U.S. Open Saturday: Who will prevail on the final day at Oakmont?
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Hello and welcome to this edition of the Golf Show Podcast with Rex and Lab. We are set up for a tight finish this 125th U.S. Open. Sam Burns is your 54-hole leader at four under par, but one shot behind him is the oldie but goodie Adam Scott, J.J. Spahn, who nearly won the Players' Championship this year. Also in that group, just one shot back, three shots behind Sam Burns is Victor Hovland, who bogeyed the last. Rex?

What was your biggest takeaway along third round at Oakmont country club? I think Oakmont has just been biting back since that opening, maybe five hours, uh,

On Thursday morning when everyone sort of got a little nervous because there was too many red numbers on the board and there was a couple of guys at four and five and even six under at one point. And everyone started hand-wringing and clutching at pearls. And this is what Oakmont does. It was going to bite back. I think I picked one or two under to win. And I think we're still on track for that because tomorrow's not going to be any easier. We got a little bit of rain today. It was a little bit softer. It was marginally easier to go out and score. I will say this.

Given the leaderboard that we have, and Adam Scott, as you pointed out, is the veteran. He's the only one within the top five, I believe, that has a major championship. It would be easy to sort of default to him. But if you pressed me right now, I don't know that I would pick him or anyone else right now inside that top five. I mean, someone has to win.

No, you're absolutely right. And you're going to throw one of your stats at me saying that, well, you have to be within four strokes to win here at Oakmont. Although that's not true. Johnny Miller was six strokes back when he won in 1973. So I guess anything is possible simply because he's,

How quickly things can get sideways. And we saw it all day long today where it seemed like Sam Burns was going to pull away at some point and he stumbles. And it seems like JJ spawn was going to pull away and he stumbles. And then Adam Scott had a good run to finish. It's so hard to separate yourself from this golf course because it doesn't matter how good you play for one or two or three holes. You're going to stumble. You're going to make a mistake. You're going to make a bogey. Hopefully you don't make more than that. That's kind of the beauty of this golf course. Couple of things here. I do have a stat for you.

Each of the last 26 U.S. Open winners has been within four shots of the lead. So your winner, if history holds, would be Sam Burns, Adam Scott, J.J. Spahn, Victor Hovland, or your boy, Carlos Ortiz. A couple things I thought on the scoring conditions. Like this was decidedly easier than the first two rounds. Now keep in mind, it's a shorter field after the 36-hole cut. However, the scoring average was roughly two shots better

on Saturday that had been the previous two rounds. Uh,

multiple players commented, Rex, about how much more receptive the greens were, how much slower the adjustments that they had to make. They actually had to think about spin control with your wedges, which at Oakmont is just something that shouldn't even be factoring in to the calculus. It's going to be very interesting to see how these players sort of stand up to the major championship conditions on Sunday because it's not just the top five with Adam Scott being the only major champion. It's the top ten.

on this leaderboard where he is the only major champion. Let's first start, though, with our 54-hole leader in Sam Burns. What has impressed you the way that he has played through 54 holes? And do you think his time will and should come soon?

on Sunday here at Oakmont. Actually, my partner in crime on the late show is Todd Lewis, and he did a good report pointing out that, and I kind of talked about this last night, if you look at how he has played essentially since the Masters, he did not start the season playing well at all. He had missed four consecutive cuts going into Augusta National. Since then, he has made a steady climb back to relevance. He has two top five finishes, including last week's runner-up showing at the Canadian Open, and...

I didn't realize this, that he has a history of playing his best golf in his third start. I think a lot of golfers probably can make that same argument, either second or third start somewhere. Spieth always talks about that start number three is the one that he wants to hit his stride on. Yeah, because you're knocking rust off in the first start. By the second start, you're probably still trying to figure out a little bit with your swing. By the time you get to your third one, you'd like to think you have figured everything out and your competitive juices are flowing as they should be. In this particular case, I think everything is in line.

Not necessarily because of the way he's striking the ball, but I've been wildly impressed with the way he's putting. He's always been a good putter, but I had a chance to talk with his manager about this last night, Brett Falkoff, about he loves the idea that this is a lag putting contest. This

This is very much like an Augusta national because you're going to have a lot of six, seven, eight footers. You're not going to lag it up to tap in range every single time. You're going to face a lot of challenges when it comes to birdie putts. And that's really what he was best at, at least through the first three rounds. I will say, having never really been in this situation before in a major championship is always a reason to sort of give someone a side eye. But as we pointed out repeatedly,

