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Only one round left in the 2023 US Open at Los Angeles Country Club, and fans are enjoying the amazing leaderboard.
Rickie Fowler has a chance to go wire-to-wire, and co-leads the charge through a single shot at 10-under-par overall, along with Windham Clark.
With players trying to win a major title for the first time in the mix along with veterans taking home multiple majors, Sunday’s round looks like it’s going to be a real hearth for the barn.
Here are five things to know at Sunday’s final round at the Los Angeles Country Club.
Contenders are closed
Ricky Fowler. Rory McIlroy. Scotty Scheffler. Dustin Johnson, Xander Schaffel. Cameron Smith. Brisson Dechambeau. Golf’s biggest names fall into the mix at this US Open, as well as a few lesser-known names in Windham Clark, Harris English, Ryutaro Nagano and Tom Kim.
Due to the difficulty of the course over the weekend, scratching backhand shots got tougher. At first glance, it looks like this will be a battle between Fowler and McIlroy and Clark and Scheffler, who is only three-times short.
But because this is golf, we know anything can happen. We can’t wait to watch.
Late charge Scotty Scheffler
Scotty Scheffler was the favorite to win the US Open this week, and with good reason. The world number one has already had two wins this year and hasn’t finished outside the top 12 since last October – that’s 16 tournaments!
But Scheffler was overwhelmed by very low runs in the early days of the tournament, as he calmly fired strong opening scores 67-68. But on Saturday, Scheffler finally came back alive, electrifying the crowd by flying an eagle 2 on the par 4 17th and following that up with a birdie on the 18th.
Suddenly, Scheffler was in the mix. He’ll have a tee time in Sunday’s penultimate pairing, trailing the lead by just three shots.
What is at stake?
In addition to the impressive trophy, golf medal, and record USGA pool of cash ($3.6 million!), the winner of the US Open can enjoy many perks, including years of key exemptions and PGA Tour card status.
Winning also represents different milestones for different players. For Rickie Fowler, Windham Clarke, Harris English and Xander Schavelli, this US Open will be an amazing achievement, the first major of their careers and a real ascent to the top of the sporting mountain.
For McIlroy, the win marks his first major in nearly nine years, while Scotty Scheffler and Dustin Johnson look to add to their resumes with the single and double major, respectively.
How far back is too far?
As we saw on Thursday with Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele’s 62s, golf records—even old and seemingly unbreakable ones—are destined to fall.
So perhaps we should take the current historical metrics with a grain of salt, because given what we’ve already seen this week, anything can happen.
But the fact remains that no one has ever won the US Open on Sunday after trailing by more than seven shots. Arnold Palmer was the man who did it, in Cherry Hills in 1960.
Given those criteria, that means there are 11 players with a reasonable chance on Sunday, which makes things very interesting indeed.
Sunday fun day! (for fans)
After the flurry of birdies ripping through the opening rounds of the US Open, the red numbers were very hard to come by this weekend.
But even if things remained tight throughout most of the last round, Scheffler’s finish on Saturday served as a reminder of how quickly things can turn in the LACC.
Just imagine what could happen on the home stretch on Sunday!
There is no doubt that Sunday’s final round will be must-TV. And to that we say, bring it on!