viktor helped me a lot,” added the winner. “It was a foot left of my line. It’s pretty ironic, my first PGA TOUR win, almost the same thing happened at the Valero, but Scott Stallings was in a bunker on the last hole, we were in the same group — the back left bunker — and I hit my third shot on the back fringe, and I had to literally mark my ball for him to hit the bunker shot. He, same thing, splashed it out, right on my line, and just like fed it down to the hole. It was probably like a 40-footer.
“When I was walking up to 18, I was thinking about that moment. I was like, Oh, my God, like this is meant to be here, because this is the same thing that happened to me for my first win.
“Yeah, Viktor, we kind of got a good line, a good read on the speed. I was more focused on how hard he was hitting it. I kind of knew the line already, but it looked like he gave it a pretty good whack because it started raining there for the last 10, 15 minutes. I just tried to pick my line and put a good stroke on it. I knew it was going to be a little slow.
“About eight feet out, I kind of went up to the high side to see if it had a chance of going in, and it was like going right in. I was just in shock, disbelief that it went in and it was over. Yeah, here we are.”
One of the finest performances of the day would come from one of the vanquished, Burns. Not given a seemingly logical relief from casual water on the 15th when tied for the lead, Burns asked for a second opinion, and again it was refused. He would then pull hook his second and take double bogey, but rather than cast dispersions on the decision makers, he took it on the chin despite the gravity of the outcome.
“Yeah, that fairway slopes left to right,” said Burns, referring to where is tee shot finished on 15. That’s kind of the low part of the fairway there. When I walked into it, clearly, you could see water coming up. Took practice swings, and it’s just water splashing every single time. Called a rules official over, they disagreed. I looked at it again. I thought maybe I should get a second opinion. That rules official also disagreed.
“At the end of the day, it’s not up to me, it’s up to the rules official. That’s kind of that. From that point, Travis and I said, Look let’s focus on the shot, try to execute. I did the best I could. I was 100 percent locked in on what I was trying to do. Ultimately, it felt like the water just kind of got in the way, and I went left. It is what it is.”
Scott would really be impacted when play resumed after the break, dropping seven shots in the final eleven holes.
“I don’t know. It was kind of — it was tough,” said Scott. “It was bad conditions. No one really had a good score. I missed the fairway. I hadn’t done that all week really. Then I did, and I paid the price and lost a lot of shots out there. Couldn’t recover. Conditions were just tough. It was very windy. Hadn’t been that windy all week. Front nine played tough. Then, once the fairways were soaked, it was very hard controlling the golf ball.
“Although the conditions were tough at the start, I felt good. I felt like I was under control. I was kind of annoyed at myself. I hit a really weak putt on like the 6th, and then I felt like, Oh, I’ve let one go there, better toughen up a little bit and not do that.
“It was just so sloppy the rest of the way. Sam, we must have looked horrible, both of us playing like that. But that’s what can happen in these things. If you get a little off, you’re just severely punished.”
Ryan Fox followed up his magnificent win in Canada with another impressive week when he finished with a round of 69 to finish in a share of 19th, his second-best finish in a major, a reflection of his growing confidence on the PGA Tour.
“I kind of didn’t see it the last couple of days,” said Fox who played on his own today after his playing partner, Corey Conners, was forced to withdraw with a wrist injury. “I kind of had a little patch where I made a few birdies and basically was hacking it out of the crap the rest of the day. Today was really, really solid. Probably left a couple out there on the greens, but for the most part, I kept myself out of trouble all day.
“I think I only missed two or three fairways and only missed two or three greens as well. If you can do that around here, it feels like there is a score. I can see the other way pretty quickly if you start missing shots. It just eats you up.”
Fox has been on a busy schedule of late and it does not get any easier being in the field for next week’s Signature event in Connecticut. I definitely won’t be working on much. It’s been a pretty long — probably six weeks for me from Myrtle Beach. I qualified for PGA last minute. Then, got into Memorial because of that. Then Canada and got into here last minute from Canada. I’d say I’m running on fumes a little bit.
“Today was just trusting that the golf game was in good shape, and I hit a lot of good shots, had a good feeling out there. That will kind of be the same next week, just go and trust that the game’s in decent shape and see what happens.”
Fox added US$267,000 to his already significant earnings which now mount to more than US$3.5 million for the season to date.
