Winner’s Bag: Dustin Johnson, THE NORTHERN TRUST

Here are nine tidbits from the third round of the 118th United States Open that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y., is hosting for the fifth time in history and plays 7,440 yards to a Par-70. PAIN OR GAIN These were the top-10 picked golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO:   The course won. It always does in a U.S. Open. The cut was 148 (+8) and that score at the end of play on Saturday will begin the final round T16 and just five shots behind the quartet of leaders. Sunday should provide fantastic theatre as the pretenders will be separated from the contenders. Par should be celebrated as it has become increasingly difficult to find as the week rolls on. The heavy hitters at the top of the leaderboard need to be in your lineup tomorrow. They dealt with the conditions all day on Saturday and will be familiar with them tomorrow. First In, Last Out Daniel Berger’s attempted three-peat in Memphis last week left gamers with a bad taste after he MC. Those who faded him were saving him for NEXT WEEK at the Travelers where he’s posted T5 and lost in a playoff in his only two appearances. His 66 on Saturday was co-low round of the week. … Joining him in the final group will be Tony Finau who also posted 66. At one point, Finau was nine-over par ON SATURDAY before joining Berger in blistering Shinnecock. Both players circled six birdies against two bogeys (no others) and will play for their first major championship from the final group on Sunday. They both began the day 7-over-par, one shot clear of the cut line, and moved up 44 spots to the final pairing. Flip Flopped Dustin Johnson’s four-shot lead was something to behold in its creation. His 77 from the final group Saturday was just as something. The great news is his bogey on the final hole didn’t knock him out of the lead. It did knock him out of the final group but the upside is he’ll play with his training partner and defending champion Brooks Koepka. That will be nothing short of interesting as the last two U.S. Open champions duke it out. Who said this was a bad deal?? Europe 72, 73, 74 The veteran major champions Justin Rose (73) and Henrik Stenson (74) did just enough to stay within touching distance of the four leaders while Tyrrell Hatton’s 72 snuck him into the top 10 (T10). Rose chased down and caught Phil Mickelson at Merion in 2013 while Stenson defeated him heads-up at Royal Troon to win the Open. These folks won’t be bothered by a bit of class just in front of them on the leaderboard Sunday. Grand Slam Patrick Reed is a proper grinder and has improved 73-72-71 to reach T7. The Masters champion also finished T2 at the PGA Championship last summer so don’t be surprised if he’s in the fight again tomorrow. His best payday in a U.S. Open was T13 last year at Erin Hills so he’s starting to figure this out. Eject Rickie Fowler began the day Round 3 T9 and just six shots off the lead at four-over. He shot 84 and any criticism that comes his way from gamers will be hard to defend as it was the worst of the day. … Phil Mickelson is still in the tournament after hitting a putt while his ball was in motion. I’m not going to get into a rules discussion here but he added 10 of them to his card on No. 13 en route to an inward 44 and a total of 81. He was one-under thru five. I’m interested to see what tomorrow brings for both. Moving Day: Non-Top Five Category The 66’s of Berger and Finau get plenty of attention and rightfully so. I’ll point out that Kiradech Aphibarnrat needed just 68 of them to get around and he’ll begin Sunday T7 after moving up 51 spots. … Former Illinois golfer Dylan Meyer is making his pro debut this week. The decorated collegian that played for Mike Small shot 69 on Friday and 71 on Saturday and his T10. Gamers, make a note. … Gary Woodland is coming around again. He was T23 at Memorial two weeks ago and after opening with 79 has fought back with 69 and 70 the last two rounds. Moving Day: Wrong Way Tommy Fleetwood began the day T4 before 78 knocked him back 19 spots to T23. Is this the clue gamers are looking for in regards to Berger and Finau tomorrow? Fleetwood was T4 at Erin Hills last year. … Scott Piercy, T2 at Oakmont behind Johnson, had the 2016 champ all to himself in the final pairing. He only lost by two shots but I’ll point out that Johnson had a four-shot advantage in the last tee time on Saturday. Piercy is now T23 after 79. Study Hall Round 1 scoring average was 76.47 (+6.47) and Round 2 was 73.595 (+3.95). Saturday checked in at 75.327 (+5.327) and aggregate over the three rounds is now 75.088. … There were three rounds in the red on Saturday, that’s it. … The last player to win a tournament with an over-par total was Justin Rose at Merion in 2013. … Jim Furyk is as old as Mickelson and is T7. The oldest player to win this event was the excellent Hale Irwin at 45 in 1990

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KAPALUA, Hawaii — Xander Schauffele finished stronger than everyone around him Saturday, and it was good enough to keep a one-shot lead going into the final round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Schauffele closed with three pars for a 2-under 71 as he tries to become only the third player to win back-to-back in this winners-only PGA TOUR event at Kapalua, and the first since Geoff Ogilvy in 2010. This was a matter of not losing ground in the final hour. Justin Thomas, who won at Kapalua three years ago, ran off five birdies on the front nine to take the lead until his first three-putt bogey of the week on the 12th hole. He misjudged the wind on another 6-foot par putt at the 17th and failed to birdie the par-5 18th for a 38 on the back nine. That gave him a 69 and a sour taste. Thomas will be in the final group as he goes for his third win in his last seven starts on the PGA TOUR. But he typically scores well on the back nine, and he lost ground on this day. “I’m not very pleased,” Thomas said, speaking more to the finish than his 54-hole position. Thomas wasn’t alone. Patrick Cantlay ran off three straight birdies to get into the mix, only to hit a tee shot out-of-bounds on the 14th and hit another tee shot into the waist-high weeds on the 18th, leading to bogey. He shot 39 on the back for a 73 and fell five shots behind. Joaquin Niemann, who opened with a 7-under 66 on Thursday, failed to birdie the two par 5s and made bogeys on the two par 4s between them. He shot 39 on the back and had to settle for a 74, leaving him four shots behind. Patrick Reed had a 74, eight shots worse than his round Friday, and he was in the group four shots behind. RELATED: Leaderboard | Refinement to bring tougher test at Kapalua Schauffele was at 11-under 212, the highest 54-hole score to lead at Kapalua since Vijay Singh was at 11 under in 2007. Schauffele won last year by closing with a 62 to make up a five-shot deficit against Gary Woodland. Thomas is one who believes another 62 is out there if everything falls his way, even though the renovations to the Plantation Course are a big reason why scoring has been higher than usual. The weather hasn’t helped. Saturday brought another dose of gusts in the 25 mph range, and occasional rain that showed up out of nowhere. Ten players were separated by four shots going into Sunday, a group that includes Woodland, Kevin Kisner, Jon Rahm and a pair of newcomers who won last year, Matthew Wolff and Colin Morikawa.

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