Torrey Pines (South) – Page 2 – Syndication Server

Three tied for U.S. Open lead, with Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau lurking two shots back

Russell Henley managed Saturday on the top of the U.S. Open leaderboard beautifully, even as others surged to meet him there.

SAN DIEGO – The U.S. Open bills itself as the toughest tournament in golf, a pressure-filled cauldron designed to push players to the limit and identify the strongest one. As the new marketing campaign goes, “From many, one.”

But there seemed to be a lid on that cauldron for most of Saturday afternoon at Torrey Pines Golf Course for one of the overnight co-leaders, Russell Henley. While England’s Richard Bland slowly slid down the leaderboard while shooting 77, Henley never reached higher than 6 under or lower than 5 under where he started.

The even-par 71 was a classic, grind-it-out U.S. Open round for the 32-year-old former All-American at the University of Georgia. With 18 holes to go, he is now tied for the lead with Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes and South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen at 5 under.

“I think I learned I can do it,” Henley said after signing his card. “(It) definitely wasn’t a perfect back nine, but (I) hit a lot of good shots, a lot of good recovery shots. Felt like I was thinking well. Just a little better execution. (I’m) definitely capable of playing better, and I think I can do it, and we’ll see.”

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Hughes, whose lone victory on the PGA Tour came at the 2017 RSM Classic, was plodding along through much of the day like Henley, waffling between 1- and 2-under par. Then, from the back of the 13th green, the Canadian did a Tiger Woods impression and holed a 63-foot eagle putt. It vaulted him to 4 under, a shot behind Henley. But a birdie on the par-5 18th pushed Hughes into a tie atop the leaderboard at 5 under.

“I don’t think I’m ever surprised when I play well,” Hughes said. “I wouldn’t say I necessarily expected to be in the last group this week, but I know that my game is good enough to win on the PGA Tour. I’ve done it before. This is a bigger stage, but again, it’s the same. You do the same things.”

Oosthuizen, who finished second to Phil Mickelson at last month’s PGA Championship, was 2 over on the day before he birdied 16 and then drained a 51-foot eagle putt on the 18th to join Hughes and Henley at 5 under.

“I think a year ago that would have been a very boring eagle with a few people going nuts,” Oosthuizen said. “But that was nice to see everyone back, having fans back, and those reactions don’t happen all the time, and it’s great to hear the crowds.”

Meanwhile, a pair of former U.S. Open champions who play the modern power game made their move Saturday.

Rory McIlroy, the 2011 U.S. Open winner at Congressional Country Club, shot 67 to reach 3 under par, two shots behind the leaders.

“It’s definitely the best that I’ve played this week,” Rory said. “I felt like I played well on Thursday, and 70 felt like the worst I could have shot. A little scrappy yesterday, but then today, I hit a lot of fairways starting out, hit a lot of greens, gave myself a lot of birdie chances. (I) didn’t actually make that many, but I just stayed really patient knowing that, if you’re not making bogeys out there, you’re not losing ground.”

Rory McIlroy reacts with caddie Harry Diamond after putting out on the 17th hole during the third round of the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

McIlroy, in fact, made up quite a bit of round on Henley Saturday, going from six shots behind the overnight co-leader to just two shots behind with 18 more holes to play.

The 2020 U.S. Open winner, Bryson DeChambeau, shot 68 to join McIlroy at 3 under.

“I’ve always thought that in order to win big, big tournaments you’ve got to be able to hit it dead down the middle of the fairway, make a lot of great swings into the middle of greens and make putts,” DeChambeau said Saturday. “You can definitely do it that way, but for the way the courses that have been set up recently, there is a way to win others. Hitting it as far as you can, sometimes hitting in the fairway, sometimes not, and hopefully get lucky lies out of it and you can get clear shots to the green. If you can miss it in the right spots, you can contend in major championships doing that. Depending on the course.”

Three more power players will start Sunday’s round at 2 under. Scottie Scheffler (70), Jon Rahm (72) and Mathew Wolff (73) all still have a realistic chance to win their first major championship.

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Phil Mickelson doesn’t need a trophy to be the (second) best U.S. Open player of his generation

With respect to his six majors, the U.S. Open has been the Sisyphean tale that has defined Phil Mickelson’s career.

There have been a handful of accomplished U.S. Open performers over the last three decades, none more than Tiger Woods with his three wins and two seconds. In the mortals flight, there’s a pair of South Africans each with a pair of Opens: Ernie Els and Retief Goosen. Payne Stewart won two and should have won four, but the two he didn’t win went to Lee Janzen. Brooks Koepka is on that list too.

But the second greatest U.S. Open player of this generation isn’t among the aforementioned. It’s Philip Alfred Mickelson.

