USGA calls out Justin Thomas after Thomas again ridicules enforcement of new rules

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — The only thing that spared Dustin Johnson from another U.S. Open implosion is that everyone around him suffered on a Shinnecock Hills course that even the USGA conceded got out of hand Saturday afternoon. Daniel Berger and Tony Finau were the exceptions, each posting a 4-under 66 about the time Johnson was just starting out on greens that became so slick that Phil Mickelson swatted a ball that was still moving on the 13th green and no one in the final 22 groups broke par. Johnson, who started the third round with a four-shot lead, barely nudged his 17-foot birdie attempt on the 18th hole. It ran 8 feet by the cup and he missed the par putt for one last bogey and a 7-over 77. At least he still has a chance. Johnson was in a four-way tie for the lead at 3-over 213, the highest 54-hole score to lead the U.S. Open since the fabled “Massacre at Winged Foot” in 1974. “You were seeing shots that were well played and not rewarded,” said Mike Davis, the chief executive of the USGA. “It was a very tough test, but probably too tough this afternoon.” Berger and Finau, who started the day 11 shots out of the lead, will play in the final group. Johnson and defending champion Brooks Koepka will be right behind them. Koepka made only two birdies in a hard-earned round of 72, leaving him in position to become the first back-to-back winner of the U.S. Open since Curtis Strange in 1989. Henrik Stenson made one birdie and picked up three shots on the leader. Mickelson celebrated his 48th birthday by matching his worst score in his 27th U.S. Open with an 81, and he provided the snapshot of a day that was entertaining for reasons the USGA didn’t imagine. He went from behind the 13th green all the way off the front. His next shot was 18 feet above the hole. His bogey putt slid by, and after a few putts, Mickelson trotted after it and then stuck out his putter and hit the ball back toward the cup to keep it from running off the green. That’s a two-shot penalty, giving him a 10. “It’s just a moment of madness,” said Andrew “Beef” Johnston, who played with Mickelson and couldn’t stifle a laugh. Mickelson apologized if anyone was offended by his act, even after saying he knew the rules for hitting a ball in motion and was happy to take a two-shot penalty instead of playing a crude version of tennis. Johnson didn’t have anything that wild, rather more of a slow bleed that began with a shot off a sandy path and three putts on the par-3 second hole for his first double bogey of the championship. His lead was gone with a three-putt bogey on the par-3 seventh. He was back in the lead when everyone around him couldn’t hang on. Justin Rose (73) and Stenson (74) also shared the lead at some point. Rose was one-shot behind, with Stenson another shot behind. Kiradech Aphibarnrat had the only other round under par. He teed off at 9:40 a.m. and had a 2-under 68 and was three shots behind. The scoring average of 75.33 was the highest for a third round in the U.S. Open since 2000 at Pebble Beach.

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AVONDALE, La. — Brice Garnett and Scott Stallings birdied eight of their last 11 holes, Viktor Hovland and Kris Ventura birdied nine of their final 12, and both teams shot 10-under 62 in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans to share the first-round lead Thursday. RELATED: Leaderboard | What’s in the bag: Matthew Wolff, Collin Morikawae “Kris decided to heat up his putter. That really helped,” Hovland said. “But I felt like we really played solid golf all 18 holes.” Ventura made a 36-foot birdie putt from the fringe on 15 and a 19-footer on 16 for his seventh and final birdie of the day in the best-ball format played on the first and third rounds. Players will alternate shots in the second and final rounds. Garnett hit approach shots within 7 feet on the first, second, fourth and fifth holes and made all four birdie putts after his team made the turn following a back-nine start. Stallings’ birdie putt from nearly 18 feet on the eighth hole pulled his team into a tie atop the leaderboard. “We had a tale of two nines,” said Stallings, who made half of his team’s 10 birdies. “It was nice we didn’t birdie the same hole ever, and that’s what you have to do. We did a great job of that today.” Hovland started the Norwegian tandem’s run up the leaderboard by landing a shot from the bunker left of the green within 4 feet to birdie the par-5 seventh. Ventura birdied Nos. 8, 9 and 11 — highlighted by his 9-foot putt on the par-3 ninth – before Hovland put a 194-yard approach on 12 within 2 feet to set up another birdie. Hovland also birdied the par-5 18th. Seven teams shot 63, including two-time Zurich champion Billy Horschel and his teammate, Louisiana native and former LSU player Sam Burns. Tony Finau and Cameron Champ, who had a back-nine start in the same group as Horschel and Burns, birdied the seventh and eighth holes to join the third-place teams. Cameron Smith, who won the Zurich during its first year as a team event in 2017, made a 38-foot eagle putt on the par-5 second hole to help him and fellow Australian Marc Leishman post a 63. Smith also had six of his team’s seven birdies. “I’ll probably buy dinner tonight after that exhibition he put on,” Leishman said. “He’s definitely owed that.” Louis Oosthuizen nearly put his approach shot in the water on 18, but then chipped in from a steep embankment for birdie to pull himself and his teammate, fellow South African Charl Schwartzel, into a tie for third. Also at 63 were the teams of Brendan Steele and Keegan Bradley; Sebastian Cappelen and Mark Hubbard; and Kyle Stanley and Kyoung-Hoon Lee. Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay finished among a handful of teams at 64, including the tandem of Bubba Watson and Scottie Scheffler. A cool breeze from the north that had numerous players wearing long sleeves — uncommon in late April in south Louisiana — also had a chilling effect on the anticipated risk-taking that can occur in the best-ball format. That was particularly the case on the 403-yard 13th hole, where players elected to aim for the fairway to the right of a massive cypress tree rather go straight at the green over a waste bunker to the left of the tree. “This course isn’t really designed to play in this wind,” Horschel said, also noting he did appreciate temperatures in the 60s for much of the round. “It was nice to see Sam have a really good round because he’s been playing well … and I just made sure I didn’t do anything stupid.” Defending champions Ryan Palmer and Jon Rahm shot 65.

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