THE UNITED STATES OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

Taking a quick breakdown of those within 5 shots of the lead (where you'd expect the winner to come from):

-3 (Burns) … I just find it hard to view him as a Major Champion (particularly as it pertains to a place like Oakmont) but his putting is elite and that has a chance to save him. I would expect it to be difficult for him to back up that 65 today much like it was a struggle all day for Spaun backing up his 66. Burns will do well to be in red numbers come tomorrow night.

-2 (Spaun) … Credit to him in that I thought he'd do well to shoot 73 or better today and he did with a 72. If you look at his numbers this week what has been carrying him has been his scrambling ability which is completely at odds with his season-long stats. If he's able to keep that going he'll be in the mix come Sunday. I just have to think he's going to have a rough day scrambling over the weekend and it's going to lead to a 74-76 type of round mixed in to take him off the pace.

-1 (Hovland) … I don't think anybody questions his ability but his form hasn't been great and similar to Spaun there's some smoke and mirrors with his work around the green where he's 6th in the field vs 158th on the PGA Tour for the season. Add in that his putting is neutral at best and he's going to need to put together a ball striking exhibition to win this come Sunday as I suspect there's a 75 coming for him

E (Scott) … The reason that I have Scott as my horse the next 2 days is because his ball striking has been elite so far (leading the field in strokes gained off the tee and 8th in strokes gained on the approach) and that's consistent with what we've known of Adam Scott throughout his career. At this stage of his career I don't view him as grinding each week on Tour so his season-long stats probably don't matter that much. He hasn't had a ton of starts as of late but he was Top 20 at the PGA and his last start at Jack's place followed up a disastrous opening round 79 with a 2-under last 54 holes on a very difficult test of golf. If he can get a day where the putter gets hot or his scrambling bounces back (currently losing strokes, best category of his season to date on tour) then there's likely a low number with him.

E (Griffin) … He is similar to Burns to me in that he's not a player that I associate as a major winner but its hard to ignore his recent run of form. The numbers say that he's above average versus the field in every category and he's done well to play some boring golf around Oakmont making pars and limiting bogies. I'm not sure that I see him putting a round together where he's going to get to that 66 or 67 that is possible if you have an A+ day. The more that the winning score stays around E to +2 he'll be in the hunt. I definitely think he's got a top 3 finish ahead of him.

+1 (Perez, Lawrence) … I don't think either of these guys are where you could expect them to jump up and win … Lawrence ejected himself today and Perez just doesn't have the experience.

+2 (Koepka, Henley, Si Woo Kim, Detry) … to me this is where I expect at least one player to make a move tomorrow. Brooks has the experience but it's felt like a little bit of a smoke and mirror show for him so far this week and he needs to get off the tee better to post a number. Si Woo you just never know what you are going to get with him as he's volatile but he's also someone that can go shoot that number with his ball striking if it gets hot. Henley is a name that I'd definitely keep an eye on as right now it's only getting off the tee that is holding him back (although if the course plays materially longer he's going to get hurt by that) … he closed fast today (3 birdies in his last 4 holes) and it's possible he found something on the way in. Detry I just don't think has the pedigree to do much.

The 3-over crowd I don't see a lot emerging from there but it's definitely possible that you could see Captain Keegan make a charge and Jason Day has been sneaky decent through 2 days.

There's a lot of pedigree sitting down between +4 and +6 … it wouldn't shock me at all if a couple of them throw up an early morning 66 or something getting out early and taking advantage of the softer conditions … definitely would favor somebody like Rahm or Rory that have the ability to overpower with their length.

Tomorrow will be fascinating

No relation that I’m aware of.

Si Woo Kim is the Korean Shane Gillis. He’s got to have a touch of downs

Hatton is looking solid. He’s been a good player for years, but tends to have mental meltdowns in majors. As a fellow sufferer of golf course rage, I’m pulling for him.

Ho Lee fuk. Nobody wants to win this thing. Scott may win by default just because nobody else can hit fairways or greens.