Adam Scott's really the only guy on there. J.J. Spahn's never really competed in a major championship. He said it himself, like, all right, the players, it's the fifth major, whatever that means. But outside of that, he's never been in this situation. So it will be interesting to see how each of these players handles that pressure. Here's a fun fact, Rex. You and I both cover the Open Championship, right? Great final round by Zender Schauffele to win his second major of 2024. What would you say if I told you that Sam Burns –

was among the group, the six-way tie for second heading into that final round. Completely did not remember that whatsoever. And Sam Burns, quite frankly, is probably going to want to forget that it happened as well. From that position, he ended up finishing second

in a tie for 31st. And so I guess he has had a little bit of a taste of major championship experience. Unfortunately, it has not been going in Sam Burns' favor. His iron play each of the last two days has just been exceptional. And when you pair that with, I mean, I think you can make the argument that he is, certainly statistically, but I think like he and Denny McCarthy have now established themselves as the best putters ever.

on the PGA tour, coupling that iron play and putting is obviously a lethal combination. I'm, I'm really interested to see what happens because the easy comparative, the easy, easy comparison, easy narrative is Scotty Shuffler.

Right. And these guys have been fast friends on the PGA Tour. They've known each other for years. They're staying with their families are staying together this week at a house outside Pittsburgh. Like it feels like it's time for Sam Burns to turn the tables on Scotty.

And I think Sam Burns' career has been overlooked in a lot of ways because his contemporary, his peer, Scotty Scheffler, has been so dominant. Sam Burns was a top junior player in the country. He was a top college player when he played at LSU. He's a five-time winner on the PGA Tour. And he has some pretty significant titles to his credit, even if they're not of –

you know, a major championship stature or a signature event stature. Like, but when he won the WGC match play in 2023, he beat Adam Scott. He beat Patrick Cantlay. He beat Scotty Scheffler head to head. He beat Scotty in a playoff, a colonial for his last stroke play win in 2022. He clearly has some bona fides Rex, even if he is officially statistically just one for four, the 54 hole lead. Yeah. And I was going to mention the colonial, uh,

in the playoff there against Scotty Scheffler. And he wasn't quite Scotty Scheffler at that point, but that's still one you can probably fall back on. And it is interesting. He was still a major. I mean, he just won the Masters. Yeah, you're right. He was still a major winner. He did not have sort of

that man, that sort of seal of invincibility around him that he seems to have right now. I will say that of the people on the leaderboard and Scotty is eight shots back, and I'm sure you have a stat for this. I'm not willing to go that far. I'm simply not willing to go that far. Johnny Miller was six.

I just think it's not only that Scotty is eight shots back. It's how many players are between him and the lead. And he has to count on every single one of those players struggling or not playing very good golf. So it's not as though he can't do it. Yeah, of course he could go out and do something. I mean, it would take a Johnny Miller-esque round. Particularly, I think we're supposed to get some more rain overnight on Saturday. There's a chance of rain on Sunday as well. The golf course is clearly not going to have as much fire as it did in practice rounds or even over the first two rounds. But yeah, it's going to take...

a 62-63 type round for Scottie Shuffler to get back into this. Sorry, I'm dying. You're coughing. I had sunscreen dripping into my eye. I'm muting it every single time. I'm trying to get it every single time. I'm hitting the mute button. Stop. I know, but I'm dying. I've got sunscreen dripping into my eye. It burns. What's the matter? This is absolute torture. This is what happens when you're so concerned about sun safety. It just drips into your eyes. Let's focus, Rex, on the other player.

in the final group. That is Adam Scott. I loved what he said. I believe it was on Friday when he said there wasn't probably anyone else who was expecting anything of me except myself, that he had seen signs and practice, even though, even though the statistics were not good, even though the statistics suggested that his iron play had fallen off, even though it's, it's suggested that his broomstick putting had been inconsistent, even if he had admitted that his sort of week to week desire and

And motivation wanes as he just sort of builds up and targets what he said was really eight tournaments a year. And yet here he finds himself a month away from turning 45 with the potential now, Rex, to put a capstone on what is potentially a Hall of Fame career. What do you think about Scotty? The other Scotty, not Scotty.

the other Scotty as we look ahead to Sunday at Oakmont. That's funny. You said potentially. You don't think he's already a Hall of Famer? I think he's a borderline Hall of Famer, and I think Adam Scott would admit as much as well. Well, no. I think the resume he has has already been pretty set. I think the resume he has is essentially Freddie Couples' resume. 14 tour wins.

A Masters Players Championship. Eleven weeks, I believe, at world number one. I think that's pretty much exactly what Freddie Couples was, and he is in the Hall of Fame. So I think that's kind of the standard. And I think Colin Montgomery and Freddie Couples were both sort of borderline Hall of Famers. If you get a different voting board who's in there, I think they could make a different decision. Again, I think this could cement it. I think another win, another big win, could cement it. But I still say borderline Hall of Famer.

