U.S. ALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Burns (65) Sizzles on Day 2 at Oakmont for 36-Hole Lead
When a U.S. Open is contested on a beast of a layout like Oakmont Country Club, volatility is expected along with lots of carnage.
Thursday’s opening round of the 125th edition of this championship – the 10th on this venerable western Pennsylvania cathedral – certainly had all of that, with just 10 sub-70 scores and one of the highest scoring averages (74.64) in the last 25 years.
Nothing changed much in 24 hours.
Friday’s scoring average was slightly higher (74.75) as the course continued to firm up, and while much of the 156-player field struggled with the 5-inch rough and Stimpmeter readings starting at 15 feet and settling into the upper 14s, there were some spectacular performances, none better than the 5-under-par 65 produced by Sam Burns.
A five-time PGA Tour winner coming off a playoff defeat to Ryan Fox in last week’s RBC Canadian Open, the 28-year-old Burns matched the third-lowest round in a U.S. Open held at Oakmont. It is only bettered by Johnny Miller’s remarkable final-round 63 to win the 1973 U.S. Open and Loren Roberts’ 64 in 1994, when he and Colin Montgomerie later lost in a Monday playoff to Ernie Els.
Coming off a first-round, 2-over-par 72 when he played his final four holes in 5 over par, the former Louisiana State University All-American posted a 36-hole total of 3-under 137, good enough for a one-stroke advantage over first-round leader J.J. Spaun (66-72).
Viktor Hovland, of Norway, who followed a 71 with a 68, was the only other player to finish in red figures at the midway point. It’s the fewest players under par through 36 holes in a U.S. Open since just one (Dustin Johnson) achieved the feat in 2018 at Shinnecock Hills.
That Oakmont volatility victimized South African Thriston Lawrence. After a Thursday 67, the four-time winner on the DP World Tour briefly got it to 6 under par before running into the challenging outward nine, which played 2.1 strokes higher than the inward nine (38.45 to 36.3). He played his final nine holes in 3 over, holing a 4-foot par putt when play resumed on Saturday morning to post a 74. He sits at 1-over 141 and in a tie for sixth with qualifier Victor Perez, who made an ace and an 8 in Round 2.
Play was suspended for the day at 8:15 p.m. EDT for dangerous weather, with 13 players still on the course. Round 2 will resumed on Saturday morning at 7:29 a.m. and concluded at 7:56 a.m. Round 3 was set to start at 9:12 a.m., with players going off in twosomes.
Adam Scott, playing in his 96th consecutive major championship, and the suddenly hot Ben Griffin each posted even-par 140.
The cut came at 7-over 147 (66 professionals and one amateur), with multiple major champions Scottie Scheffler (144), Rory McIlroy (146), Brooks Koepka (142), Jordan Spieth (145), Jon Rahm (144), Collin Morikawa (144) and Xander Schauffele (146), who has now made 66 consecutive cuts in PGA Tour co-sponsored events (the tour’s longest current streak), earning weekend tee times.
Maybe it was apropos that Miller was on property Friday, visiting with NBC lead golf announcer Dan Hicks for a reunion. The two worked side by side for a number of years during the former’s tenure at the network (1990-2019), and Miller always relishes returning to the site of his greatest achievement.
When strokes gained against the field are taken into consideration, Burns was 9.75 shots better than the second-round average. Miller’s Sunday charge was 10.77 better than the field average. Of course, Burns’ effort came in Round 2 as compared to the final round for Miller.
But considering the sour taste left from Thursday’s finish and the fact there were only seven sub-par scores on Day 2, Burns’ 65 was mighty impressive. It included a 22-foot par save on the difficult par-4 9th hole, his last of the day.
Burns also rolled in birdie putts of 21 feet (No. 11), 7 feet (13), 5 feet (17) and 8 feet (18) on his first nine, and a 6-footer at the 2nd. His only blemish came on the downhill first hole when he encountered trouble off the tee. He hit 14 of 18 greens and 9 of 14 fairways. He was second in strokes gained-approach (+3.21) and third in strokes gained-putting (+2.99).
“There's obviously a lot of golf left on a very tough golf course, so I think [the key is] really just getting rest and getting ready for tomorrow,” said Burns, whose best major finish came a year ago at Pinehurst when he tied for ninth. “Honestly, I didn't really think of a score. Like I said, the golf course is really too difficult to try to figure out what's a good score and what's not. You're really just shot by shot and trying to play each hole the best you can.”
