New Jersey native Chris Gotterup struggles in third around of US Open

BROOKLINE, Mass. — Chris Gotterup, the 22-year-old New Jersey native who made the minimize Friday within the U.S. Open, his first profession main championship, struggled to maintain his momentum Saturday within the third spherical.

Gotterup — who grew up in Little Silver, performed his youth golf at Rumson Nation Membership after which performed 4 years at Rutgers and one yr at Oklahoma — shot a 5-over 75 on Saturday and is tied for forty ninth. He entered the day having performed his earlier 30 holes in 3-under.

One gap Gotterup has had issues with all week is the 503-yard par-4 fifteenth gap, on which he took a four-putt double bogey Thursday, bogeyed Friday and bogeyed Saturday.

After the second-round bogey, he stated he was going to “maintain’’ 15 on Saturday. Now he’ll have to attend till the ultimate spherical.

That is Gotterup’s third skilled event. He completed tied for seventh on the Puerto Rico Open, then turned professional and missed the minimize final week on the RBC Canadian Open. He’s scheduled to play within the Vacationers Championship subsequent week and the John Deere subsequent month.

The climate circumstances harder on Saturday, with cooler temperatures and extra wind, and Denny McCarthy led the best way along with his early tee time and posted a 2-under 68 and has now moved right into a tie for eleventh at 1-over.

“I feel I blacked out, I don’t even bear in mind something,’’ McCarthy stated jokingly. “No, I performed actually stable golf. I performed very well [Friday] and shot even par. I wouldn’t say I used to be upset, however I felt like I may have shot 2- to 5-under [Friday], and I shot even.

“[That] sort of lit a bit of fireplace underneath me. I got here out with the mindset immediately that I’m going to attempt to play nice and shoot a quantity that will get me again within the event. And, I like taking part in in onerous circumstances, so it was an amazing day for that sort of alternative for me to come back out and shoot an honest quantity and watch the blokes within the afternoon must play this place.’’

McCarthy stated he was off to the Pink Sox sport Saturday night time at Fenway Park to take his thoughts off golf till the ultimate spherical Sunday.

One of many cool under-the-radar tales on the leaderboard this week has been Hayden Buckley, who started the third spherical at 4-under, one shot out of the lead. Buckley entered the week having missed the minimize in six of his earlier seven begins. He shot a third-round 75 to fall to 1-over and tied for eleventh.

Buckley met his caddie, Brian Mahoney, via an acquaintance a number of days earlier than his first Korn Ferry Tour victory, on the LECOM Suncoast Basic final yr, at which he was the tenth alternate.

He secured that win with a birdie on the primary playoff gap and it got here in simply his seventeenth profession begin. Ultimately, Buckley completed seventh on the Korn Ferry Tour’s total factors checklist for the finals and earned him his PGA Tour card.

Buckley recalled one thing Mahoney instructed him after the second spherical of that victory.

“Look, it doesn’t matter what occurs in the remainder of the event, I’m coming with you as a result of I imagine in you; you’re going to be on the PGA Tour,” Buckley recalled Mahoney telling him. “I had six caddies earlier than him, however I hope he’s my caddy for all times.”

The 2 have grow to be shut sufficient that Mahoney was been invited to be groomsman for Buckley’s wedding ceremony later this yr.

Buckley entered the second spherical with some scar tissue from the earlier U.S. Open, at Torrey Pines, the place he shot 2-under within the first spherical and was two pictures off the lead and missed the minimize.

“I feel I missed virtually each fairway in that second spherical and simply couldn’t play,’’ he recalled.

That is the third time Collin Morikawa has opened a significant championship with two rounds underneath par. His outcomes after the primary two: He gained the 2020 PGA Championship and he gained the 2021 British Open.

However his third spherical on the U.S. Open was a special story for Morikawa because the second-round chief shot a 77 to fall to 2-over.

For the reason that Official World Golf Rankings started in 1986, solely 3 times has a participant who was ranked No. 1 getting into the U.S. Open gone on to win it. Tiger Woods in 2000, Woods in 2002 and Woods in 2008.

Scottie Scheffler, the present world No. 1 and reigning Masters champion, enters the ultimate spherical at 2-under par, two pictures out of the lead.