United States Open | Zalatoris and Fitzpatrick, unexpected survivors in the lead

(Brookline) The unexpected Will Zalatoris and Matt Fitzpatrick lead the US Open, after the 3^e round disputed on Saturday, in windy conditions on the course of Brookline (Massachusetts) always so difficult to tame, as deplored by Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler.

The co-leaders, in search of a first title on the PGA circuit, were not always in charge during this eventful day, but they were the most regular, where the exceptional edition of the Ryder Cup in 1999, when the United States team beat the Europeans.

The American 14^e global and the british 18^ewho remain on standout performances at the PGA Championship last month, 2^e and 5^eare indeed part of the rare entries to have remained under par, at the end of this third round, which probably sounded the death knell of the chances of Collin Morikawa, leader the day before and who unscrewed in the 17th^e place by returning a +7 card (+2 total).

“I knew it was going to be tough and we had to be patient. I knew if I made a bogey or two early in the game, not to change the game plan, not to try to be too aggressive because that’s how you cause damage, “reacted Zalatoris, who made only one mistake, in the middle of four successful birdies, rewarded with a leap of 14 places.

Rahm ends up silted up

“The wind was blowing really hard. This made things difficult. You had to be mindful of how you hit the ball, where you were going to miss it. It was a big challenge today. I’m really happy with my score, ”commented Fitzpatrick, who had a more lively day, but his five birdies made up for the three bogeys conceded.

Here they are with a total of -4, still quite thin after 54 holes of a Grand Slam.

They took advantage of a failure at the very end of the course of the defending champion, the Spaniard Jon Rahm, who remains as the day before in third position.

He had however taken the lead in the ranking at N.17, thanks to a third consecutive birdie, his fourth in total.

But the world No.2, who had learned to be patient after two early bogeys, cracked on the last hole, committing a double-bogey, after reaching the two bunkers on his way.

However, he is only one unit behind Zalatoris and Fitzpatrick, who are two lengths ahead of a trio in the 4^e place, made up of Canadian Adam Hadwin, American Keegan Bradley and world No.1 Scottie Scheffler.

ten in par

The latter started strong with two birdies and an eagle at N.8. Seeming to fly over the windy day, he was in the lead halfway through, one with a -6 total, two strokes ahead of the competition.

Then, boom. A double-bogey at N.11 followed by three bogeys in a row brutally brought him back down to earth. However, he limited the breakage with a birdie at N.17, which also allows him to stay in the game.

Just behind is Rory McIlroy who never really recovered from the three bogeys committed at the start of the day. The Northern Irishman, winner of the Canada Open last week, still remains negative (-1), alongside the Americans Joel Dahmen and Sam Burns.

And in 10^e position, Nick Hardy is the last to be in par (0). The other 54 competitors are above.

Among them, Morikawa, 7^e world, winner of the USPGA in 2020 and the British Open last year, who spent a nightmarish day, notably weighed down by two double-bogeys at N.7 and N.13.

With him at 17^e rank (+2), are the Japanese Hideki Matusyama, winner of the 2021 Masters, and that of the previous edition Dustin Johnson, who is one of the players banned from the PGA Tour, for having yielded to the sirens of LIV Golf, but authorized to participate in the US Open this week.