The 115th U.S. Open at Chambers Bay by all accounts has been an interesting, exciting and dramatic week. And that’s not even on the course. In between the controversies, Tweets and finger pointing an excellent golf championship has been unfolding. And today’s final round is setup for plenty of excitement and maybe a little controversy too.
Jordan Spieth
It’s a fine leaderboard with big names, great stories, superior golfers all combining to give us a good chance of a dramatic finish.
Dustin Johnson, Branden Grace, Jordan Spieth and Jason Day are all tied for the lead at four under par and a slew of golfers are perched a few strokes back including major champion Louis Oosthuizen.
Each golfer presents their own distinctive story as they vie for this U.S. Open Championship
Dustin Johnson is seventh in the world and has been touted as the best American golfer without a major. He’s had his chances with a blown opportunity at past U.S Opens, PGA’s and Open Championships.
But after his controversial six month hiatus he has come back a new, more relaxed but focused golfer. He has a win already this season and his opening round 65 has had him near the lead the entire week. A solid day of driving and a hot putter could give DJ his breakthrough major. And what a story it would be.
Branden Grace has made his case at Chambers Bay with three solid rounds and has hit over 80% of his greens in regulation. Relatively unknown to casual golf fans, Grace is a stalwart on the European Tour with six career wins including two this season.
The South African doesn’t have that great a major resume his best finish being a T18 at The Masters in 2013 but today could just be his day. And what a story it would be.
The new face of American golf is poised to make a bold statement today. Jordan Spieth is trying to claim the second win in his attempt at the grand slam and if he can find his hot putter once again he may just do it.
Spieth started off dropping two long putts on Saturday taking a three shot lead but then his putter and his game wavered the rest of the day. His one over 71 dropped him into a tie for first and left him with a hefty task on Sunday.
Spieth’s strong suit is his solid putting and he sinks more mid-range putts than anyone but he needs to hit more fairways. He was hitting from the rough half of the time on Saturday and he could not get in the correct position on the greens.
If he can right his game and win here he’ll be heralded and the messiah of American golf. But knowing his reluctance to stand on that pedestal he’ll probably say it was all his caddies doing. And what a story it would be.
Jason Day should probably have spent Saturday in bed resting and trying to stop the world from spinning. The power hitting Aussie was dropped to his knees on Friday as his ongoing bout with Vertigo came back to try and stop his chase for his first major.
Jason Day
But as if he was writing a movie script he toughed it out on Saturday, showed up for his tee time, limped and staggered his way to an amazing two under 68 and a share of the lead.
Day has had chances at majors before but something always seems to derail him. If this hasn’t done it he may be a golfer of destiny and a victory here would go down as one of the most heroic wins in golf. And what a story it would be.
Oosthuizen leads a group of players at -1, three shots back but he is by far the most compelling of the group. On day one he was caught up in the whirlpool of poor golf that was Tiger Woods and Rickie Fowler. As they struggled to an 80 and an 81 Oosthuizen stumbled to a 77 and his hopes looked dim but a 66 on Friday had him inside the cut and another 66 on Saturday has him in contention.
He could have gone much lower yesterday as he missed at least three very short, makeable birdie putts. A third straight 66 would probably give him this championship.
And what a story it would be.
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