Before y’all run for your pitchforks, even drive-by golf fans know that Phil Mickelson has won as many U.S. Open titles as Amy Mickelson. It’s simply that his lack of a trophy is incidental to the fact that he’s been the ultimate survivor in golf’s most cutthroat test of, well, survival.

Vitas Gerulaitis delivered one of the great quips in sport more than 40 years ago when he said, “Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row.” That was after he ended a streak of losses to Jimmy Connors. It wasn’t actually true—at the time, he had lost even more consecutive matches to Bjorn Borg—but his comment illustrated themes familiar to elite athletes: determination, hope, self-belief, frustration and futility.

Mickelson can surely relate since he first pegged it as an amateur at Medinah on June 14, 1990. He’s logged 8,032 strokes since then, 76 of which came Saturday in the third round at Torrey Pines. Short of him producing a score usually only seen in Golden Tee games, Mickelson will be 0-for-30 in this championship when he drives home tomorrow.

PGA: U.S. Open - Third Round — Phil Mickelson looks over the 5th green during the third round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Torrey Pines Golf Course. Mandatory Credit: Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports

In the tradition of U.S. Opens, this has been a week that exposes the Achilles of any 51-year-old golfer, even one who claimed a sixth major victory a month ago: inconsistency. On days when the longest club in his arsenal co-operated, the shortest one didn’t. If Mickelson’s first-round 75 gave him much to do, his second-round 69 gave him hope, and it’s always the hope that kills you.

“I played really well yesterday and thought I had it,” Mickelson said. “I was going to make a run, and I just completely lost it today. But I was sure appreciative of the chance to play here in a U.S. Open on a place that is special to me and I grew up playing.”

Phil has learned to search for polite positives in this event, but the flashes of brilliance that were once so frequent are now fewer and farther between.

With respect to his six majors, the U.S. Open has been the Sisyphean tale that has defined Mickelson’s career. In theory, it should have been the event least suited to his gambling, go-for-broke style. Granted, it was in that he hasn’t won it, but no one in the 121 years of this event put himself in the mix on the closing holes more often—a record six runner-up finishes and two fourths among his ten top 10s.

Above all else, the U.S. Open is designed to test resilience, the ability to take the gut punches and the crushing disappointments and the borderline malice of the setups and the near-misses and yet keep coming back for more. No one keeps coming back for more quite like Mickelson.

For 30 years he has waged a silent psychological war with the USGA. It spilled over only once, when he petulantly hit a moving ball at Shinnecock Hills in ’18, a moment that seemed to signal a realization that the only missing major would always elude him. That’s partly because the burden of expectation he bears at the U.S. Open is intensified at venues like Shinnecock Hills. He has played so well for so long at so many courses that there will always be some straws for his true believers to cling to.

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The fact that he has played well at Torrey Pines gave voice to his choir this week, no matter that his last win was 20 years ago. Same story last year at Winged Foot, where his final-hole theatrics cost him in ’06. And two years back at Pebble Beach, where he won the regular PGA Tour stop five times, including just four months before that Open. So too in that Shinnecock Hills edition, where fans eagerly noted that he’d finished top 4 in the two previous Opens there. Well so had Jeff Maggert, and he wasn’t winning in ’18 either.

Through it all, Mickelson soldiered on. His PGA Championship win exempts him into the next five U.S. Opens, but upcoming venues like The Country Club and Los Angeles CC aren’t imbued with much history for him. The next Pinehurst staging will conclude on his 54th birthday, a coincidence sure to have sentimentalists drooling and dreaming. His exemption likely expires at Oakmont, where Arnold Palmer bade farewell in 1994. If you’re a swashbuckling superstar who has had his heart regularly broken in the Open, there’s no more apropos exit ramp.

The odds of Mickelson winning one of these now seems so slender as to be preposterous. U.S. Open golf typically prizes execution, not the imagination that carried him at Kiawah Island last month. He hasn’t given up though, even 30 years on. After that 76 Saturday, he went right to the range.

“I’ll come out tomorrow and do the best I can,” he said.

The 121st U.S. Open did to Mickelson exactly what it has done 29 times before: probe his nerve, frustrate his mind, expose his swing, break his heart. And yet he’ll be back tomorrow. And next year. Woods is the greatest U.S. Open player of our era, but when it comes to the resilience that is the defining characteristic of this championship, there has been no finer exemplar than Mickelson. Even if they never did give him a trophy for it.

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Rory McIlroy is feasting on chicken sandwiches at the U.S. Open and hungry for another major

Rory McIlroy has put himself in position to chase his fifth major championship title on his first Father’s Day.

