U.S. Open 2023: Best moments, live updates from final pairings

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Brian Harman … Struts into town with seven consecutive cuts made, including a pair of top 15s in the FedExCup Playoffs. He's also connected four paydays at TPC Summerlin since 2013, the last two of which for a top 20. His accurate tee ball increases his chances to have a go at the pins, and his confidence with the putter makes him a threat on a course that separates contenders from the pretenders on the greens. Luke List ... Hasn't parlayed his victory to restart the Korn Ferry Tour season in mid-June into a breakthrough title on the PGA TOUR, but he has delivered a pair of top 10s and another top 25 in the interim. The long hitter also has played TPC Summerlin very well with top 20s in all three appearances and a scoring average of 68.25 in 12 rounds. Sean O'Hair ... Since sitting out 10 months in 2019 due to a torn left oblique, he's showcased signs of his old self on both sides of the three-month hiatus. His most recent positive performance occurred at Corales where accurate driving and a tidy short game yielded a T14. In five prior trips to TPC Summerlin, he's cashed four times, twice for a top 15, including a T10 in his last visit in 2016. Matthew NeSmith ... Celebrated his 27th birthday on Sept. 29 with a T17 at the Sanderson Farms Championship. He ranked T5 in greens hit in what was his first top-30 finish post-hiatus, but he still snuck into his first Playoffs on the strength of a consistently solid first half. That included a share of 18th place in his debut at the Shriners a year ago. For the week, he led the field with only four (of 56) missed fairways and slotted 14th in Strokes Gained: Putting. Aaron Wise ... Sat just two strokes off the pace of the 54-hole tri-leaders at the Country Club of Jackson, and then backpedaled into a six-way T17 with a closing 72 despite hitting 15 greens in regulation, his most in any round. It was the putter that bit him. Still, it's more evidence that the 2017-18 Rookie of the Year is slowing a long slump. In his penultimate start of last season, he placed eighth at the Barracuda Championship. He's 3-for-4 with a T10 (2016) and a T15 (2018) at TPC Summerlin, so there's reason to believe that he'll double down in Vegas. NOTE: Sleeper is a relative term, so Rob uses unofficial criteria to determine who qualifies. Each of the following usually is determined to be ineligible for this weekly staple: Winners of the tournament on the current host course; winners in the same season; recent major champions; top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking; recent participants of team competitions.

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TULSA, Okla. – Justin Thomas was in crisis mode earlier this week. His shots weren’t finding the sweet spot, he didn’t feel comfortable over the ball and he was unsure of the solution. Even his father, Mike, wasn’t exempt from his frustration. RELATED: The fabulous dad life of Mike Thomas | Tracing JT’s golfing roots “I have to remind him sometimes, you’re not my dad out here, you’re my swing coach, and I need you to tell me if something is wrong,” Justin said. “I don’t need my ego boosted. I’m here to try to win a golf tournament and play well.” Mike prefers to keep things simple and focus on the fundamentals. A couple days before the year’s second major wasn’t a time to break out the camera or experiment with theories. It was time to go back to the basics. Mike turned his son’s focus away from positions and told Justin to focus on one of his favorite parts of the game, his ability to shape the ball. In an analytical age, Mike wanted his son to engage his right brain. “He was like, well, let’s just start trying to hit some shots,” Justin said. Hitting it high and low, curving it both ways, through what Tiger Woods refers to as the nine windows (think every combination of height and shot shape). That did the trick. Shots started flying off the center of the clubface and Justin’s confidence returned. The high winds blowing across Southern Hills’ wide fairways gave him the opportunity to take his shot-shaping acumen from the range to the course. It showed on Thomas’ final hole Friday, a satisfying birdie that started with a low, slicing drive into the uphill fairway, followed by a wedge shot nestled below the hole on the severely-tilted green. His other birdie on his back nine came after a 6-iron from 217 yards that Thomas hit to 20 feet despite a strong crosswind. “Just being as windy as it was, it was a lot of manipulating and different shots,” said Thomas, who hit 16 greens Friday en route to his second consecutive 67. He’s made just one bogey in his last 27 holes and only three all week. He was by far the best performer among the half of the field that teed off late Thursday and early Friday, facing the day’s highest winds both days. He was three shots better than the next-best performer from that side of the draw, Matt Fitzpatrick. Only three other players broke par from that half of the field: Talor Gooch, Joaquin Niemann and Bernd Wiesberger, and they all were 1 under. Seeking his first major in five years, Thomas took a slightly different approach this week. He teed it up the week prior, playing the AT&T Byron Nelson in Dallas. That allowed him to make a quick scouting trip up to Southern Hills. “I loved it as soon as I saw it,” he said. Southern Hills’ renovation, which has drastically altered the appearance of this Perry Maxwell classic, has been one of the big storylines this week. The wide fairways give players room to work the ball, a skill that’s even more important in the conditions players have faced this week. The strong wind blows across most of the holes, requiring some sort of curvature to keep the ball from being blown off-target. Thomas is seeking his first win since another victory where his ballstriking skill was on display, last year’s PLAYERS Championship. He played low, hooking tee shots and towering long-irons during a weekend where he had full command of his swing. He hasn’t won since, but still ranks 15th in the FedExCup thanks to seven top-10s in 12 starts this season. That includes a fifth-place finish last week and a top-10 at the Masters after a disastrous first round where his inability to focus cost him an opportunity to command. He followed that 76 by playing the next three rounds in 5 under par, however. This time, Thomas kept fighting in the first round and didn’t let his chances at victory end before they began. Thomas already owns one PGA Championship, having won five years ago at Quail Hollow, but his major record since has been rather paltry. He only has four top-10s in majors since that win, and none better than a fourth-place finish at the 2020 Masters. “It’s golf, so it’s pretty hard sometimes,” he said Friday. “We’re halfway through so it’s still a long way from home, but I’m very, very pleased with where everything is at and the frame of mind and state of mind that I’m in.” He’s come a long way since the start of the week.

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