Unlucky 13th hole drops Tony Finau down leaderboard at U.S. Open – Deseret News

The thirteenth gap at Pinehurst No. 2 proved to be unfortunate for Tony Finau within the third spherical of the U.S. Open Saturday afternoon, and fairly seemingly took the Utahn out of rivalry for an opportunity to win his first main golf championship.

After his tee shot on the 368-yard par-4 discovered the center of the green, Finau wanted six extra pictures to get the ball within the gap and tumbled down the leaderboard, dropping from a tie for fourth place to eighth place.

Pinehurst’s diabolical, turtleback greens had been the 34-year-old’s undoing, as he was a foot or two away from placing for birdie however as an alternative noticed his method spin off the inexperienced.

Extra disastrous pictures rolled on and off the inexperienced earlier than he tapped in for the triple bogey.

Finau recovered properly with pars on his subsequent 5 holes, however the harm was performed. He sits at 1-under for the event and is six pictures behind chief Bryson DeChambeau heading into Sunday’s closing spherical.

“Clearly 13 goes to leap out at me as a gap that was the hardest pin of the entire championship for my part,” Finau mentioned. “That inexperienced is fairly loopy proper there the place that pin is. Simply the improper time to overlook a shot.”

Finau mentioned he didn’t have a great lie for his third shot, which is why he elected to putt the ball fairly than chip it as Rory McIlroy did from an analogous location.

“Ended up enjoying ping pong there,” Finau mentioned. “Outdoors of that, I used to be pleased with the way in which I hung in there coming in. I may have simply folded.”

In the meantime, fellow Utahn Zac Blair may by no means get it going Saturday and went from a tie for ninth place to a tie for twenty fifth with a 5-over 75. The previous Fremont Excessive and BYU standout is at 4-over 214.

Finau’s greatest end at a U.S. Open got here in 2018 at Shinnecock Hills when he completed alone in fifth place, so bettering that could be a cheap objective for Sunday.

Blair’s greatest end at a U.S. Open got here 10 years in the past at this similar Pinehurst structure, as he completed T40.

For many of Saturday, Finau was within the prime 5 and looking out like a risk to play with both DeChambeau or third-round enjoying accomplice McIlroy in Sunday’s closing twosome.

“He’s as dialed in together with his ball-striking as I’ve ever seen him,” mentioned NBC golf analyst Brandel Chamblee after Finau performed the entrance 9 in 2-under 33 with birdies on holes 2, 5 and 9 and a bogey on the par-3 sixth.

Finau was in a four-way tie for first place at 5-under round 3:45 p.m. MDT, however a bogey on 12 dropped him into fifth place, then 13 occurred.

He battled again to a tie for seventh, recovering effectively on No. 18 when his tee shot flew into the native space proper of the green. He bought up and down for par, a par that might give him a bit of momentum within the fourth spherical.

“Something can occur on this golf course,” Finau mentioned when requested if he nonetheless has an opportunity to win. “I’m simply pleased with the way in which I completed. … Going to wish a great one tomorrow.”

Finau hit fairways routinely within the first two rounds and was tied for second in fairways hit heading into the weekend, however he missed 5 on Saturday and hit simply 9 of 18 greens in regulation.

“I’m nonetheless very a lot in it with a great spherical,” he mentioned.

Blair didn’t make a birdie within the third spherical regardless of hitting 12 of 14 fairways. His undoing was mid-iron play, as he hit solely seven of 18 greens in regulation.