Unknown Andrew Landry in last group at US Open

BACK TO OAKMONT: The USGA didn’t even wait for this U.S. Open to end before announcing Oakmont will get another one.

The world’s 624th ranked golfer is in the final group for the final round of the U.S. Open.

When Nicklaus beat Arnold Palmer in a playoff to win the 1962 U.S. Open here, Bugna briefly considered making it a full-time vocation.

Oakmont Country Club’s first family of caddying spans three generations, boasts almost 100 years of combined experience and has only so much sympathy for the players trying to tame their notoriously tough home course at the U.S. Open. And when another marathon day finally ended Saturday with Shane Lowry of Ireland atop the leaderboard at Oakmont, it was more chaotic than ever.

And McIlroy? He had finished in the top 25 in nine consecutive majors before this week. Namely Sergio Garcia, who has ten top-5’s in majors, Lee Westwood, who has nine top-3’s, and Dustin Johnson. He tied for second with Dustin Johnson, one behind victor Jordan Spieth.

And then there was Dustin Johnson, no stranger to suffering in the majors. It was hard to make birdies out there. Jordan Spieth did not.

Lowry is five under par but still has four holes to play on Sunday before starting his final round at Oakmont. He was thrilled to stop and catch his breath. Play will resume Sunday at 7 a.m. ET. The mistakes I made weren’t killers, weren’t disastrous.

Rory McIlroy double bogeyed the ninth hole, his last, to miss the cut by two strokes.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves”, the Irish player said. The swing feels good. I have to go out there and do what I’ve been doing all week.

“Just delighted the way I played”. This is right where you want to be (in the lead). “It’s probably the best putt I’ve made in the last month”.

“I really enjoyed the challenge”, Mickelson said. He stepped over a 30-foot birdie putt up the hill – and the ball moved. It was a great putt to hole and you’ve seen I was pretty happy there.

After Thursday’s three torrential rains that added a fourth river, the Oakmont, to Pittsburgh’s three better-known waterways, officials are still hoping for a Sunday finish.

The 28-year-old Landry, a PGA Tour rookie, put up a 4-under 66 to take the first-round lead and has hung in there at daunting Oakmont.

“No nerves, very comfortable”, he said after finishing at 3 under through 13 holes.

The 29-year-old from Clara in County Offaly did well to salvage a par at the last, coolly sinking a 10-footer to card a five-under 65 on one of the toughest golf courses in the world before pumping his fist in delight. His late failures past year allowed Jordan Spieth to come back for his second major of 2015 and further solidified Johnson’s status as a great who couldn’t quite get the job done.

“I’ve been playing well and not getting the results that I deserve”. “I’m quite aware of what’s going on around me and my game is good”. I don’t know what happened. I know what to expect. A few lip-outs, ” Johnson said. “Hopefully the ball falls in the hole”. Suddenly, he was staring at double bogey which would have erased those two birdies.

Lowry’s short game, which created some memorable, tree-climbing shots a year ago at Firestone, was in fine form Saturday, though with fewer theatrics.

While Lowry tries to protect – and perhaps extend – his lead in an effort to win his first career major championship Sunday, there will be a tournament within the tournament taking place that has little to do with him.

The top of the leaderboard at the US Open has been controlled mainly by new faces and seasoned veterans still looking for that elusive major title.