LOS ANGELES — Whose U.S. Open is this? It’s been six full days of the 123rd week of this national championship, but the question still persists. There are a variety of possible outcomes, but 18 holes remain before the true answer reveals itself.
It was presumed Monday that Los Angeles Country Club would win the week. Though it has firmed up, it’s certainly not the bouncy test everyone expected. It has been a delight, but perhaps not the star it could have been.
The aura on the grounds could not be more desolate. For a variety of reasons — difficult routing, limited ticket sales and a city potentially indifferent to golf’s national championship — this feels less like a U.S. Open and more like a U.S. Amateur. So, I’m not sure it’s the “People’s Open,” either.
Does it belong to Rickie Fowler? He co-leads with Wyndham Clark at 10 under. Both are tied for the second-shortest odds. It’s not incomprehensible that this could be his tournament. He’s playing terrific golf in 2023 and did again on Saturday feeling the unfamiliar heat of contending for a major as a chill fell over LACC.
After a silly 70-foot birdie putt at the par-4 13th, Fowler hit one close on the par-5 14th rousing the tepid crowd to perhaps its loudest level of the day. He had a chance to get to 12 under for the week, three clear of Rory McIlroy and clearly in control of the tournament. He missed. After two pars at Nos. 16 and 17, he three-putted the last in the dark to fall into a tie. It felt like it was his U.S. Open for the taking, and then suddenly, the door remained open.
Still, Fowler remains locked into what would be his first major championship.
“I would say this week, this is the best I’ve felt all year and definitely in a long time,” he said. “We all feel nerves at times, depending on certain shots or circumstances, but I mentioned it [Friday] and then still stand by it. This is the best I’ve felt, let alone in a normal tournament but especially a major, and I would say really ever in my career.”
What about Clark? If you’re unfamiliar with his story, well, his rise the last year has been extraordinary. Clark is now ranked No. 12 in the world, according to Data Golf, becoming a probable Ryder Cup player in an American sea of them. If there was little emotional attachment to his on-course performance entering this week, he may have changed that with an otherworldly twirl at the last. U.S. Opens engender emotional, mental and physical retreat over the long arc of a week, but Clark stepped right into the fading-and-barely-still-existent spotlight Saturday evening at LACC.
After a bogey at No. 17 dropped Clark to 9 under, it appeared the stage was set for a Rickie-Rory final pairing.
Instead, Clark closed the 18th by twirling his golf club hard enough to burn a hole right through his glove and sinking a short putt as he moved to 10 under alongside Fowler. The dream final pairing took a hit, sure, but the golf tournament received a jolt of electricity late in a day marked by a firmer golf course and one of the softest galleries in recent U.S. Open history.
He dunked on the golf course and then fired at the USGA. Clark, it appears, is not afraid of the moment.
Is this McIlroy’s Open? It’s been an aerial assault for him all week. At 9 under, he’s just one back. Rory leads the field in strokes gained off the tee by a healthy margin and ranks second from tee to green. Following a bogey at the par-4 13th, he hit one of the nastiest shots you’ll ever see on the par-5 15th to just a couple feet — a spinning, checking dime that he cashed for birdie in a way that Fowler could not.
Rory has been, at least for him, short on speaking this week; he’s not made himself available to opine as he is often philosophically wont to do. That is his prerogative, of course, and it seems to be working. As the game’s unofficial bard, he has given so much away over the last several years. To keep it all in check with so much golf to play is likely wise and definitely working.
McIlroy’s stiff-arm with the media this week has been his second-best strategy because he’s been flaming this golf course with Pedro Martinez-like versatility. He’s changing speeds, benching driver and playing patient, poised major championship golf. It would be a fitting ending to the last 18 months of madness for Rory the golfer to win the day a week after Rory the the leader felt a bit discarded.
“It’s been such a long time since I’ve done it,” he said Saturday night. “I’m going out there to try to execute a game plan, and I feel like over the last three days I’ve executed that game plan really, really well, and I just need to do that for one more day.”
McIlroy said something similar at St. Andrews last July when he co-led after 54 holes at The Old Course. That didn’t end well, but winning majors is about presenting yourself chances, and the one Rory faces Sunday is about as good as they get.
Is it Scottie Scheffler who will rise to the top? For 52 holes, the concept seemed like a non-starter, and then suddenly, Scheffler played the last 1,006 yards of the golf course in five strokes on Saturday. An eagle at the 17th and a birdie at the last pushed him to 7 under and into the penultimate pairing with a familiar foe. Scheffler’s putting it great, and he got a gift from Fowler via that aforementioned bogey on 18. That brought Scheffler within three of the lead even though he was seven down in the middle of the fairway of his 53rd hole of the week. Three is so different than four, and Scheffler might be Rich Strike at the 2022 Kentucky Derby. The horses may indeed be residing in the back.
Rick Gehman is joined by Greg DuCharme and Kyle Porter to discuss Round 3 of the US Open at Los Angeles Country Club. Rickie Fowler and Wyndham Clark co-lead with Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler giving chase. It’s storylines, scorecards and betting favorites heading into the final round. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
It’s unlikely that anyone else will claim this U.S. Open. None of the last four winners have come from more than four strokes back entering the final 18 holes, according to Justin Ray. Harris English sits in fifth, four back of Fowler and Clark, but his chances seem minute given the thoroughbreds between him and the leaders.
So, whose U.S. Open is this?
Though the tally has been narrowed, there is no official count. Anything can happen Sunday, though it will likely be confined to the four players at the top of the board.
Whose U.S. Open do you want it to be? Would you like to see a golf course that takes the reins Sunday and finally sink its teeth into the championship? Would you prefer a hostile takeover of the golf course by a group of fans that care? Do you want Rickie or Rory? Wyndham or Scottie?
Sunday will do the sorting. For now, let the joy of the mystery linger because conclusions are satisfying, but for one more night in the city of dreams, it’s fun to imagine all the possibilties.