Key events
Pin placements for round three. File them under ‘tough’, ‘wicked’, ‘brutal’ etc etc.
Tough pins + baked out course = mayhem? This could be a very interesting day of scoring. Are we in ‘snap your hand off for a 70’ territory? Would Rickie Fowler take even par today and say thanks very much?
Unlike Thursday and Friday when the sun came out around 1:00, it’s been bright and sunny since 7:00 AM this morning
— Andy Lack (@adplacksports) June 17, 2023
Erm, time zones eh. Okay, let’s break the news to those on UK time as there is no way of getting around it. The last two-ball today – Rickie Fowler and Wyndham Clark – heads out at, erm, 11.40pm. That’s pretty pretty late. Still, no pain, no gain. It’s Sunday tomorrow and those who stick it out until maybe 4am will get rewarded by a 7am wake-up call and a lovely Father’s Day card from the kids. Smashing. Here are those tee-times.
Starting at hole one (all times BST)
17:33 Ryan Fox (NZ)
17:44 Adam Hadwin (Can), Jon Rahm (Spa)
17:55 Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Shane Lowry (Ire)
18:06 Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn), David Puig (Spa)
18:17 Ben Carr (US), Sebastian Munoz (Col)
18:28 Patrick Cantlay (US), Russell Henley (US)
18:39 Padraig Harrington (Ire), Cameron Young (US)
18:50 Abraham Ancer (Mex), Aldrich Potgieter (SA)
19:01 Samuel Stevens (US), Maxwell Moldovan (US)
19:17 Sergio Garcia (Spa), Patrick Reed (US)
19:28 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Kevin Streelman (US)
19:39 Jordan Smith (Eng), Adam Svensson (Can)
19:50 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Jacob Solomon (US)
20:01 Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng), Joo-Hyung Kim (Kor)
20:12 Collin Morikawa (US), Gordon Sargent (US)
20:23 Yuto Katsuragawa (Jpn), Patrick Rodgers (US)
20:34 Mackenzie Hughes (Can), Brooks Koepka (US)
20:45 Billy Horschel (US), Sahith Theegala (US)
21:01 Viktor Hovland (Nor), Joaquin Niemann (Chi)
21:12 Bryson DeChambeau (US), Si-Woo Kim (Kor)
21:23 Ryan Gerard (US), Keith Mitchell (US)
21:34 Sam Burns (US), Austin Eckroat (US)
21:45 Andrew Putnam (US), Eric Cole (US)
21:56 Nick Hardy (US), Romain Langasque (Fra)
22:07 Denny McCarthy (US), Gary Woodland (US)
22:18 Ryutaro Nagano (Jpn), Dylan Wu (US)
22:29 Brian Harman (US), Justin Suh (US)
22:45 Tony Finau (US), Charley Hoffman (US)
22:56 Scottie Scheffler (US), Cameron Smith (Aus)
23:07 Sam Bennett (US), Min-Woo Lee (Aus)
23:18 Harris English (US), Dustin Johnson (US)
23:29 Rory McIlroy (NI), Xander Schauffele (US)
23:40 Wyndham Clark (US), Rickie Fowler (US)
Preamble
The USGA was always going to fight back after Los Angeles Country Club yielded the two lowest scores in US Open history in round one: a pair of eyepopping 62s from Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele. And while Fowler kept the birdies coming in round two, he was the only player to reach the halfway point of this 123rd US Open in double digits under par.
Expect scoring conditions to be even tougher in round three as mother nature arrives to give the USGA further help beyond tucking pins and pushing tee boxes back. The storylines are plentiful although history says the top five on the leaderboard now have a huge advantage. How will this thing play out? Stay tuned and we’ll guide you through to the very, very early hours. Let’s play!