Jason Day was 23rd, Marc Leishman 38th and Cam Davis 64th.
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Jason Day finds form at Travelers Championship
Jason Day – file photo image courtesy of USGA
Jason Day is just one behind the leaders, Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas and Tommy Fleetwood at the halfway stage of the Travelers Championship at the TPC River Highlands near Hartford, a second consecutive round of 66 leaving the Australian well placed for one of the big cheques at week’s end, if not a 14th PGA Tour title.
A closing nine of 31 moved Day very much into contention in the Signature event, although he will need to get past two of the hottest players on the PGA Tour this season, Scheffler, Thomas and Fleetwood, who is still chasing a first PGA Tour title.
Day does not enjoy a great record in this event with a best of 8th in 9 previous starts and a best of 44th in his last three, but he has found something this week.
I got off to a bit of a rough start,” said Day. “I shouldn’t say that. I birdied the first hole. But I kind of missed — I started leaving a lot out to the right, got a little bit ahead of it.
“It was really difficult to have a correct warmup today because of the 40-mile-per-hour gusts left to right on the range. When it’s windy, typically — pretty much everyone, I would say a majority of the guys out there get really fast with their tempo, so it’s very difficult to time everything correctly because you’re obviously battling the elements and trying to hit a shot. Evveryone gets a little bit quick, especially in transition.
“Then the back nine was a lot better for me because I started to — I found my groove a little bit. We got down through 10, 11, 12, and there wasn’t as much wind, and I hit a few shots and started trusting the swing again, and then obviously had a great finish.
“When you’re coming out of a U.S. Open, you kind of — I typically would take the week off, so it was very difficult for me to miss this one. And mind you, with some injuries I’ve had, I’ve missed two Signature Events, and I’m a little behind the — this is my 12th event for the year. So it’s kind of difficult. I’m a little bit in catch-up mode right now, so I’ve got to try and play as much as I can.”
Ryan Fox is the next best of the Australasians in a share of 35th place at even par after his second round of 71 highlighted by an eagle at the 13th hole.
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Steve Alker chasing second Champions Tour major
Steve Alker – file photo courtesy of USGA
While New Zealand’s Steve Alker has been one of the most dominant figures on the PGA Tour Champions since joining in August of 2021, he has just the one Senior major title to his name in that time.
This weekend, he gets the chance to add another after his opening 36 holes of the Kaulig Companies Championship at the Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, have him sharing the halfway lead with Argentinian Ricardo Gonzalez and American Tim Petrovic.
Alker’s only win in a senior major came when winning the Kitchen Aid Senior PGA Championship in 2022. Although there has been several near misses since, that second major has eluded the 53-year-old.
Alker’s second round of 67 was perhaps disappointing in that he made a fast start with four birdies in his first six holes, but, the demanding and lengthy Firestone Country Club layout bared its teeth over the closing stages and he finds himself in that share of the lead as he chases not only his second major but a 10th PGA Tour Champions title.
“I’m just really trying to get into the process right now. I had some close calls this year again, I had some seconds and thirds and stuff,” said Alker. “Just trying to knuckle down and just focus on me a little bit more, just try and hit my shots. I know the game’s there, it’s good enough, it’s just making a few more putts. That’s kind of what I’m focusing on now.”
The Firestone Country Club has a reputation as one of the more demanding layouts the PGA Tour Champions will play this year, but Alker enjoys the challenge.
“You’ve got to have all facets of your game going. It’s a major, right? There’s some rough out there and it’s a long golf course, a lot of long irons. You’ve just got to knuckle up and play good, and I like that. Maybe three or four times a year is good, but I enjoy coming here. They look after us great, and the golf course is great. Yeah, it’s just a good test, love it.”
Amongst the other Australasians in the field, Richard Green and Michael Wright are next best, in a tie for 6th and three from the lead and Mark Hensby is in 9th place at 1 under par and just four off the halfway lead.
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Minjee Lee starts Women’s PGA Championship well
Minjee Lee consults with her caddie today – image Ryan Lochhead PGA of America
Minjee Lee has made an encouraging start to the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in Frisco in Texas, her opening round of 3 under par 69 leaving her one behind Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul and alone in second position.
Lee, who played in the morning draw on day one, bogeyed her opening hole but produced four birdies before the turn, before playing the homeward nine in even par for her solid start.