No, you're right. I fell down a very dangerous slope. Saturday nights is not the time for a Hall of Fame conversation and debate. I get what you're saying on that front. I was just kind of taken. No, no, he's absolutely in the Hall of Fame. It was last year, right about this time, that Scottie sort of found his form. It was a new set of irons. I remember having a long conversation with him going into the Scottish Open. He played well there and carried it into the rest of the summer and through the

You're right. He hasn't done anything on paper that would have led you to believe that this was on the horizon. He doesn't have a top 10 finish this season on tour. He hasn't played awful. He just seems meh. Yeah. I mean, he's right on like the top 100 cutoff now for FedEx Cup points as we get later into the summer. Yeah.

And there is something to be said for, and I don't, this isn't to make excuses for him. He was on the committee that was in, so he's obviously on the policy board for the PGA tour, but he was also on the selection committee for the new CEO that we talked about the other night. I think they're going to announce it probably Tuesday morning. The PGA tour has found a new CEO and executive from the NFL. If it's fair to say that he has been,

wildly distracted. He's gone to the White House twice this year. So golf clearly probably wasn't the priority, but he seems to get fired up this time of year. You would think it would be the Masters, but this time of year, going over to the Scott is getting ready for the open championship, preparing for the playoffs. He likes to do a schedule a certain way, but it is interesting, as you pointed out, that he was the only one that probably would have pointed out and said, yes,

I'm ready, not only ready to contend in a major championship, but this particular major championship. Because I'm not sure I'd even pick him out of a crowd if he was playing well coming in here as someone who could tame Oakmont. I mean, I don't think he's ever been inside the top 10 heading into the final round.

of a U S open. Like that just shows how unlikely he did finish tied for 18th year back in 2016. And he, and he did play in Oh seven when Angel Cabrera won. So there might be something to set for it. Had I had an opportunity to talk to him, he didn't do his full media scrum this afternoon.

I would have asked him, is there anything to the idea that maybe this is your third trip around here as a U S open venue? Did that help? But I'm sure that probably is only marginal at best. Yeah. I mean, there's, that's a, there's a huge disparity between tie for 18th and now sitting in the final group alongside Sam birds heading in to Sunday. He said, Rex said he's playing old man golf, uh,

pretty conservative off the tee, putting himself in the fairway. He's tied for 12th in driving accuracy. We know obviously how important that is. I mean, I can't wait to see the stats at the end of the week. I think it's going to end up working out to be like a half shot to three quarters of a shot.

um, penalty essentially, if you miss the fairway, either by hiding the gnarly rough or the bunkers, it's just crazy. And he has really prioritized that has Adam Scott. He's putted better each and every day. I can't wait to see how Adam Scott, uh,

battles the weight of a career achievement potentially on Sunday. He has talked openly over the past couple of days about how this would be sort of a career exclamation point, how it would be so fulfilling, how it would be so satisfying for him. I think to go to our earlier point, like I think he knows that like... You think he knows this gets him in the Hall of Fame? I think he could potentially realize, just like I think Justin Rose before him, I think there's a lot of shades...

of Justin Rose, who's a very similar age. They've been battling on the tours for the exact same amount of time. Adam Scott is making his 96th consecutive major championship appearance, which is incredible. Like, Victor Hovland was three years old when Adam Scott first started playing in the major championships and this run began. Like, his longevity is amazing, but I still think for the amount of talent he has for as reliably and consistently good as Adam Scott has been over the course of his career, I still think he feels amazing.

somewhat incomplete with just a single major championship to his resume. Something could change on Sunday. How about Victor Hovland, J.J. Spahn, either of those two players who will be in the penultimate group? Did either of those two players, Rex, have your attention? J.J. Spahn has seemed unflappable, and there's no reason for us to sit here and think, well, of course he has...

the pedigree he has with the grit. He has whatever it takes to win a U.S. Open at Oakmont. We heard earlier in the week with the USGA official saying it matters where you win your U.S. Open. Yes, it would matter if you were to win it here. He seems like he's done this 50 times and that he's just coming in and knows exactly what the formula is. I do love the idea that

that go back to what his swing coach Adam Shriver told him you can either respond or react and there's plenty of reasons to react to bad bounces and everything that Oakmont will throw at you and every single time it seems like all JJ does is respond it's okay I've hit it in the rough again I need to make sure that the worst I make is bogey and move on to the next hole I love that attitude and you look at what he learned about himself at the players championships

He didn't have his best game. Adam Shriver told me he had his B game at that event. He said, but his attitude was better than anyone else's. And I think that's what he's riding this week. Victor Hovland's a fascinating case study. Because after we talked about this last night, and you've written extensively about him, so you know this better probably than anyone, but he is such...

