Oakmont is the kind of course that might have melted Tyrrell Hatton’s brain. Instead it has presented him with an intriguing opportunity going into the final round of the US Open.
At five strokes behind Sam Burns, the task of winning a first major remains tough, but after seeing off his third loop in 68, golf’s most combustible individual is in fine shape.
He has played some of the golf of his life in the past week and, most tellingly, has avoided any full-scale eruptions of temper in reaching one over par.
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.’
Tyrrell Hatton is a surprise contender at the US Open in Oakmont
The feisty Briton has kept his cool while others have ended up infuriated at Oakmont
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, creating the platform for five birdies and enough of a cushion to swallow a double bogey after slicing into the face of a greenside bunker on 15.
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. The American, an occasional deer hunter who is sharing a house with his close mate Scottie Scheffler, shot a 69. JJ Spaun, never higher than 23rd in a major, first led on day one and has resisted all expectations that he will fall away. He shot the same number and is one back alongside Adam Scott, aged 44 and 12 years removed from his major win at Augusta. Viktor Hovland is within three.
It is a fascinating race and a lottery, because Oakmont is nothing if not unpredictable.
We have seen that in what it’s 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 cause anxieties, 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.
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.
Hatton has given himself a puncher’s chance of winning a maiden major
‘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.’
Such extremities mean no member of the chasing pack should be discounted, an English madman included.