“I putted really great today,” said Lee. “I made a lot of birdie putts and a whole bunch of up and down par putts as well. I mean, my iron game was pretty solid as well, but I think I need to sharpen up my drives a little bit. But then I think I felt quite good today.”
Lee was asked how much tougher it is to win a major now than was the case several years ago when she won the two titles she now has to her name.
“I think just the depth of the fields has gotten much stronger. I think when I first started, it was a bit more top-heavy, and now all the girls can compete; everybody is much more competitive.
“I think over my 10, 11 years, it’s just a lot more girls from like overseas are coming to play in America and on the LPGA, so I think that’s been a big difference. I just think everybody is hungrier. They’re younger and more fierce and just aggressive — obviously on the course; not as people.”
“I just think they’re not afraid. Yeah, I feel like that is more the theme now than it used to be.”
The event is being played at the Gil Hanse designed Fields Ranch East in Frisco, Texas, and the layout is proving to be a handful for the field including Lee who has local knowledge given she lives close by.
“Obviously it’s different. The rough is much thicker. If you hit it just off the fairways, you can — I mean, I’m thankful for the volunteers because I couldn’t find my ball some of the times.
“Yeah, pretty much you can only see maybe a third of the ball. “Just the top. So when I came to practice it was a little bit more dormant so the rough hadn’t quite come in yet. Yeah, I think that’s the big difference.
“The greens are a little bit quicker and it’s set up for tournament play now and before it was just the members could still play and we could play, so it was not the same at all.”
Stephanie Kyriacou is the next best of the Australasians in a share of 16th place after her opening round of even par.
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Queensland’s Billy Dowling makes quarter finals at British Am
Billy Dowling – file photo -Image Australian Golf Media
Queensland’s Billy Dowling has made the quarter final of the British Amateur Championship at Royal St Georges in Kent.
After finishing in a share of 12th place in the 36-hole qualifying earlier in the week, Dowling, who is a member of both the Brisbane Golf Club and RACV Royal Pines on the Gold Coast, opened the match play phase of the historic event with a 3&2 win over Germany’s Tom Haberer.
Dowling then disposed of Rodrigo Vazquez of Mexico 5&3 before winning his round of 16 match against Fillipo Gonzano of Italy 3&2.
In tomorrow’s quarter-final, he faces Ricardo Fantinelli of Italy, who finished one shot ahead of Dowling in the qualifying rounds.
“I feel great,” said Dowling. “I played really well today, both in the first match and then this afternoon. I don’t think I did too much wrong, to be honest. I stuck to my game plan the whole day, and I’m just happy it paid off.
“My caddie really kept me level-headed the whole way, just one shot at a time, one hole at a time. I never got too ahead of myself if I was up, and if I was down, I just held in there, and I just felt like it was a good game plan.”
20-year-old Dowling has recorded four top tens in PGA Tour of Australasia events over the past 12 months and is well placed to become just the third Australian, following Doug Bachli (1953 and Bryden McPherson (2011) to win the coveted title and earn starts at the Open Championship and the Masters.
Ten Australasians tackle KPMG Women’s PGA Championship
The KPMG carries a purse of US$12 million – image PGA of America
The LPGA Tour will play the third of its five annual major championships when the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship gets underway in Frisco in Texas, where nine Australians and one New Zealander tee it up at the Fields Ranch East layout, the now home of the PGA of America organization.
The golf course was designed by Gil Hanse, who was the man responsible for the redo of last week’s US Open layout at Oakmont.
LPGA Tour rookie Cassie Porter is the only debutante in the event amongst the ten Australasians with Lydia Ko, Minjee Lee, Hannah Green, Stephanie Kyriacou, Grace Kim, Gabi Ruffels, Hira Naveed, Karis Davidson and Robyn Choi completing the list.
Lydia Ko is the highest ranked on the Rolex Rankings, currently in 3rd place behind Nelly Korda and Jeeno Thitikul, but former winner, Hannah Green, is currently 8th in world ranking, while former world number two Minjee Lee is currently at her lowest ranking (24) for several years.
Lee bases herself nearby and feels that having played the course a few times now might be an advantage.
