Among the top seven players entering the weekend, only Rory McIlroy and Harris English finished in the black versus Par-3s on the north course at Los Angeles Country Club.
Collectively, the leaders shot 28-under on par-4s and 28-under on par-5s. But the five eclectic par-3s, which in Round 3 featured the shortest hole in U.S. Open history? Two-over.
The same group was plus-one on the three-shot holes during moving day.
Playing 81 yards on Saturday, No. 15, the last of the bunch, produced plenty of discussion and action.
Three aces on the 15th this week — Matthieu Pavon and Sam Burns on Thursday, Matt Fitzpatrick on Friday — ranks one shy of the U.S. Open record set in 1989 on the 6th hole at Oak Hill Country Club.
Playing off its third-round yardage, several 15th holes would fit neatly between the tees and greens on each of the other Par-3s.
From the tips in descending order, No. 11 (290 yards), No. 9, (171 yards), No. 7 (284 yards) and No. 4 (228 yards) have continually challenged the field.
“It’s miles better than the other two long par-3s,” said Fitzpatrick, last year’s U.S. Open champion, of No. 15. “It’s not even a contest. For me, I just think that you got a sand wedge or a lob wedge or a gap wedge in your hand and you’re nervous, and I think that’s the thing. That’s why you’re always hitting 3-wood in, and 7-wood. You’re not nervous.”
Through 54 holes, however, only the 15th has yielded more birdies than bogies (105 to 33) among the par-3s.
Taken together, they have surrendered 219 birdies in addition to the three hole-in-ones.
But they have claimed 441 bogies and 55 doubles or worse.
A USGA record 10,187 entries were accepted for the 2023 U.S. Open.
Of the 156 players who qualified for LACC, 61 at +2 or better made it to the weekend.
Tournament rules require golfers to have company on the course because not only are they responsible for keeping their own score, they need to be monitored, too.
Enter LACC’s director of golf, Tom Gardner.
Early last week, Jeff Hall, who oversees “inside the ropes” activities for the USGA, approached Gardner about being a non-competing marker in case an odd number of players got through.
When Frenchman Paul Barjon finished with a double bogey on the 18th Friday to miss the cut, 36-year-old New Zealander Ryan Fox lost a playing partner for the third round.
Going off the No. 1 tee in the first group at 9:33 a.m. on Saturday, Fox and Gardner completed 18 holes in three hours and four minutes, more than two hours faster than the average pace of play on Thursday and Friday.
“I’m not a competitor,” said Gardner, whose caddie, LACC head professional Rory Sweeney, fell short in his attempt to qualify for the 123rd U.S. Open. “But to be able to say that I got to play a U.S. Open setup on the weekend and see what it’s like and see the energy of the crowd and see the pins and the firmness and the rough and everything that goes along with it, it’s — I can’t really describe it.”
As confirmed by Gardner, Fox carded 1-under, 69.
Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa (+10) has the solo honors on Sunday.
Scottie Scheffler, golf’s No. 1 player in the Official World Golf Ranking, hasn’t made putts the way he wanted the past few months so he put a new putter in his bag this week.
But the game’s best ball striker has driven the daylights out of the ball. So why would the 2022 Masters champion trash his driver on Friday night?
“I kept hitting it left,” Scheffler said following his third straight round in the 60s. “Then I grabbed the backup and it started going straight. And then I just tossed it away.”
This wasn’t a case of operator error. The face of Scheffler’s 8-degree TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus driver had flattened or caved in, he said.
After finding 6 of 13 fairways in the second round, the Texan, who turns 27 next Wednesday, hit 10 of 13 fairways in Round 3 and is three off the lead.