SAN DIEGO – Rory McIlroy racked his brain. He was trying to recall the last time he went to sleep in the thick of contention to win one of golf’s four majors.

“It feels like a while since I’ve had a chance,” he said.

Well, it’s been 2,505 days since McIlroy hoisted the Wanamaker Trophy as the winner of the 2014 PGA Championship, not that anyone was counting. That was 24 majors ago.

“I’m trying to think of the last time where I really felt like I had a chance. Carnoustie in ’18 felt like I maybe had half a chance, going into the final day at Pebble in 2019. But apart from that, there’s been some good finishes but never felt like I was in the thick of things,” he said. “I’m just excited for the opportunity to have a chance and be in one of the final groups.”

On the 10th anniversary of his U.S. Open victory at Congressional, his first of four major titles, McIlroy signed for a 4-under 67 at Torrey Pines’ South Course and a 54-hole aggregate of 3-under 210.

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McIlroy was pleased with his tee-to-green game and called his performance in the third round “the best he played all week.” After making a total of 10 bogeys during the first two rounds, McIlroy only made one on Saturday. The difference?

“You have to accept that middle of greens and pars are good, and I got into that mindset today,” he said. “Nothing flashy.”

That’s a formula that never goes out of style at the U.S. Open. McIlroy made a birdie at the second hole and reeled off seven straight pars to close the front nine. He made a short birdie at No. 10 and then holed a flop shot for birdie at No. 12, lifting his 60-degree wedge to the sky in celebration. One hole later, he smoked a fairway wood from 270 yards that caromed off the flagstick at the par 5 and made a two-putt birdie.

“It took a nick out of the flag,” McIlroy said. “(Caddie) Harry (Diamond) called it the best shot I hit all year.”

His lone hiccup happened at 15 when he pulled his tee dead left into the barranca, near a rattlesnake, and took a penalty stroke for an unplayable. He did yeoman’s work to salvage a bogey.

“This is the only tournament in the world where you fist pump a bogey. Only losing one there was a big deal, and getting it up-and-down out of the bunker on 16 and making that birdie on 18 just to get that shot back that I lost, really big.”

McIlroy twirled his club as his second shot to the par-5 18th settled on the dance floor, and a two-putt birdie closed out a sterling 67. McIlroy said he felt a pair of 68s on the weekend would serve him well.

U.S. Open - Round Three — Rory McIlroy reacts with caddie Harry Diamond after putting out on the 17th hole during the third round of the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

“I’ve done the first part of that job. Now it’s up to me tomorrow to go out and try to play a similar round of golf,” he said.

To do so, McIlroy will have to go toe-to-toe with defending U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau and chase down 54-hole leader Russell Henley and another upstart Mackenzie Hughes of Canada.

It’s been 24 majors since McIlroy’s come out on top at a major, but he’s the most experienced of the contenders in these situations. He’s proven before that he has the mental fortitude required to be a U.S. Open champion.

“It’s the most demanding golf tournament in the world, mentally, and you have to keep your wits about yourself and really stay present and stay in the moment,” McIlroy said. “Even when I was going well today I had to remind myself of that. Twenty-eleven felt like a walk in the park compared to this. You know, if I want to get another U.S. Open trophy, I’m going to have to fight for it a little more than I did 10 years ago.”

First, he was going to enjoy some family time on the eve of his first Father’s Day as a father. McIlroy and wife Erica and daughter Poppy are staying at the Torrey Pines Lodge overlooking the 18th green, where he has feasted on the same chicken sandwich five nights in a row from room service.

“So, I’ll probably make it six nights in a row,” he said. “It’s rotisserie chicken, avocado, sun dried tomatoes, some garlic aioli and some ‘holey’ bread. It’s really good.”

That’s not all that McIlroy is hungry for; he’s hungry for another major too, and he just might get the best Father’s Day present of all, major championship No. 5, on Sunday.

“Mother’s Day was pretty good to us a few weeks ago,” said McIlroy, referencing his victory last month at the Wells Fargo Championship. “So, hopefully we can have the same result on Father’s Day.”

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Lynch: The U.S. Open, the meanest major of them all, doesn’t do fairytales, but Richard Bland believes

Richard Bland emerged as an unlikely hero at the U.S. Open even though this championship has never really been an incubator of fairytales.

SAN DIEGO — Despite the decades of ceaseless agitprop—Francis Ouimet’s upset, Ben Hogan’s comeback, Payne Stewart’s farewell, e pluribus unum marketing—the U.S. Open has never really been an incubator of fairytales. Of dramas, sure. And thrillers. But the previous 120 editions of this championship have witnessed more horrors than syrupy, feel-good fables.