“I base myself here so it’s a little bit like a home game for me,” said Lee who has yet to win this season although has been runner-up It would be extra special I think especially my mom is here this week, couple of my friends will be coming out and some close friends, too. So, I had a couple of early looks before I arrived at the venue, so I already knew what the course’s layout was going to look like.
“In terms of this week, I played the pro-am yesterday, 18 holes, so saw the whole thing. It’s been a good week so far.”
“Yeah, it would be pretty awesome if I could get it done this week.”
After what had been a very good start to the 2025 season, Lydia Ko’s form has dropped away somewhat, with no top tens in her past four starts after winning earlier in the season. The New Zealander is playing her 13th KPMG PGA Championship, but she has not played the event well in recent years, with a best of 46th in her last four starts.
Hannah Green is the only one of the ten to have tasted success in the event having won in 2019. She is one of three Australians to have won the title with Karrie Webb and Jan Stephenson, the other two.
Stephanie Kyriacou and Grace Kim are perhaps the best chance of the others, but it would appear any possible chance of an Australasian victory could come from Ko, Lee or Green.
The tournament carries an equal record LPGA Tour purse of US$12 million.
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J.J. Spaun the last man standing in Oakmont battle
The winner after one of the US Open’s most dramatic final days – image Jeff Haynes USGA
As one sits down to try and describe today’s final round of the US Open at Oakmont, it is hard to know just where to start.
Beginning the day with Sam Burns one ahead of Adam Scott and J.J. Spaun, within an hour or so it appeared as if it might develop into a battle between Burns and Scott with Spaun bogeying five out of his first six holes.
But of course, this was the US Open and this was Oakmont, and six or so hours later it would be a case of the last man standing being Spaun himself, who staged a remarkable and gutsy rebound from early adversity to hole an 70 footer at the last to win by two over Robert McIntyre.
The two most likely winners of the event early in the day, Burns and Scott would eventually shoot rounds of 78 and 79 respectively and finish 7th and 12th but, while they were disadvantaged by what was a 90 minute weather delay beginning at 4.00 pm, many others would become contenders over the last two hours or so of play.
Spaun was the victim of some early bad breaks, none more so than, after a bogey at the first, his pitch to the short par 4 second hit the flag and spun back some 50 yards.
But, to his credit, he managed to put those aside, although when play resumed, Spaun was four shots off Burns’ lead and three behind Scott and given the breaks he had suffered over the opening few holes, his chances of even contending seemed forlorn.
But then came a series of pars to settle things, and when he holed a 30-footer for birdie at the 12th he was heading in the right direction.
Spaun needed the help from others and that would come in the form of a demise from both Burns and Scott and when he birdied the 14th from 25 feet after a fine shot from the rough he had the lead over a faltering Burns and Scott, with Tyrell Hatton and Carlos Ortiz entering the fray to be also one back.
The coup de grace for Spaun was yet to come, however. His magnificent tee shot to the driveable 17th finished 20 feet behind the hole and although he would not make the eagle, the birdie took him ahead of McIntyre, who had finished earlier with a round of 68 and held second place alone.
All Spaun then needed to do was to par the last, a task easier said than done, but not only would he be up to the task he did even better by holing the most unlikely of birdie putts to win by two.
When asked how he managed to recover from such a horror start, Spaun would say, “It just, it felt like, as bad as things were going, I just still tried to just commit to every shot. I tried to just continue to dig deep. I’ve been doing it my whole life.
“I think that’s been the biggest difference this year has been being able to do that. Fortunately, I dug very deep on the back nine, and things went my way, and here we are with the trophy.”
Spaun was asked about advice he had received during the weather break from one of his coaches and what had been said.
“Oh, it was on the range. Yeah, it was kind of the theme for how the day was going. They were just like, Dude, just chill. If you’re for — if you were given four shots back going into the back nine on Monday, like you would take that. They just said, Just let it come to you, be calm. Stop trying so hard.
“That’s what I was doing. I felt like I had a chance, a really good chance to win the U.S. Open at the start of the day. It just unravelled very fast. But that break was actually the key for me to winning this tournament.”
The monster putt at the last, which would see him winning by two, was assisted by his playing partner Viktor Hovland having the almost exact putt immediately ahead of him.
