SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. – On Saturday, after two days of easy going, the U.S. Open finally became the tournament most expected it to be. Gusting winds and faster, firmer, bumpier greens created carnage on the leaderboard as birdies were scarce, and bogeys and others were plentiful.
At the end of the day, only two players managed to record under-par rounds as a few moved up the leaderboard but most slipped down.
Wyndham Clark continued his steady play and his position on top. His even-par round of 70 gave him a whopping six-shot lead into Sunday.
With a one-over 71, Corey Conners had a solid round, moving up into a tie for 13th.
“It was definitely tough,” he said. “It firmed up a lot, probably even more than I expected given the conditions the past two days. It was very challenging out there today. I had to battle every single swing.”
Conners birdied the par-5 fifth hole after reaching the green in two, and added another birdie on the eighth, when he drained a difficult 20-footer. That moved him to one under, but he didn’t stay long in red figures. He missed a slippery two-foot par putt on the next hole for a bogey, and added three more on 10, 12 and 13 to sit at three over.
“It’s so easy to make a bogey or even worse out here,” he said. “On the 10th hole, I hit what I thought was a pretty decent (approach) shot but it had no chance of holding the green and I had a tricky up-and-down from over the green.”
Conners, who hit 12 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens, added one last birdie on the 18th hole, hitting his approach to just a couple of feet.
For most of the day, he battled on the greens, trying to sink putts that were affected by the conditions.
“The greens were tricky to read today,” stated Conners. “The ball was wiggling because of the wind and the dry conditions. I was able to do a better job of getting it in the hole today but it was still difficult to make putts.”
He used his putter 34 times to finish his round, a number that would be exceptionally high on most weeks on the PGA Tour, but was middle of the pack at the U.S. Open.
“I think they’ve done a wonderful job,” Conners said of the course setup so far. “The first two days it was definitely softer, probably than it typically plays here. It was a little firmer today. It dried out really fast and we were barely making ball marks on the greens on the approach shots.”
The lone Canadian left in the field now sits at two-under for the tournament. While he is nine strokes back of the leader Clark, he is just three behind second place.
Even if winning may seem out of reach, there is a lot on the line for Conners. He could use points to climb up the FedEx Cup standings, where he is currently outside of the top 70 that make the playoffs. He could also benefit from moving up in the Presidents Cup standings, where he is eighth. And this would be a great place to log his first top-10 finish for the year.
“More of the same,” Conners stated of his game plan for Sunday’s final round. “I think I’m going to need some help from some guys at the top of the leaderboard but I’m going to stick to the game plan, I hit a lot of quality shots today. I’ve got to rely on the putter and hopefully get something going.”
Conners tees off at 1:19 on Sunday alongside Keegan Bradley.
