Saturday, June 18, 2022. 8:16 PM
(Update : Saturday, June 18, 2022. 4:56 PM)
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Leader board
The unexpected Will Zalatoris and Matt Fitzpatrick occupy the lead of the US Open, after the 3rd round disputed on Saturday, in windy conditions on the course of Brookline (Massachusetts) still as difficult to tame, as Jon Rahm and Scottie lamented Scheffler.
The comers, in search of a first title on the PGA circuit, were not always in charge during this day of twists and turns, but they were the most regular, where the exceptional edition of the Ryder Cup in 1999, when the United States team beat the Europeans.
The American 14th in the world and the Briton 18th, who remain on remarkable performances at the PGA Championship last month, 2nd and 5th, are indeed part of the rare entries to have remained under par, at the end of this third round, which probably sounded the death knell for the chances of Collin Morikawa, leader the day before and who unscrewed in 17th place by returning a card of plus-7 (plus-2 in total).
“I knew it was going to play hard and that we had to remain patient. I knew if I made a bogey or two early in the game, not to change the game plan, not to try to be too aggressive because that’s how you cause damage, ”reacted Zalatoris, who made only one mistake, in the middle of four successful birdies, rewarded with a leap of 14 places.
Rahm ends up silted up
“The wind was blowing really hard. This made things difficult. You had to be mindful of how you hit the ball, where you were going to miss it. It was a big challenge today. I’m really happy with my score, ”commented Fitzpatrick, who had a more lively day, but his five birdies made up for the three bogeys conceded.
Here they are with a total of -4, still quite thin after 54 holes of a Grand Slam.
They took advantage of a failure at the very end of the course of the defending champion, the Spaniard Jon Rahm, who remains as the day before in third position.
He had however taken the lead in the ranking at N.17, thanks to a third consecutive birdie, his fourth in total.
But the world No. 2, who had learned to be patient after two early bogeys, cracked on the last hole, committing a double-bogey, after reaching the two bunkers on his way.
However, he is only one unit behind Zalatoris and Fitzpatrick, who are two lengths ahead of a trio in 4th place, made up of Canadian Adam Hadwin, American Keegan Bradley and world No.1 Scottie Scheffler.
Ten players on their island
The latter started strong with two birdies and an eagle at No. 8. Seemingly flying over the windy day, he was in the lead halfway through, one with a minus-6 total, two shots ahead of the competition.
Then things got worse. A double-bogey at no 11 followed by three bogeys in a row brought him back down to earth. However, he limited the breakage with a birdie at No. 17, which also allows him to stay in the game.
Just behind is Rory McIlroy who never really recovered from the three bogeys committed at the start of the day. The Northern Irishman, winner of the Canada Open last week, still remains negative (minus-1), alongside Americans Joel Dahmen and Sam Burns.
And in 10th position, Nick Hardy is the last to display equal to normal. The other 54 competitors are above.
Among them, Morikawa, 7th in the world, winner of the USPGA in 2020 and the British Open last year, who spent a nightmarish day, notably weighed down by two double-bogeys at No. 7 and No. 13.
With him in 17th place (plus-2), are the Japanese Hideki Matusyama, winner of the 2021 Masters Tournament, and that of the previous edition Dustin Johnson, who is among the players banned from the PGA Tour, for having yielded to the sirens of the LIV Golf series, but cleared to play the US Open this week.
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