“Viktor helped me a lot,” added the winner. “It was a foot left of my line. It’s pretty ironic, my first PGA TOUR win, almost the same thing happened at the Valero, but Scott Stallings was in a bunker on the last hole, we were in the same group — the back left bunker — and I hit my third shot on the back fringe, and I had to literally mark my ball for him to hit the bunker shot. He, same thing, splashed it out, right on my line, and just like fed it down to the hole. It was probably like a 40-footer.
“When I was walking up to 18, I was thinking about that moment. I was like, Oh, my God, like this is meant to be here, because this is the same thing that happened to me for my first win.
“Yeah, Viktor, we kind of got a good line, a good read on the speed. I was more focused on how hard he was hitting it. I kind of knew the line already, but it looked like he gave it a pretty good whack because it started raining there for the last 10, 15 minutes. I just tried to pick my line and put a good stroke on it. I knew it was going to be a little slow.
“About eight feet out, I kind of went up to the high side to see if it had a chance of going in, and it was like going right in. I was just in shock, disbelief that it went in and it was over. Yeah, here we are.”
One of the finest performances of the day would come from one of the vanquished, Burns. Not given a seemingly logical relief from casual water on the 15th when tied for the lead, Burns asked for a second opinion, and again it was refused. He would then pull hook his second and take double bogey, but rather than cast dispersions on the decision makers, he took it on the chin despite the gravity of the outcome.
“Yeah, that fairway slopes left to right,” said Burns, referring to where is tee shot finished on 15. That’s kind of the low part of the fairway there. When I walked into it, clearly, you could see water coming up. Took practice swings, and it’s just water splashing every single time. Called a rules official over, they disagreed. I looked at it again. I thought maybe I should get a second opinion. That rules official also disagreed.
“At the end of the day, it’s not up to me, it’s up to the rules official. That’s kind of that. From that point, Travis and I said, Look let’s focus on the shot, try to execute. I did the best I could. I was 100 percent locked in on what I was trying to do. Ultimately, it felt like the water just kind of got in the way, and I went left. It is what it is.”
Scott would really be impacted when play resumed after the break, dropping seven shots in the final eleven holes.
“I don’t know. It was kind of — it was tough,” said Scott. “It was bad conditions. No one really had a good score. I missed the fairway. I hadn’t done that all week really. Then I did, and I paid the price and lost a lot of shots out there. Couldn’t recover. Conditions were just tough. It was very windy. Hadn’t been that windy all week. Front nine played tough. Then, once the fairways were soaked, it was very hard controlling the golf ball.
“Although the conditions were tough at the start, I felt good. I felt like I was under control. I was kind of annoyed at myself. I hit a really weak putt on like the 6th, and then I felt like, Oh, I’ve let one go there, better toughen up a little bit and not do that.
“It was just so sloppy the rest of the way. Sam, we must have looked horrible, both of us playing like that. But that’s what can happen in these things. If you get a little off, you’re just severely punished.”
Ryan Fox followed up his magnificent win in Canada with another impressive week when he finished with a round of 69 to finish in a share of 19th, his second-best finish in a major, a reflection of his growing confidence on the PGA Tour.
“I kind of didn’t see it the last couple of days,” said Fox who played on his own today after his playing partner, Corey Conners, was forced to withdraw with a wrist injury. “I kind of had a little patch where I made a few birdies and basically was hacking it out of the crap the rest of the day. Today was really, really solid. Probably left a couple out there on the greens, but for the most part, I kept myself out of trouble all day.
“I think I only missed two or three fairways and only missed two or three greens as well. If you can do that around here, it feels like there is a score. I can see the other way pretty quickly if you start missing shots. It just eats you up.”
Fox has been on a busy schedule of late and it does not get any easier being in the field for next week’s Signature event in Connecticut. I definitely won’t be working on much. It’s been a pretty long — probably six weeks for me from Myrtle Beach. I qualified for PGA last minute. Then, got into Memorial because of that. Then Canada and got into here last minute from Canada. I’d say I’m running on fumes a little bit.
“Today was just trusting that the golf game was in good shape, and I hit a lot of good shots, had a good feeling out there. That will kind of be the same next week, just go and trust that the game’s in decent shape and see what happens.”
Fox added US$267,000 to his already significant earnings which now mount to more than US$3.5 million for the season to date.
Jason Day was 23rd, Marc Leishman 38th and Cam Davis 64th.