For Spaun, repeating his brilliant putting performance from Thursday was a tall order. He converted eight par putts from 7 feet or longer to produce his 66. The former San Diego State star tied for 61st in strokes gained-putting (he was second in Round 1) at +.67 and T-89 in putting (1.92 per green). His consecutive streak without a bogey ended at 20 holes when he sustained a 5 on the par-4 3rd. Spaun matched his first-round birdie total with four, but had six bogeys, including one at the par-4 closing hole.
Nevertheless, the 34-year-old from Los Angeles, Calif., is right in the hunt at the midway point of a major and just his second U.S. Open start. In March, he lost a playoff to McIlroy at The Players Championship, two weeks after tying for second at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches.
A few years ago, I would probably expect to play poorly today,” said Spaun, the 2022 Valero Texas Open champion who has enjoyed a breakout season in 2025. “But I knew it would be hard to back up a bogey-free 4-under [66] at Oakmont in the U.S. Open. I'm just glad that I kept it together.”
Hovland, playing alongside Scheffler and Morikawa for the first two rounds, put together a hot streak over his first eight holes that included a chip-in eagle on the 305-yard 17th hole to get him to 3 under for the championship. One of the best PGA Tour players without a major title also bounced back from a double-bogey 6 on No. 2 with consecutive birdies on 4 and 5, only to give those strokes back with bogeys on a pair of par-3s (Holes 6 and 8). The seven-time PGA Tour winner heads into the weekend in his best position at a U.S. Open in seven starts. Now he’s hoping some of that experience can pay off.
“For some reason I've just been in a really nice mental state this week,” said Hovland. “It's like, both my rounds have been very up and down. I feel like a couple times if it would have happened at another tournament, for example, I could have potentially lost my mind there a little bit. But I felt like I kept things together very well.”
Given what Oakmont can dole out, even players seven strokes back like world No. 1 Scheffler have a chance on the weekend. Miller, after all, started the final round six strokes back.
A wild weekend of golf awaits.
“I think mentally there's no just kind of gimme hole. There's no hole where you can get up there and just hit it and not really pay attention to what you're trying to do. I think it requires a lot of focus on every shot, and even when you're in the rough and you're trying to get it back in the fairway, every shot is difficult. So, really you're very focused and putting a lot into every shot mentally, and I think over time that's just pretty taxing.” – Sam Burns on Oakmont
“We didn't wait a ton throughout the day until we got to 12 tee and there's two groups on the tee and it's a par 5 and you're standing up there and you've already been three and a half hours in and you're waiting about 15, 20 minutes just to hit your tee shot, then you've got to hit a tough tee shot. I think the key is just to kind of embrace it, accept it and stay fueled as far as nutrition and eating and drinking enough water to stay hydrated. But honestly, we play pretty slow on Tour anyway, so what's another 40 minutes to go around Oakmont.” – J.J. Spaun on the pace of play
“Super impressive. I was 4 under [for the championship] at one point myself, and it does feel like, man, if you're just executing and you're getting some nice bounces and you're making some putts, you can definitely shoot a low score. But you're just not very far off before you're making a bogey or a double bogey, and that can happen multiple holes in a row. It just feels like you have to play absolutely perfect and have some good breaks going your way, as well. But it's definitely doable.” – Viktor Hovland when asked about Burns’ 65
“Honestly, I'm too annoyed and too mad right now to think about any perspective. Very frustrated. Very few rounds of golf I played in my life where I think I hit good putts and they didn't sniff the hole, so it's frustrating.” – Jon Rahm
“At the U.S. Open I don't think you're ever out of the tournament. Put together two decent days, I may be in 25th or 30th place or something like that after today, and like I said, by no means is that out of the tournament.” – Scottie Scheffler
“I'd be pretty proud of winning this thing on the weekend. Right now, that's really what I'm here to do, and I feel like there's probably not been many signs to anyone else but me the last month or six weeks that my game is looking better. But I definitely feel more confident than I have been this year. This is what I've been working towards. I was kind of in the mix late at the PGA, and now kind of putting myself in this one for the weekend. It's a long way to go, but I feel like my game is in good enough shape to do this.” – Adam Scott
I actually had two this month… Against all odds. Back in the Bahamas where I live. I guess I'm on a hole-in-one run at the moment. It might dry up for the next few years now.” – Victor Perez
David Shefter is a senior staff writer at the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.
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