Justin Rose is in the same position as when he won the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion — one shot back of the lead going into the final round. And similar to Merion, this week at Shinnecock Hills has proven to be a throwback U.S. Open, with super-fast greens and tall rough leading to high scores and general player agony.
But Rose managed to shoot a second round 3-over 73, getting him in solo second at 4-over for the tournament, behind the four-way lead of Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Tony Finau and Daniel Berger.
“On this golf course, it’s patience, it’s commitment, it’s choosing your times to be aggressive,” said Rose, who will tee off at 2:02 p.m. with Henrik Stenson (5-over). “You just have to play great golf out here.”
At the end of Friday’s second round, Rose said his concentration had faltered and he ended up making bogey on the two closing holes to shoot 70. But he knows as well as anyone that winning the U.S. Open is far more about mentality than physical gifts.
“You feel like you’re the only one making mistakes. Clearly, you’re not,” Rose said. “You always look at the leaderboard and see everyone’s struggling. It’s hard mentally to keep it together.”
This year’s Masters champion, Patrick Reed, shot a steady 71, putting him at 6-over for the tournament and right in the mix, just three shots back.
“It easily could have been a 66, 67 day, easily with not really blinking or doing anything crazy,” Reed said, having finished before the conditions got so tough. “Unfortunately it was a 71. If the wind keeps blowing, I’m going to be moving in the right direction. I just wish I had a couple more.”
Rickie Fowler entered the third round just six back of Johnson’s lead, but he shot a back-breaking 84 that included a closing nine of 43 in the difficult conditions.
“Not necessarily criticizing the setup and how it played in the afternoon,” Fowler said, “but when it’s that big an advantage to playing in the morning versus the afternoon, I think it takes away from the work that the guys have done the first two days.”
Jim Furyk, the 48-year-old U.S. Ryder Cup captain and a special exemption into the tournament, shot a third-round 72 and is actually in great shape at 6-over.
“I wanted to kind of use that opportunity and hopefully make something out of it, and this week it’s been fun,” Furyk said. “It was great to wake up this morning and kind of be like, you know, I’ve got a 1:53 tee time. That’s pretty cool on a weekend. Haven’t been able to do it in a while.”
Matt Parziale had been a feel-good story thus far, the 2017 U.S. Mid-Amateur champ and a firefighter from Brockton, Mass., one of just three amateurs to make the cut. But he was rather upset with his third-round 74 that included a back-nine score of 39 with two bogeys and one double.
“Made some good par saves, and then I played pretty steady. Just really disappointed with that finish,” said Parziale, at 11-over for the tournament. “I’ve played a lot of bad rounds in my life. I know I’ll be ready to go [Sunday]. Just after lunch, it will be old news. Right now it just stinks.”
Kiradech Aphibarnrat, the flamboyant 28-year-old pro from Thailand, shot a nice 68 to get him to 6-over for the tournament.
“It’s always pressure to be in the U.S. Open, one of the biggest and one of the major [tournaments] in the world,” he said as he plays his second U.S. Open. “To have a chance to play on the weekend is such a great week. And to move up a lot on the position, which is the way to do it in the third round, I just tried to do everything that my job has to do.”
Will Grimmer, a rising senior at Ohio State, ceded his status as a low amateur to Parziale after a third-round 78 that took him to 13-over for the tournament. It’s still his goal to be the low amateur of the tournament and take part in the champions trophy ceremony.
“That’s a big deal for an amateur to be low and be in that trophy ceremony,” he said. “It would be a really cool honor.”