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Queensland’s Karis Davidson records best LPGA Tour finish
Karis Davidson – file photo courtesy of Australian Golf Media
A final round of 69 has given 26 year old Queenslander Karis Davidson her best ever LPGA Tour finish when sharing 7th place at the Meijer LPGA Classic in Belmont in Michigan.
Davidson finished four shots behind the winner, 35 year old Carlota Ciganda of Spain, who won her 4th LPGA Tour title when finishing one ahead of former Australian Amateur Champion, Korea’s Hye-Jin Choi.
Davidson, whose previous best finish on the LPGA Tour was when 8th in an LPGA Tour event in Shanghai two years ago, secures her biggest cheque in the game (US$75,000) and importantly moves close to the top 100 in the ranking as she looks to retain her standing on the LPGA Tour.
After missing her first four cuts this season and resuming after a medical exemption, Davidson appears to have found something in her game with several better finishes of late.
“Yeah, really good, especially after coming back after a medical,” said the Scottish-born Australian. “It’s nice to see the game getting in some sort of form. So, yeah, really good.
“I think it really helps with confidence and I’ll definitely get into more events. I might have kept my card now with that finish after coming back from a medical.”
Minjee Lee and Gabi Ruffels were the next best of the Australasians when they shared 14th place.
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Ageless Adam Scott in final group shootout at US Open
Adam Scott reacts to a putt on the 18th today – image Kathryn Riley USGA
Adam Scott will join leader, Sam Burns, in the final round of the US Open at Oakmont after the Australian’s third round of 67 saw him move within one shot of the leader and with just Scott himself as the only player to have won a major title amongst the leading ten players on the leaderboard, the 44 year old’s chances of a second major title are looking increasingly bright.
Scott began the third round three shots behind Burns but made a shaky start when he three putted to slip four behind. Two magnificent shots to the 4th hole led to a two-putt birdie, and he was on his way to the equal best round of the day, in which he would not drop another shot but add four birdies.
A last hole bogey by the man who shares second place with Scott, J.J. Spaun ensured Scott would be paired with Burns given he was the first player in at 3 under and whether the pairing plays a role or not in tomorrow’s final round, that Scott has ‘been there before and done that’ might well play a role in his chances of a second major, a record 12 years after the first.
Henry Cotton, Julius Boros, Hale Irwin and Ben Crenshaw endured an eleven year wait before they claimed a follow up major title and, tomorrow, Scott has a chance of not only establishing a new record in that regard but, at the age of 44, becoming the second oldest winner of the US Open after Hale Irwin who was 45 when claiming a third US Open title in 1990.
Scott would become just the third Australian to win the US Open following the victories of David Graham and Geoff Ogilvy.
Scott hit just 10 of 14 fairways and 11 of 18 greens. Still, it was an impressive performance with the putter, especially when it mattered, along with a superb short game that saw him move into a share of the lead briefly when he holed a 15-footer for birdie at the 17th, before Burns regained his outright lead with his own birdie at the same hole.
“Yeah, it would be super fulfilling,” responded Scott when asked what a win tomorrow would mean to him. “Everyone out here has got their journey, you know. Putting ourselves in these positions doesn’t just happen by fluke. It’s not easy to do it. I really haven’t been in this kind of position for five or six years, or feeling like I’m that player. But that’s what I’m always working towards. It’s not that easy to figure it all out.
“But if I were to come away with it tomorrow, it would be a hell of a round of golf and an exclamation point on my career.
“I’m playing good, so there’s no reason not to. I’m playing from the fairway a lot. I’ve played fairly conservative, and I haven’t really been forcing the issue much. Could be a different story tomorrow. A lot can happen in 18 holes out here. But I like what I’ve done so far.
Burns, who last week lost a playoff for the Canadian Open to New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, is clearly in fine form and as one of the longer hitters on the PGA Tour and the tour’s best putter, statistically, this season, he fitted the mould of a player likely to do well even before the event. But, without a major to his name as yet, tomorrow’s challenge is immense, especially given that he is vying for the greatest title an American can win.
“I think as a kid growing up, you dream about winning major championships and that’s why we practice so hard and work so hard. All these guys in this field, I think, would agree that to have the opportunity to win a major is special. I’m definitely really excited for tomorrow.”
One of the features of Burns career is that he has kept the same group of people around him for virtually throughout and he explained what he sees as the importance of just that.