That might explain why Richard Bland was beating balls on the range long after completing his second round at the top of the leaderboard at Torrey Pines. In U.S. Opens, nice guys with a great back story—the 48-year-old Englishman just won his first event in his 478th start—tend to meet the same fate as that kid in a slasher movie who decides to go investigate the noise.

We watch, hoping for the best but with a grim sense of foreboding.

Bland won’t be alone in feeling the vice tighten over the next 48 hours at Torrey Pines to where only one man (maybe) is still drawing breath. The U.S. Open is the most pitiless of the majors, each day a punishing gauntlet from which no competitor ever seems to emerge saying he shot the best score possible. Every round concludes with an official tallying of strokes, and a more private, rueful accounting of those left out there. By mid-afternoon Friday, the 156 players in the field had passed 1,000 bogeys made with the likelihood of a couple hundred more before sunset.

The South Course at Torrey Pines is the most architecturally prosaic venue the USGA visits and would be Exhibit ‘A’ in any malpractice suit against the ‘Open Doctor,’ Rees Jones. But it is adequate for what modern U.S. Opens are intended to do, which is expose every weakness from technical flaws to faintness of heart. Laudable design is immaterial to that objective on the logic that any course can be made difficult. It requires only fertilizer, green rollers and a dab of sadism.

Check. Check. And check.

The leaderboard at the 121st Open is bookended by men in their late 40s: Bland and, 22 strokes to his south, an Australian qualifier named Steve Allan. Until this week, Allan hadn’t competed in a major for 11 years and hadn’t made a cut in one for 16 years. He and Bland have combined for 13 career starts in major championships, just a few more than Phil Mickelson’s six victories in them.

Steve Allan plays a shot on the 17th hole during the second round at the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego, Calif. on Friday, June 18, 2021. (Darren Carroll/USGA)

Unlike at the Masters, a U.S. Open leaderboard is where kings and cobblers collide. Just 34 days ago, Bland was unknown to even attentive golf fans. Now he finds himself being pursued by guys like Louis Oosthuizen, Bubba Watson and Brooks Koepka (who has won more majors than his prey has played). The elite and the everyman mingle at the other end of matters too. Allan was only four shots worse than Justin Rose, who has finished top 8 in both previous majors this year. On any given day, the talent gap between the best and the rest just isn’t that yawning.

Allan will have some well-known company at the airline check-in desk tonight. Will Zalatoris was runner-up at the Masters and hit as many greens in two days as the leader (26), but a balky putter condemned him. Webb Simpson had won the U.S. Open as many times as he had missed the cut, until today. Billy Horschel, Sam Burns and Garrick Higgo are all good enough to have won recently on the PGA Tour, but weren’t good enough this week to survive the cut. One troubled phenom returned (Matt Wolff) while a comparatively serene one (Viktor Hovland) departed early, WD’ing with an eye injury.

As the second round began to wind down, the north and south poles of the halfway leaderboard were separated by only nine shots. Like most Friday afternoons at U.S. Opens, players made progress long after they had completed their rounds. Rory McIlroy signed for a scrappy 73 shortly before 1 p.m. that left him 1 over for the tournament but he figured he’d be in the top 20 by day’s end. Within a couple hours, he was. Veterans of Open wars—in experience, if not in age— know that sometimes you just have to sit back and let the USGA do its work for you.

The man who spent much of the day in the lead, has only ever played one U.S. Open. But Bland has taken his share of gut punches. He lost several playoffs in qualifying. “I’m not going to lose any sleep over that,” he said cheerfully. “I’m just enjoying this one right now.” When you come across a 48-year-old man who believes in fairytales because he’s seen too much of the other side, it makes you want to believe right along with him. No matter how much we are conditioned to expect something else. Odds are that Bland won’t sleep tonight, but he will dream.

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U.S. Open: Bubba Watson knows the mental strain of pro golf, and he wants to help Matthew Wolff

Bubba Watson is contending at the U.S. Open, but he’s also keeping an eye out for up-and-coming players like Matthew Wolff.

SAN DIEGO – Professional golfers know that if they are asked to talk with the media after a round, they did something good and are probably in contention to win. After signing for his 67 on Friday at Torrey Pines, Bubba Watson did not know where he stood on the leaderboard at the 2021 U.S. Open, but being asked to talk with the media was a good sign. He was escorted to an area known as The Flash. It is a small area where, typically, reporters ask about birdies and bogeys and try to get insight into the round.

Having started the day at 1 over, Watson was now 3 under par, and two shots off the lead heading into the weekend. However, the first question the two-time Masters champion fielded wasn’t even about him. Instead, it was about a conversation he had with Matthew Wolff about the mental strain and stress of being a professional athlete.

