Clubs were thrown but the towel was not. Rory McIlroy battled Oakmont’s treacherous setup and his own frustrations to survive for the weekend at the 125th US Open. As McIlroy clung on, high-profile exits from Pennsylvania included Bryson DeChambeau as the defending champion, Tommy Fleetwood, Dustin Johnson, Joaquin Niemann, Justin Thomas and Shane Lowry. In epitomising how Oakmont can mess with the mind, Lowry earned a one-stroke penalty after lifting his ball on the 14th green while forgetting to mark it. The Irishman could only laugh and, to be fair, did.
McIlroy’s day began with two double bogeys inside three holes. By the 12th, the Masters champion flung his iron 30 yards down the fairway in anger at a loose shot. Five holes later, McIlroy broke a tee marker after cracking it with his three-wood. Yet among this was admirable fighting spirit; he fired an approach shot to within 4ft of the 18th hole, a birdie ensuring a 72 for a six-over aggregate. McIlroy last four, played in two under, were crucial. The madcap nature of this US Open is such that the Northern Irishman will believe he has a squeak of winning. Only three players – Sam Burns, JJ Spaun and Viktor Hovland – are under par. Burns leads the other two by one at minus three.