“Yeah, I think my dad has always said you’ve got to dance with who brought you. For me, my coach (Brad Pullin) and I have been working together since I was 15 or 16, and to me, it seems way more complicated to go seek advice from someone else who doesn’t know me or know my golf swing.
“I fully trust him and what he thinks and what he says, and our relationship is much more than just a swing coach. So I think for me golf is complicated enough, it’s difficult enough. For me I have always thought just trying to keep it simple and just figure out what works for me.”
J.J. Spaun is another facing a possible first major title as he too sits just one off the lead after a bogey at the last cost him a place in the final group. Instead, he will play his final round with Viktor Hovland, who is three from the lead and two behind Scott and Spaun.
The bogey was disappointing for Spaun, especially after a break with his tee shot, but he is excited about tomorrow’s battle.
“I’m just happy I’m still within shouting distance going into tomorrow. 18’s just a tough hole, kind of if you’re out of position. I was already lucky to have a clean lie, somewhat of a clean lie on the second shot. But, you know, bogeys happen at Oakmont, and I still got 18 holes tomorrow.
“It’s fun. I mean, this is the first time for me to be in contention in a major, I think, yeah. I mean THE PLAYERS is an unofficial major, I guess, but yeah, it’s fun. I mean it’s kind of everything that you prepare and hope to have the opportunity to have at these big events, let alone just getting into them, are so hard.
“That was me a year ago — I mean a year and prior, like I couldn’t even get into these tournaments. So, to see myself here qualifying off World Ranking just based off how I’ve been playing all year was a nice treat. But then, to kind of back up how I’ve been doing all year and be in contention is fun.
Of the Australasians other than Scott, Marc Leishman improved from just inside the cutline to a share of 11th with his round of 68, an outward nine of 32 setting up something even better, but very good all the same, especially given he gained his place in the field via final qualifying.
Jason Day was round in 72 to be tied for 21st, Ryan Fox had 73 to be tied for 39th despite three consecutive birdies in the middle of his front nine and Cam Davis is last of those who made the weekend with a third round of 82.
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Sam Burns – hits his tee shot at the 13th today – image Chris Keane USGA
Queensland’s Karis Davidson has share of LPGA Tour event lead
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Karis Davidson – file image LPGA Tour / Getty Images
Scottish-born Queenslander Karis Davidson has a share of the halfway lead at the LPGA Tour’s Meijer LPGA Classic in Michigan, the 26-year-old former JLPGA Tour player finding her feet at this level after first joining the tour in 2022.
Davidson, whose best finish to date in 46 LPGA Tour starts has been when 8th at in Shanghai in 2023, added s second round of 70 to her opening 66 to share the halfway lead with Hye Jin Choi, Carlotta Ciganda and Celine Boutier, the group one ahead of six players one shot back including Davidson’s fellow Australian Min Jee Lee.
Another shot back are other Australians, Stephanie Kyriacou, Cassie Porter, Gabi Ruffels and Grace Kim.
A rather candid Davidson described a day when she was struggling physically but gave praise to her caddy for keeping her mind of the job.
“Well, honestly, if I’m being honest, my time of the month was really bad today. My cramps have been really sore, so my caddie was kind of my cheerleader for the day. He was keeping me going with lots of snacks and PowerAdes and things.
“So we just really hung in there today. Was a bit of a grind, and nice to get the couple birdies at the end. Yeah, had a really fun group. Yeah, it was a really good day.
“I think this is the first time I’ve been tied first in an LPGA event after two rounds, so, yeah, I’m just really excited that I wasn’t fighting for the cut. You know, it was a bit of a different feeling out there.”
Davidson talked about the number of Australians in contention.
“Yeah, we’re really lucky. We’re all really good friends and we’ve got each other’s backs, which is pretty unique. I think we all really get along.
Yeah, the golf in Australia is very supportive, and I think it just shows that we’re a real country going forward, yeah. We’ve been lucky.”
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Old man par golf has Adam Scott contending at Oakmont
Adam Scott in action this week – image courtesy of USGA
In 23 previous US Opens, Australia’s Adam Scott has recorded just three top tens but in this weekend’s final 36 holes of the US Open at Oakmont, the 44 year old has a chance to not only improve on that record but to perhaps add a second major championship title to his already impressive career resume.