“I love him. I love his family. I love his team,” Watson said candidly. “So I was just talking to them and just shared that I’ve wasted money, I’ve saved money, I’ve bought businesses, sold businesses, I’ve lost 20, 30 pounds because of struggles. I said, I’ve done everything you’re thinking about, I’ve done it all. So I said, so if you ever want advice, just call me, and so that’s what I said.”

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On Thursday, Wolff shot 70, and in the same area where Watson talked Friday, he told reporters that he left the PGA Tour earlier this season because he felt he was putting too much pressure on himself.

“I mean, I love these fans, and I want to play well for them, but right now I’m just really trying to be happy,” Wolff said. “I live a great life and I want to enjoy it.”

Wolff talked about trying to keep things in perspective, about wanting to play well but prioritizing his happiness and wellbeing more than a score. He said talking with people close to him helped. This week, Bubba Watson wanted to be sure that Wolff knew he could relate and that he could be someone Wolff could talk with, too.

“I was going to text him a few weeks ago, but I wanted to talk to him in person,” Watson said. “So that’s what I did. Obviously, he hasn’t called me. He did pretty good yesterday. He had eight birdies. I was just trying to give him my two cents. He didn’t ask for it, but I gave it to him anyway.”

The mental health and wellbeing of athletes has been a hot topic recently. At the recently completed French Open tennis championship in Paris, Naomi Osaka, the top-ranked female tennis player in the world, withdrew after a first-round win.

Before the tournament started, she said she would forgo media requests and interviews. She revealed that after winning the 2018 U.S. Open, she suffered from depression. Michael Phelps, a 23-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming, has also talked about his struggles with depression and how therapy has helped him deal with personal issues. He came out in support of Osaka’s decision.

Watson has been candid about his mental health challenges, his nervousness and quirks. He told Golfweek in November, “I’ve sought help in many different ways, many different forms, trying to overcome (anxiety). It really comes down to me being nuts. I’m trying to make light of it because using humor helps. But it’s all in my head. It’s all anxiety. I think more people are speaking out about mental issues and I want to be one of them.”

Watson is now 42. He has been married to his wife, Angie, for 17 years and points to that as a highlight of his life. Adopting the couple’s two children is another.

Eventually, Watson returned to talking about how much he hates three-putting, how much the course has changed since he won the Farmers Insurance Open here and what he needs to do to win.

“I’m just hitting big slices, trying to get the ball in play, but I can see this golf course a lot better, and I got some confidence knowing that some areas are patchy, where you can play out of the rough when you miss the fairway,” he said. “As long as you’re missing it in the right places, you still have a chance.”

Bubba seems very happy with that.

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U.S. Open: Can Jon Rahm keep his cool? So far, so good (barely) at Torrey Pines.

Jon Rahm, whose chili can run hot, was on the verge of losing his temper Friday, but managed to keep it together and also remain in contention.

SAN DIEGO – Jon Rahm was on the verge of losing his temper.

That’s nothing new for Rahm, whose chili can run hot, but as he missed fairways and visited bunkers, he looked highly combustible. When asked about how Torrey Pines affected his temper, he snapped, his voice rising with a serrated edge: “Am I ever going to escape that question? Like I never lost it. I got a little frustrated on a couple of holes. Just not getting the results sometimes that you’d expect with certain swings. They weren’t that bad.”

Apparently anger, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Rahm overcame an erratic driver with a hole-out birdie and a bunch of clutch par saves in the middle of his round to shoot 1-under 70 for a 36-hole total of 3-under 139 and just two strokes behind Richard Bland at the halfway point of the 121st U.S. Open.

“I feel like yesterday I hit it really, really well, hit a lot of fairways. Just made a couple of mistakes going into the greens that cost me a few bogeys, a few more than I would have liked,” Rahm said. “Today it was the opposite. Took me a while to get going, didn’t hit my second fairway until the 13th hole. I just had to survive.”

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Rahm fought a case of the lefts off the tee, hitting just five of 14 fairways in his second round. He tugged one left at No. 5 and made his only bogey on the front nine, but bounced back a hole later with birdie. Rahm drove it left at No. 10 and went bunker to bunker but canned a right-to-left 10-foot bender for par and pumped his fist. His tee shot at the par-3, 11th was the first sign that his temper was flaring. With his tee shot still in the air, Rahm berated himself, bellowing, “Dude, how bad are you swinging it today? Don’t plug, don’t plug. Goodness, gracious Jon, that was so bad.”

But he rescued par again and made a fist with his right hand in celebration. He drove it left again into a bunker at 12, but escaped with a beauty to 15 feet and another par. It was the type of run that Rahm required to keep his round from getting away from him and potentially shooting himself out of the championship.

