Oakmont, Pa. — Each time the US Open returns to the Oakmont Country Club, two numbers are discussed in detail. It is here that the club’s culture centers around courses that prefer to graze the impossible beyond difficult scores.
In 2016, 10 people entered the final round with pars. Only four red numbers for sports appeared. In 2007, only two players finished the round at face value, but that happened in the first round. Finally, five overs allowed Ancer Cabrera to raise the trophy.
The way Oakmont always repels golfers left and right separates the challenge. But on Saturday, when the sunset glowed the course, it seemed that the four players were doing just that. Suitable for them, they challenged the depths of Oakmont in 54 holes, and were the four who emerged under the standard.
“Once I said it, I said it 100 times, and this golf course is difficult,” said Sam Burns, who holds a 54-hole lead at 4 under. “It takes patience.”
Perhaps it wasn’t something US Open Leaderboard golf fans and television executives dreamed of this week. After all, the past six majors have featured winners who are currently in the top 10 world golf rankings. But four players, Burns, Adam Scott, JJ Spawn and Victor Hofland, head on Sunday on the leaderboard.
I’ll get burned. The 28-year-old has been an expert since 2017. He won five PGA Tours but never stole a major on 19 attempts. His best finish was in the backdoor top 10 at the US Open last year at Pinehurst.
Two things that seem to know the most about Burns are that he is a great putter and that he is a close friend of Scotty Schaeffler. Forget the major championship competitions. He doesn’t put himself in a position where most casual golf fans can even give their opinions about him. Still, Burns found something this week.
Yes, Burns’ putter is as impressive as expected. He is tied to the fewest putts per round, making a whopping 12 birdies this week. But no one has ever hit his irons or wedges more than he – he leads the field with the strokes he has acquired: approach. Now he is on the verge of an unexpected feat, to say the least.
“That would be incredible,” Burns said he had won the majors. “I think as a child growing up, you dream of winning a major championship, so we practice hard and work hard.”
As unlikely as Burns’ victory, the guy who played with him on Saturday could be a bigger shock to the golf system. Spaun is a career traveler. At the age of 34, he only won one PGA Tour, but it happened three years ago at Valero Texas Open. Earlier this year, he attempted to go toe toe with Rory McIlroy in the Player Championship. Spaun looked withered under pressure as McIlroy scored his second victory at TPC Sawgrass in the three-hole playoffs on Monday.
Maybe some expect that will be Spaun’s final one on the big stage. But the Los Angeles native hasn’t stopped playing the best golf of his life, at 3 under at Oakmont after three rounds, only one Burns. This year, only five players have become better ball strikers on the tour than he has. His approach play was good this week (he ranks 21st on the field), but it was his putter, earning nearly three strokes on the field.
“I’m not putting much pressure on myself,” Spaun said. He then added: “This is the best I’ve played in my career.
Unlike Spaun and Burns, this is not the best Hovland has played in his career. It’s not even nearby.
Two years ago, Hovland finished in the top 20 in all majors, including a T-2 at the PGA Championship. That same year, he won the BMW Championship by filming a course record 61 on Sunday. Then in 2024 he missed four cuts, changed coaches twice, and began opening up to the media about the never-ending quest for a perfect swing. Hovland shot 70 on Saturday, making him 1 under and three shots behind Burns. On paper, he is the best of the four. In reality, the former US amateur winner, who smelled his first major more than a few times, made madness part of his way.
“I’m pretty pleased with how I fought there,” Hofland said. “It’s a bit bitter about my driver. I don’t seem to get it. It’s making me mad because this year is like a prolonged issue.”
Sometimes Hofland seems to be more angry about swings than scores, ball flight. It’s like his brain is thinking of mental photography and emotions, not scores or statistics.
“Of course, we all want to win, so we’re practicing hard,” Hofland said. “But there’s also a deep passion for me, hoping to hit a shot. Stand up on the tee and hit the shot I imagine. When the ball isn’t doing that, it bothers me.
“I know well that tomorrow we have a chance. If we shoot a low round of golf tomorrow, anything can happen. But there are a lot of great players around me. Adam Scott had a great round today.
Hovland, Spaun and Burns are about to reach the career mountain top of majors for the first time, but other players they have to last have played 96 of those majors in a row.
Scott is the only person close to the top of this leaderboard and doesn’t create a legacy with Sunday’s victory, but rather adds it. 22 years ago, he won his first PGA Tour event. Twelve years ago, he secured the only major. In a thrilling playoff victory at Augusta National, he gave him a coveted green jacket and etched his name into a history book.
Sunday is likely a more impressive history. The victory marks the 12 years between Scott, 44, a big win, making the second oldest player the only player to win the US Open.
After filming the second consecutive round of par 70 on Friday, the smiling Scott said he was playing “Old Manper” there. Saturday demanded something better, he delivered, shot a 3-under 67, put him in Sunday’s final group, showing off his vintage ball tint.
“I’m pretty proud to win this over the weekend, and now that’s really what I need to do,” Scott said Friday. “I feel that outside of me there probably didn’t have many signs that my game is looking better, but I’m definitely more confident than I did this year.”
Scott’s even nature can almost hide his competitiveness. This is partly easy to forget, as he hasn’t competed for the majors since 2019.
“I’ve never really been in this position for five or six years, or I feel like that player,” Scott said. “But that’s something I’m always working on. If I leave it tomorrow, it’s going to be a hell of golf and an exclamation point on my resume.”
There was a certain level of enthusiasm as the crowd cheered him on as Scott walked the 18th fairway in Oakmont on Saturday. There is little doubt that he will become a favorite in the gallery on Sunday. Scott, as usual, seemed to have been seen as f-like. He conducted several media interviews before quietly leaving the facility.
Meanwhile, Hofland stayed. He ran around driving range, slamming the ball with his driver on a Pittsburgh night, searching for that swing that was in his brain. No one else joined him. Previously, Spawn said he would go home and have dinner. It was probably room service ordered by my wife at the hotel with my two daughters.
It was another reminder how different these four players who are competing for our openness that longed for us were. The US battle of attrition held in Oakmont on Sunday may present another valuable competitor, but for now all eyes are in the top four. When the final 18 holes come, they all appear in the same quest and are well aware that no matter how many players are at face value, only one person can appear.
