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SAN DIEGO – Eagle hawks looked familiar for a Saturday in Torrey Pines in June, even with Tiger Woods nowhere to be seen.
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Watch Mackenzie Hughes throw his 60-foot eagle from the back of the green to the front on slide #5 13 into the cup. Louis Oosthuizen was only hoping to find the center of the 50-foot-tall trophy at the age of 18, and he kissed it from the pin and disappeared.
Woods made an eagle from one end of the green to the other in the 13th and 18th holes in 2008 that set the stage for a Sunday full of anticipation.
Suddenly, that familiar feeling of the US Open.
The pioneer of two days of cool, calm San Diego is now an urgency for Oosthuizen and Rory McIlroy trying to end long droughts, and hope for newcomers like Hughes and Russell Henley, and a half-dozen other possibilities that include Bryson DeChambeau and John Ram.
“It’s a golf course where anything can happen,” Oosthuizen said in a major mix for the second time in a row. “It’s just an old fashioned golf course. You’ll have nerves. You’ll feel it. It’s about how you handle it.”
Hughes added one last birdie for 3-under 68 and was the first to reach 5-under 208. He joined him.
They’ve been linked with Russell Henley, who had two shots in the early back nine and seemed to hold on to dear life by the end. He went from bunker to bunker to bunker on the easiest hole in Torrey Pines and had to make an 8-foot for 71.
McIlroy (67) and DeChambeau (68) had two shots behind.
McIlroy has gone seven years without a major, a drought that has scarcely increased until there are decent chances. DeChambeau can finally have a laugh at beef with Brooks Koepka by joining him as back-to-back US Open champion.
“I thought two 68s over the weekend from where I was after on Friday would have a good chance,” said McIlroy, who started the third round behind six throws. “I have done the first part of this work. Now it is up to me tomorrow to go out and try to play a similar round of golf.”
Woods is recovering from a February car crash that badly injured his legs and has not returned to Torrey Pines. In his absence, the broadcast took every opportunity to relive the memories of Nesri who gave him the lead with 54 holes.
It took two guys to do it this time, but it was just as amazing.
“I know Tiger was right, but halfway there, I loved her,” Hughes said. “The charge that goes through your body when the ball goes into the hole and the crowd breaks out is why we play. I get goosebumps now thinking about it.”
And he will have plenty of nerves on Sunday when he plays in the final set with Oosthuizen, who has finished second in five times – two in the playoffs – since winning the 2010 Open in St Andrews.
Henley drilled a holeshot on an 11 par-3 birdcage for a two-shot bird and made a great cabbage football behind his 12th green. But he showed signs of falling apart over the last hour, dropping shots on the 15th and having to escape on par at No. 18.
Thirteen players remained below par to go to the final round. Eight players were separated by three shots on a difficult track that might not be as accessible as it was on Saturday, when the three 5 players were set up to be reachable in two.
McIlroy did his best to save the ghost. Three birds ran into four holes to start the back nine, only to pull a tee into a ravine. He dropped a penalty instead of going into the valley – a smart decision considering the TV showed a big boa in the area – and limited the damage to a bogey.
Flying on Day 18 for 67, matching a week low score, gave him a chance to win a major championship for the first time since the 2014 PGA Championship.
“This is the only tournament in the world where a ghost fist is pumped,” McIlroy said. “Only one loss that was a big deal, getting her out of the bunker up and down at 16 and making that jumper at 18 just to get that hit she lost, is really big.”
DeChambeau played a big role as well, going with the driver almost everywhere and missing some lanes by such a wide margin that he had good lies in the fan-tromped grass.
It led to his first 67-round Grand Slam tournament without a bogey on his card, and gave him 68 chances to join Koepka and Curtis Strange as the only consecutive US Open winner in the past 50 years.
“You have to be really patient here in these disciplines,” DeChambeau said. “It’s not an easy thing to do. I feel like I’m starting to understand the major golf tournament and how to play it and just how to manage my game, my attitude and my level of patience. If I can keep doing it tomorrow I think I have a good chance.”
Meanwhile, Koepka was among those who missed out on a good opportunity. He shot 71 and was only five shots behind, but had 13 players ahead.
John Ram, who was slowed down by a double bogey at No. 14 and not enough birds, had 72 and was in the group at 2-under 211 with Scotty Scheffler (70) and Matthew Wolff (73).
Dustin Johnson fired 68 and was among those who were in 1-under 212, four behind and many of them in the game in this major and on this golf course.
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