“I’ve got to say, that stretch of putts on 10, 11, 12 was key,” he said. “Things could have taken a turn for the worse, and I was able to save some great three pars in a row.”

But after roasting a drive at the par-5 13th, Rahm tried to mash a 5-wood from 272 yards. It didn’t go as planned.

“I just hit is so badly and it ended up so short in a tough lie,” said Rahm, who either was checking the flexibility of his shaft or on the verge of snapping it after the shot caught the middle of three bunkers short of the green. Then he chunked it into the next bunker. “Just making a bogey there was probably the most frustrated I got today.”

His chili was bordering on nuclear level when he dumped his approach at 14 into the front bunker, but his anger level returned to a better place when he holed out and pumped his right fist in glee.

“I was a bit more vocal on 14 after the second shot because I felt that was a good swing and I felt like it just got gusted,” he said. “But, hey, I made the next shot, so I can’t really say much. I never really lost it.”

Indeed, that was the key for the fiery Rahm. He’s never going to be unflappable like Brooks Koepka or Dustin Johnson, and that’s OK, but the U.S. Open tests every part of a player’s game, including his ability to deal with the stretches of discomfort.

Rahm, who relies on a consistent fade, closed with four tee shots that he described as exactly perfect, and closed with a birdie at 18.

“They were all exactly the way I thought they were going to be, the way I visualized them,” he said of the tee shots.

At the midway point of the U.S. Open, Rahm, world No. 3, is lurking in pursuit of his first major and the key ingredient may be not a hot putter, but a cool, calm demeanor.

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As first round of U.S. Open bleeds into second day, Louis Oosthuizen makes a late charge

After a 90-minute fog delay, there was a healthy mix of both opportunities and ways to card big numbers on opening day at the U.S. Open.

SAN DIEGO – The U.S. Open is billed as the toughest tournament in golf, exacting pain and potential humiliation to anyone in the field. In many cases, just saying the course names out loud elicits a cringe from players, like saying “Voldemort” in Harry Potter’s wizarding world.

“Oakmont, Winged Foot, Oakland Hills.” Shhhh!

Torrey Pines South Course does not instill the same fear, but its length, thick rough and tricky poa annua greens command the respect of every player in the field here at the 121st U.S. Open. After a 90-minute delay due to fog and a marine layer that drifted over the course overnight, there was a healthy mix of both opportunities and ways to card big numbers.

Playing in the afternoon group (which turned into the night shift), Louis Oosthuizen did what he often does in big events: arrive under the radar and work up the leaderboard. He birdied 16, 17 and 18 to close his first nine holes at 3 under par. Then, as the marine layer returned to cover the blue sky, and temperatures dropped, he drained an 11-foot birdie putt on the fifth hole to reach 4 under. After making pars on the following two holes, darkness suspended play. He will return Friday morning to play Nos. 8 and 9 and complete his opening round.

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The name beside Oosthuizen’s at the top of the leaderboard is somewhat surprising: Russell Henley. The 32-year-old from Macon, Georgia, has skipped the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open, played here at Torrey Pines, every year since 2014. His 4-under 67 in the morning group is 12 shots better than his last round on the South course seven years ago.

“I shot 79 on the South Course,” Henley said after signing his card on Thursday. “I don’t really remember (much about that round) besides just leaving the course feeling like I just got beat up.”

Henley said that he has been playing well and is happy with his game, but he knows there is a long way to go.

“I’ve played some good golf in some bigger events in the last year,” he pointed out. “But in terms of putting four rounds together at a U.S. Open, I’ve struggled with that. So I’m just going to keep trying.”

Italy’s Francesco Molinari, the winner of the 2018 British Open at Carnoustie, is tied for third with Spain’s Rafa Cabrera-Bello after shooting a 3-under 68.

“I haven’t played recently, so it’s nice to get off to a good start,” Molinari said. “But there’s a long way to go, so like I said, start over tomorrow like nothing happened today.”

Among the players who shot 2-under 69s are Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm and two-time U.S. Open winner Brooks Koepka.

“I’ve just got a good game plan, focused, I know what I’m doing, and I don’t try to do anything I can’t,” Koepka said. “It’s just all about discipline in a U.S. Open.”

Among the notable players who have work to do in order to make the cut (low 60 and ties) are Viktor Hovland (74), 2020 PGA Championship winner Collin Morikawa (75) and 2021 PGA Championship winner Phil Mickelson (75). Jordan Spieth, the 2015 U.S. Open champion, shot 77 and Webb Simpson, the 2012 U.S. Open winner, had 79.

