Sam Burns is sharing a house with Scottie Scheffler this week and golfing quality on the highest stage appears to have passed from one bedroom to another.
Having never finished higher than ninth in a major, Burns will take a one-shot lead into the final round of the US Open on four under par.
As for his closest mate in the sport, Scheffler is eight back after being chewed up by Oakmont Country Club, same as almost everyone else at this tournament.
Burns? So far he has seemed impervious to the stress of his situation, with a loop of 69 adding to the brilliant 65 on Friday with which he built his challenge. JJ Spaun, a contender since day one, bogeyed the last to fall to three under alongside Adam Scott, aged 44 and 12 years removed from his major win at the Masters.
Burns said: ‘I think as a kid growing up, you dream about winning major championships and that’s why we practice so hard and work so hard. All these guys in this field I think would agree that to have the opportunity to win a major is special. I’m definitely really excited for tomorrow.’
Of Scheffler’s influence, he added: ‘Scottie’s obviously an incredible player. I don’t think I need to say that! But I think we obviously spend a lot of time together and being able to talk to him and just kind of learn from him and ask him questions, it’s been really cool. It’s been nice to kind of pick his brain and ask him certain things.’
Sam Burns is sharing a house with Scottie Scheffler this week and golfing quality on the highest stage appears to have passed from one bedroom to another
Scheffler’s good friend is tapping into his wisdom as he closes in on a shock US Open victory
Scott spoke of playing ‘old man par golf’, which captures the wisdom behind his success on an infuriating course. But Burns has conquered with immense approach play and one of the best putting games in golf – as a deer hunter in his spare time, there are obvious observations to make about his ability to take down a target.
On a congested, fascinating leaderboard, Viktor Hovland is at one under par after bogeying the 18th, and of some intrigue is Tyrrell Hatton at one over. Golf’s most combustible individual is in fine shape after a 68 and, most tellingly, has avoided any full-scale eruptions of temper.
The closest he came was punching his putter after a missed birdie attempt on the 16th, but that was mild by his standards.
Quite why this, of all courses, should be the environment where he contends for a breakthrough is open to contrasting theories, but his was more amusing than most.
‘I have a head-off whenever I play,’ he said. ‘But everyone comes to the US Open and has a head-off, so it brings them to my level for a week.’
That was marvellous, but a clearer explanation comes from the style of his game. His strength has always been found from tee to the green and Oakmont is a killer for those who are off target.
The fact Hatton hit 13 out of 14 fairways tells you everything.
Hatton added: ‘I knew at the start of the year and certainly last year when I signed with LIV that the majors were going to be very important for me. I’d love to go out there and have another day like today. There’s a lot to play for.’
Catching Burns will not be straightforward for any of the pack, but Oakmont is loaded with trip wires and defending a lead will not be a comfortable experience. For a 28-year-old pursuing his first major, it will be a brutal examination of his nerve.
We have seen what the layout has done to Rory McIlroy, whose mood soured further with a 74 to leave him 10 over and desperate for a flight home. Scheffler’s 70 put him on four over and close enough to be noticed, with Scotland’s Bob MacIntyre one better off.
The question is whether the course will throw up any injustices after a week of bogeys and bedlam. Matt Fitzpatrick broke ranks on Saturday to complain it was an ‘unfair’ test, and his view will surely have private support within the locker room.
Burns is thriving on a course that has proven tricky for many top names, such as Rory McIlroy
He told Mail Sport: ‘I personally don’t think it’s fair. I think there’s hard that’s fair and there’s just straight unfair. And I just think that this falls into that category, really.
‘I just don’t think it necessarily rewards good shots and I think it penalises bad shots too harshly.’
He added: ‘I have spoken a lot over the last few years about rough graduation, and you can be more penalised for hitting a shot one yard off the fairway, six inches off the fairway, than you can 40 yards off the fairway.
‘When you’ve got the greens as extreme as these, it amplifies any miss. I get that it’s the same for everyone and you have got hit good shots and obviously it always sounds like sour graves when a player complains.
‘I am a huge fan of the US Golf Association, I’ve played 11 US Opens now, and I feel like I’ve experienced what is hard and fair and what is hard and unfair over the course of my career now. I just feel like this falls into that category of unfair.
‘I think Xander (Schauffele) said something great earlier this week. People watch the US Open to see us shoot eight over par and that’s a good score – I completely agree with that. I love that. I think that’s what makes it interesting from a normal week of shooting 25 under.
‘(But) I just feel like there’s a line, you know. It is a tough golf course, but I think I don’t necessarily feel like it needed to be made more extreme than it is.’