I'm trying to think of the word that Brando used when we were talking about him in break, but he can be, this is not the word that he used, but he can be a bit of a mental head case when it comes to his swing. After he won in Tampa earlier this year, he lamented about how bad his swing was and how unhappy he was with his game. And so it was interesting him coming out of that round yesterday saying that, yes, I'm in a good spot. I like where my swing is. And then just 24 hours later, he's marched the range with his swing coach, Grant Waite, and he looked like Scotty Scheffler.

out on the range. And that's not the norm. I mean, it looked like they were having one of those heated sessions that we're used to seeing from Scotty Scheffler, which, which Victor do we get tomorrow? Cause he certainly has all the skills. He certainly has the ability, but the driver sort of betrayed him on Saturday. He was losing everything to the right and you can't play this golf course. If you don't know where you're hitting it. I mean, I continue to be really impressed with JJ spawn. He shot the bogey free 66, uh,

In the opening round, you look at the past two U.S. Opens. Those are the only two bogey-free rounds. He and Dustin Johnson. Dustin obviously went on to win in 2016. He remains to be seen with J.J. Spahn. 15 greens in regulation on Saturday. He leads the field in putting. He leads the field in scrambling.

That traditionally has not been a recipe for success. Traditionally, it has been a ball striking contest. Traditionally, it has been whoever is top three in the greens and regulation category. That is the player who goes on to win. He's doing it differently than we've seen in the past, but you have to give him credit that he's been able to hang in there.

hit the, hit the shots, look unflappable. And I think when you go back to the players championship, staring Rory macro, I know it didn't go his way, but the way that he handled sleeping on the lead started off sloppy in that final round, took a reset and then rallied over the closing stretch to form a force of playoff with Rory, even though he eventually fell the day later, he said to me, um,

on Saturday night, nothing but positives from that experience. He thinks it'll be really beneficial as it relates to Victor Hovland. Like the dude was absolutely chastising himself in Norwegian as he was walking down 18. So he blew his drive right on one, had to take an unplayable lie. You'd never see anyone over there on 15. He blew it right. And they had to scramble just to save park on 17. He drew it. He drove it way, right. Left himself in what seemed like an impossible position. Ended up hitting an incredible, incredible,

long pitch shot to just a couple of feet and made birdie. And then the drive on right cost him because he knew it was going to cost him. He drove it in the bunker, had to lay up and then could wedge close enough to save his part. He was 65th out of 67 players off the tee on Saturday. Victor Hovland's iron play is so good this week. He's averaging like 28 feet proximity to the hole, which is by far the tops in the field. He just has to keep it in play.

And although he was very explanatory in his press conference, I thought he was in a reasonable mood, even though he said his driver outlined many ways in which his driver is holding him back. He flew out of that press conference setting, hopped on a cart, and went right to the range and pounded ball after ball with his driver because he knows if he continues to drive it the way that he did

On Saturday, it's going to cost him a chance to win the U.S. Open. If he can figure that out, if he can find a consistent field, if he can stop hitting it right, I really like Victor Hovland, the way that he is playing. We're going to have plenty more recs, you and I, about Roy McRoy. On Saturday, that was the first time he spoke to the media publicly.

in seven major championship rounds dating to the Masters. Real quick, your one quick takeaway from Rory before we have that more in the full show on Sunday night, Monday. I mean, at least he spoke. So, you know, you have to give him credit on that one. Clearly, he didn't want to. He wasn't in the mood to speak. It's clearly he was asked specifically about this because of the way the media handled his driver issue at the PGA Championship when it was deemed nonconforming. And he said yes.

that's part of it, but it was also part of, he's just angry right now at the media. So I think this is going to be an ongoing thing between the media and Rory McIlroy right now, which is interesting. And we had a colleague of ours from the UK that brought up the idea that I was in

at dessert classic. This colleague of ours was at dessert classic in new Orleans, which is his first start after the masters. He was in a fantastic mood. Talk to anybody who stuck a microphone in his face. He enjoyed himself with Shane Lowry. They didn't play their best golf. We didn't anticipate him to, but it is interesting. It certainly is interesting. I do not anticipate that he would talk again on Sunday. I think the quote that you and I will both harken back to for the Sunday night show quote, I feel like I've earned the right to do

whatever I want to do. Plenty more on Rory as we get to the full recap edition on Sunday night. All right. That is going to do it for this mini pod edition of golf show podcast with Rex and lav. You guys are the drill NBC sports.com slash golf.

for all the latest news, notes, and updates. Rex and I will be back on Sunday night for a full U.S. Open recap. 52 minutes is going to be going up on your YouTube page on Sunday night, linear television, I believe at 11 a.m. Eastern time on Monday after our appearance on Golf Today. Looking forward to diving into all things U.S. Open in the week that was at Oakmont. Thanks for listening. Thanks for the support. Enjoy U.S. Open Sunday and Father's Day while you guys are out there listening.

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