Today, Scott added a second consecutive round of 70 to be at even par and just three from the lead held by Sam Burns and, importantly for his chances, all three of the players ahead of him have yet to win a major. So, the experience he takes into the final two rounds will be of significant benefit on a golf course that appears will be impacted by the forecast rain overnight on Friday evening and into Saturday morning.
It will not only be those ahead of him that Scott needs to be aware of in terms of his chances, however, as all of those making the cut are within ten shots of the lead and perhaps as many as half of the 70 or so making it into the weekend fancy their chances of contending on Sunday, especially with even par looking, increasingly, like a potential winning total.
Scott described how he feels about where he stands ahead of what will be an exciting final 36 holes at arguably the most demanding layout on the US Open roster of courses.
“I mean, I guess I would have expected to be in this position if you said even par through two rounds. It’s just hard out there. It’s hard to keep it going when guys have got on a run. It seems like they’ve come back a bit. I’m playing old-man-par golf at the moment.
“For most of the first two days, I’ve been in the fairway off the tee, and therefore, there hasn’t been too much stress in the rounds. I think I’ve played well off the tee, and the rest of the game has been okay from there. But I’d say I’ve been fairly strong off the tee.”
When asked how proud he has been of a career that has been perhaps underrated, especially given his longevity in terms of the number of consecutive majors (96) he has played, Scott answered.
“I’d be pretty proud of winning this thing on the weekend. Right now, that’s really what I’m here to do, and I feel like there’s probably not been many signs to anyone else but me the last month or six weeks that my game is looking better. But I definitely feel more confident than I have been this year.
“Not to put down anything else, but this is really where my mind goes at the start of every year and what I think about is — of course I’d like to win lots more tournaments, any of them, to be perfectly honest. I’d like to win something.
“I have put together a nice career, but I think another major more would really go a long way in fulfilling my own self, when it’s all said and done. This is all I’m really playing for are these big events. There’s probably eight of them off the top of my mind a year that I really want to win.”
Jason Day found his major championship mojo with a round of 67 to finish at 3 over and now just six shots from the lead after being ten shots behind following his opening round of 76.
“Putted a lot better today,” said the man who finished runner-up on debut in this event 14 years ago and recorded four top tens in his first five starts. His more recent record at the US Open has not been quite so good, however.
“Obviously, I hit it nice on the front side, which was the back side. I got into a little bit of trouble kind of midway round. Just started missing a few greens. Then kind of settled it a little bit with a birdie on 6 and 7 for me. So that was, it was a big day to come back and shoot 3-under to make the cut.”
Day indicated that improved putting was the secret today and highlighted an interesting means of improving his putting stats in round two. After his opening round, he took to some remedial work on his putter.
“I bent my putter. Yeah, no, I just manually bent it myself. Stood on it. That’s kind of how I used to do it back in the day. It just hadn’t been looking very good to me personally, kind of looks a little bit hooded, the grip’s on a little bit closed too, so that’s not a positive for me. But I bent it enough to make it look more open, which is good.
“3-over right now, if I can just keep climbing the leaderboard, get into contention on Sunday that would be great.”
The highlight of Day’s round was an eagle at the 12th (his third hole).
“Yeah, just driver and then a 3-wood just to about 20 feet,” said Day when asked to describe the feat. “I think it was over 300 yards to the pin, but slight down slope on the second shot, it was going to be tough to try and clear the front part, that’s just about 30, 40 yards short and left, so played a little bit right, hit a nice shot in there and then obviously rolled in a good putt there too.”
Of the other Australasians, Ryan Fox has done well to make the cut at 5 over and be placed 36th after what has no doubt been a busy and exhausting week following his win in Canada. Fox will begin round three eight behind the lead.
Marc Leishman battled to a round of 75 after his opening 71 to be at 6 over and one inside the cutline of 7 over, while Cam Davis has finished on the cutline at 7 over after a second round of 73.
Cam Smith missed weekend play by one and Min Woo Lee missed by two.
The leader, Sam Burns, has yet to win a major title, but he is a five-time PGA Tour winner and just last week lost a playoff in Canada to Ryan Fox.
Burns is playing his 18th major championship but has just one top ten to show for those attempts, that coming when 9th at Pinehurst in this event last year.
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Jason Day in action during round two – image courtesy of USGA