Ruthless Oakmont dumps DeChambeau as Burns takes the lead

World number one Scottie Scheffler reacts on the tee box during his second round of the US Open at the Oakmont Country Club on Friday. Image courtesy usopen.com.

By Rahul Banerji

Bryson DeChambeau became the first defending US Open in six years to miss the cut as the Oakmont Country Club continued to play havoc with rankings and favourite tags on Friday.

Five-time PGA Tour winner and recent Canadian Open runner-up Sam Burns moved into the 36-hole lead with a 5-under-par 65, nudging fellow-American and overnight leader J.J. Spaun into second place.

Burns (72-65), Spaun (66-72) and Norway’s Viktor Hovland (71-68) remain the only three in the initial field of 156 to total sub-par scores, down from 10 after the opening round. It is the smallest number at any US Open since Dustin Johnson was the only one at Shinnecock Hills in 2018.

Friday’s cut applied at 7 over par 147 eliminated a host of big names besides 2024 winner DeChambeau who exited with a 10 over par total. 

Honour roll

They included former champions Gary Woodland,  Wyndham Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin RoseandDustin Johnson, 2024 Senior US Open winner Richard Bland, Phil Mickelson in probably his final US Open, past The Open champion Cameron Smith and LIV Golf rankings leader Joaquin Neimann.

Going through were world number one Scottie Scheffler (73-71), Masters and Grand Slam winner Rory McIlroy (74-72), 2017 and 2018 winner Brooks Koepka (68-74), fellow LIV stalwarts Jon Rahm (69-75) and Tyrell Hatton (73-70), and the resurgent Jason Day (76-67).

Fellow Australian Adam Scott, playing in his 96th successive major continued his fine run at Oakmont with consecutive level par 70 cards to share fourth place alongside Ben Griffin (69-71) of the US.

With fairways continuing to firm up and Stimp readings in excess of 14.5, the carnage was inevitable as yet surprising considering the quality of players eliminated. Instead, it has been a relatively unheralded brigade that has stepped into the space made available.

Rare feat

On Friday, the 28-year-old Burns matched the third-lowest round in a US Open at Oakmont, only bettered by Johnny Miller’s final-round 63 to win the 1973 event and Loren Roberts’ 64 in 1994, when he and Colin Montgomerie lost in a Monday playoff to Ernie Els, the tournament website said.

Play was suspended early leaving 13 still to complete their second rounds including South Africa’s Thriston Lawrence, who was 1 over on Friday after an opening 3 under 67, and and standing over as four-foot putt on his final hole when the siren blew.

Burns’ 65 on Friday included a 22-foot par save on the difficult par-4 9th hole, besides birdie putts ranging between 21 and five feet, with just one bogey on the day. In all, Burns hit 14 of 18 greens and nine of 14 fairways, almost matching Spaun’s stats from Thursday.

“There’s obviously a lot of golf left on a very tough golf course, so I think really just getting rest and getting ready for tomorrow,” said Burns later.

“Honestly, I didn’t really think of a score. Like I said, the golf course is really too difficult to try to figure out what’s a good score and what’s not. You’re really just shot by shot and trying to play each hole the best you can.”

Added the second-placed Spaun, “A few years ago, I would probably expect to play poorly today. But I knew it would be hard to back up a bogey-free 4-under at Oakmont in the US Open. I’m just glad that I kept it together.”

Late setbacks

On Spaun’s heels, Hovland was on a roll early including a chip in for eagle to reach 3 under for the tournament but two bogeys and a double on his inward nine holes came as a setback.

“For some reason I’ve just been in a really nice mental state this week,” Hovland said later. “It’s like, both my rounds have been very up and down. 

“I feel like a couple times if it would have happened at another tournament, for example, I could have potentially lost my mind there a little bit. But I felt like I kept things together very well.”

On Friday, Frenchman Victor Perez scored a hole-in-one on the 192-yard 6th hole with a 7 iron, the first at Oakmont in 42 years.

Also read: Unheralded Spaun leads US Open field at spiteful Oakmont