Today, at the U.S. Open at Los Angelos Country Club in Los Angeles, Southern California, Rickie Fowler and Wyndham Clark are tied for the lead at ten-under par 200 with one round to play, tomorrow. Fowler had taken the lead with one hole to play. Both players, playing together, hit the par-four 18th green in regulation two strokes. But a two-stroke swing occurred on the green when Clark made his 15-foot birdie putt and Fowler three-putted, uncharacteristically missing from just inside three feet on his second putt.
Neither player has ever won a major championship, though Fowler has won the PGA Tour’s Player’s Championship. It is generally considered by PGA Tour players as the 5th major. (Pro golf worldwide is measured especially according to its four major championships: Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open, and The [British] Open.)
Four-time major championship winner Rory McIlroy from Ireland is one stroke behind the leaders. Fowler and McIlroy will make up the final twosome tomorrow. Former player and television commentator Paul Azinger said after the round today that Fowler and McIlroy are two of the most popular PGA Tour players. Lots of golf fans will be rooting for either one of them to win.
But this Wyndham Clark, a fairly new player on the Tour and one who just won his first PGA Tour tournament last year, seems very determined. Like McIlroy, a long hitter off the tee, Clark held up well under the pressure today as he led the field during much of his back nine.
Scottie Scheffler, currently the #1 rated player in the world, is lurking close behind at four strokes back. He hit the best shot of the tournament late this afternoon on the long par-four 17th hole by holing his 196-yard second shot to an almost ungettable pin placement for an eagle two that stirred the crowds on the course.
The U.S. Open was last played at Los Angeles Country Club, located near downtown Los Angeles, 75 years ago. So, this event has been a rather historic occasion for pro golf, being held at one of the world’s most exclusive golf clubs. The weather was perfect today, and the same is expected tomorrow. It likely will be the completion of another exciting major championship for the greatest game on grass.
BTW, Scottie Scheffler and Rickie Fowler are regulars at the PGA Tour Bible Study’s weekly meetings on Tour. I met Rickie the day after he won the Phoenix Open, and I asked him about it. To my surprise, he didn’t know the group was started solely by the PGA Tour players. I co-founded it.
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