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If Xander Schauffele looks right at home at this U.S. Open, it’s because he is – in more ways than one

Xander Schauffele has quite a consistent record in his previous U.S. Open starts. This week, he has the added benefit of being at home.

SAN DIEGO – Given the traffic in the San Diego area, and the $4.59 gas prices around here, a student at Scripps Ranch High School might want to ride a bike to Torrey Pines Golf Course this week to see the 121st U.S. Open. The ride would be about 10 miles straight west. Sure, there are some hills between the home of the Falcons and the South Course, but nothing like the hills near the Olympic Club in San Francisco.

Xander Schauffele went to that school before moving on to nearby San Diego State University. He never biked here, but he has played the South Course at Torrey Pines countless times. Last week, in preparation for the U.S. Open, the 27-year-old played 64 holes here. He was also here as a 14-year-old in 2008 when Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open, and he was here back in January and finished in a tie for second behind Patrick Reed at the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open.

So, it should come as no surprise that Schauffele carded a 2-under 69 Thursday that left him two shots behind the morning wave’s leader, Russell Henley. The No. 6 player on the Official World Golf Rankings is playing a home game this week.

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Professional golfers always think they could have done things better, being perfectionists by nature. Schauffele, however, knows that his low-drama opening 18 is precisely what you need in a U.S. Open.

“I was strong off the tee. It’s something I look forward to maintaining all week,” he said. “I felt like I didn’t really hit a bad putt. I lipped out a few. I made a few. But, overall, I felt really comfortable.”

Part of that comfort may come from growing up on poa annua greens. Brooks Koepka, who also shot 69 Thursday, said he hates putting on poa because the ball often bounces and wobbles offline. Schauffele is used to it.

“Brooks grew up on Bermuda, probably Champions Bermuda, which is really pure and nice. If I grew up on that, I also would be bothered by poa annua,” he said. “I’m just used to bumpier greens. It’s just a mental thing.”

Schauffele may also be getting comfortable with his new style of putting and a new way of looking at the greens.

After being critical of the arm-lock method of putting and stating that he thinks it should be against the rules, Schauffele started employing it himself two weeks ago at the Memorial. He uses the same putter head, but it is attached to a longer shaft, has more loft to offset the forward press and Schauffele locks the putter to his left arm with his right hand.

On Thursday, in addition to using the new putting method, Schauffele also got on the putting surface in a push-up position to read the greens from a lower angle.

“I figured I could just fill out my shirts a little more, so if I could throw in a few push-ups on every hole it would be good for me,” he joked. “I think I’m a really good green reader, and sometimes when I get even lower, I may pick up something that I missed just kind of hunched over or crouched over. Just like the arm lock, I’m trying to find any way to get myself an advantage.”

PGA: U.S. Open - First Round — Xander Schauffele lays flat to read the 14th green during the first round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Torrey Pines Golf Course. (Photo: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports)

As the morning wave concluded, Schauffele ranked third in strokes gained putting.

At a time when golfers are starting to look like linebackers, Schauffele smiles easily and looks like someone who would be at home surfing down the road at Windansea Beach. Until he picks up a club. Then you would see who he really is, a guy with every shot in the book, who is sneaky long off the tee and reliable on the greens.

There is a saying that golfers are only as good as the weakest part of their game. Schauffele has no weaknesses, none. He is 18th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained tee to green and eighth in strokes gained putting. In 16 events this season, he has three runner-up finishes, six top 10s and has earned more than $4.6 million.

This is his fifth U.S. Open, and he has never finished worse than a tie for sixth.

None of that, including the home-course knowledge, means that Xander Schauffele will win this U.S. Open. Arnold Palmer knew everything about Oakmont Country Club in 1962 and had an army of fans cheering for him and still lost in a playoff to Jack Nicklaus. In his prime, Jim Furyk, from West Chester, Pennsylvania, lost at Oakmont to Angel Cabrera at the 2007 U.S. Open too.

What can help Schaffele win this year’s U.S. Open? More of what he did today, in other words hit a lot of greens (he was 14 of 18 in greens in regulation), make a few putts and stay patient.

“I told (my coaches) on Tuesday, ‘I’m ready to go. We don’t need to do anything else,'” Schauffele said. “It’s me staying patient, knowing that I’m playing good golf and just doing it.”

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Torrey Pines South has potential to be among top five longest U.S. Open courses ever

The USGA will adjust the course setup each day, potentially landing Torrey Pines among the top five longest U.S. Open courses ever.

Torrey Pines’ South Course has the potential to play as one of the five longest U.S. Open courses ever, depending on how the seaside track in San Diego is set up each day this week.

