BURNS LEADS SPAUN, SCOTT BY 1 AFTER ROUND 3 AT OAKMONT
Sam Burns will leave Oakmont on Saturday the same way he arrived on the property – holding a one-shot lead on the field at the U.S. Open.
A brilliant up-and-down for birdie on No. 17 and clutch two-putt par on the 18th green saw Burns rise one shot above J.J. Spaun and Adam Scott with one round left in the season’s third major.
Viktor Hovland is the only other player under par for the championship, sitting three back at 1-under after an even-par 70. Carlos Ortiz rounds out the top five at even – a significant number considering the past 26 U.S. Open champions have entered the final round within four shots of the lead.
Burns posted an under-par score despite a shaky performance off the tee around the challenging layout. He ranked second-last in the field in that area of the game but led the way in approach and was fourth in strokes gained: around the green.
Scott, 44, is the only major champion on the first page of the leaderboard thanks to a sizzling 3-under 67 to make up significant ground. According to Justin Ray of the Twenty First Group, a win by Scott 12 years after he claimed the 2013 Masters would represent the longest period between first and second major titles in men’s golf history.
Spaun actually held the co-lead heading to the 18th, but made bogey from the greenside bunker to fall back into a tie for second and out of the final group for Sunday.
Hovland also bogeyed the final hole after finding a bunker – with an errant tee shot forcing him to pitch out back into the fairway. However, given his impressive resume over the past couple of seasons, Hovland’s name will certainly grab the attention of the trio that enters Sunday ahead of him.
LEXI THOMPSON, 5 OTHERS TIED ATOP MEIJER LPGA CLASSIC
Six players, including Lexi Thompson, are tied at the top of the leaderboard on Saturday after three rounds of the Meijer LPGA Classic in Belmont, Mich.
Thompson carded a 4-under 68, as did co-leaders Nanna Koerstz Madsen of Denmark and Paraguay’s Sofia Garcia. Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom tied for the best round of the day, carding a 5-under 67, while South Korea’s Hye-Jin Choi and Spain’s Carlota Ciganda each posted a 3-under 69 to create the six-player logjam.
“Of course it was a close call last year, but it’s fair game tomorrow,” said Thompson, who lost to Lilia Vu in a playoff at the Blythefield CC layout in 2024. “Everybody is going to come out swainging. Good weather tomorrow, so I know birdies will have to be made and I’ll have to go pin-seeking. I will hope for the best, go out there and embrace the opportunity, and really love on the fans.”
Thompson, who has not won on tour since 2019, recorded seven birdies and three bogeys and finished with birdies on Nos. 16 and 18.
Sagstrom dazzled the crowd, producing eagles on the fourth and sixth holes, sandwiched around a birdie on the fifth. The 2025 LPGA Match Play winner, who holed out from the fairway on the sixth, got to 12 under with a birdie at 14, but bogeyed the par-4 16th hole to drop to 11 under.
“At the end of the day I knew I was rolling the putter well,” said Sagstrom. “It was kind of — keep it in the fairway and give myself some chances.”
Sagstrom will be paired with Thompson and Koerstz Madsen in the final threesome of the day on Sunday.
“I’m just trying to stick to my drills and hopefully they’ll work for tomorrow,” Koerstz Madsen said. “I think I still have some good confidence on the green. There was just some speed things today.”
Australia’s Karis Davidson is two strokes behind at 9 under, while four players — including Megan Khang — are tied at 8 under.
“Today’s round was a little bit of up and down,” Khang said. “It’s never a great start to start your round off with a bogey, but it was really good to kind of make a really good par save on No. 2, and to go on a three-birdie stretch … 3 through 5 … was definitely a nice bounceback for me.”
Wei-Ling Hsu of Chinese Taipei tied Sagstrom for the low round of the day and is tied for 12th at 7-under par.
