On the lush greens of Erin Hills, Wisconsin former Tide golfer Justin Thomas did some moving on the traditional Moving Day of U.S. Open play.
Justin Thomas with the classic 90 degree putt, pink pants pic.twitter.com/Qtsu8NtIe8
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) June 17, 2017
Thomas entered the day tied for 24th at -2. But, an especially-torrid back nine, highlighted by an eagle on 18, allowed him to hole a U.S. Open record 63 (-9) and take a share of the lead going into the clubhouse at -11.
This putt will give Justin Thomas an eagle at 18 and a US Open record -9 finish, the birdie would still be a record -8 pic.twitter.com/bmG7hQitjQ
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) June 17, 2017
The lead would not hold up, however. Despite Thomas stealing the show and setting the record by two shots, fellow American Brian Harman has been very through three rounds of play. He sits atop the leaderboard by one shot, at -12, after scoring a 67 on the day (67, 70, 67).
In many ways, this has been an unexpected 117th U.S. Open. Eight of the Top 10 golfers in the world did not even make the cut to survive the weekend, despite very soft greens following a stormy week and a generous back nine that has seen its share of scoring (particularly the Xbox-like 18th.) But, for the host nation, that has been an occasion to show out by its native golfers: Four of the top five are from America., with 11 of the top 13 hailing from the United States.
It is a crowded leaderboard, to be sure. Hartman is alone at -12, while Thomas is T-2nd with Brooks Koepka, Ricky Fowler, and Thomas Fleetwood at -11. South Korea’s Si Woo Kim is 6th and just one shot back of that pack at -10.
Coverage concludes (barring a playoff) tomorrow live on Fox from 10:00-7:00 Central.
Roll Tide, Justin