Erin Hills, host site of the 2017 U.S. Open, holds the top four spots among the longest courses, as measured each day. The longest that Wisconsin layout played was 7,845 yards for the first round in 2017.

Torrey Pines South is listed on the card at 7,652 yards for this week’s U.S. Open. The U.S. Golf Association plans to adjust that yardage daily, and it’s entirely possibly the South could move into the top five for a round this week. The course plays to a par of 71. For a closer look at each hole, check out the yardage book for Torrey Pines South.

The South played at 7,603 yards in the second round in 2008, the year Tiger Woods held off Rocco Mediate in a playoff. That still ranks as the seventh-longest U.S. Open setup. It also ranks No. 10, playing at 7,476 yards in the first round in 2008.

More on Torrey Pines: Could the South Course be better?

Here are the longest daily setups ever at the U.S. Open, as provided by the USGA:

7,845 yards, Erin Hills, first round, Erin, Wisconsin, 2017
7,839 yards, Erin Hills, second round, Erin, Wisconsin 2017
7,818 yards, Erin Hills, third round, Erin, Wisconsin, 2017
7,721 yards, Erin Hills, fourth round, Erin, Wisconsin, 2017
7,695 yards, Chambers Bay, second round, University Place, Washington., 2015
7,637 yards, Chambers Bay, third round, University Place, Washington, 2015
7,603 yards, Torrey Pines Golf Course (South Course), second round, San Diego, 2008
7,514 yards, Congressional C.C. (Blue Course), first round, Bethesda, Maryland, 2011
7,497 yards, Chambers Bay, first round, University Place, Washington, 2015
7,476 yards, Torrey Pines Golf Course (South Course), first round, San Diego, 2008
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Ever the optimist, world No. 1 Dustin Johnson knows his U.S. Open fate will depend on the driver

“If I can drive it well, I feel like I’m going to have a really good week.”

Dustin Johnson’s recent track record doesn’t bode well heading into Thursday’s start of the U.S. Open on the South Course at Torrey Pines in San Diego.

He’s the first world No. 1 to miss back-to-back cuts in major championships since Greg Norman in 1997, as Johnson missed weekend play in the Masters as the defending champion (74-75) and in the PGA Championship (76-74).

And last week’s tie for 10^th in the Palmetto Championship at Congaree was just his second top 10 this year on the PGA Tour and his first since February.

It certainly hasn’t been the encore some expected after he won four times and finished runner-up four times in 2020, which included his record-smashing victory in the Masters and the FedEx Cup title.

Johnson has said the putter has been the main culprit but other things have popped up that have kept his game from peak form.

Last week was a Cliff’s Notes of his 2021. He opened with a 65 and was tied for the lead going to the final hole in the second round before his club slipped in his hand, his tee shot winding up in a bush and leading to a double bogey.

“That’s a first for me. I obviously was not expecting that,” he said.

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In the third round, he tied for the lead with a birdie on the second but then had an up-and-down round and fell back until play was halted because of storms – with Johnson on the tee of the 18^th hole. Returning Sunday morning to complete the round, he made bogey from the middle of the fairway and dropped six shots back.

Then, in the final round, he got within one of the lead on the back nine before a poor drive led to a triple-bogey 7 on the 16^th.

But Johnson remains ever optimistic.

“It’s good,” he said about his game on the eve of the championship. “I played last week and had a few weeks off. I felt like last week went pretty well. Then obviously I’ve seen a lot of good things this week. I feel like the game’s starting to come back into good form. I’m looking forward to it.”

The thing is, though, Johnson has been saying this for weeks now with few results to show for it. But with his firepower and resume – 24 PGA Tour titles, two majors – he knows his best form is within reach.

And why not at a U.S. Open, the toughest test in golf?

Johnson won the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont, finished in a tie for second in 2016 at Chambers Bay, in third in 2018 at Shinnecock Hills, tied for fourth in 2014 at Pinehurst No. 2, tied for sixth last year at Winged Foot and tied for eighth in 2010 at Pebble Beach. Simply, he knows how to play a U.S. Open.

“Obviously, this week’s a really tough challenge,” he said. “I feel like the golf course, it’s long, it’s hard, rough is deep. So it’s going to be all we want as golfers for sure. I think it fits (my game) well, especially this week driving. If I can drive it well, I feel like I’m going to have a really good week.

“Fairways are pretty narrow. The course is long, like I was saying, and if I can hit the driver good, yeah, I like my chances.”

Especially if he takes care of certain holes.

“Always at U.S. Opens, the holes you’ve got to take advantage of are the par-5s,” he said. “Obviously a lot of par-4s are quite long and difficult, like 12, 6, a few of those holes, 4. If you can make pars on those holes, you’re going to be doing well.”

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