U.S. Open Round 3: Sam Burns Holds Firm at Soggy Oakmont as Scott and Spaun Lurk

Oakmont took about an inch of rain after Friday's play wrapped up, and the course that greeted the field on Saturday was a different animal. Softer greens, divots that looked like animal pelts, rough that nobody had cut. The USGA even offered refunds to fans who did not want to slog through the mud. Sam Burns walked through all of it and kept the lead.

Burns shot a 1-under 69 to reach 4-under 206 and will take a one-shot lead into the final round of the U.S. Open. Adam Scott, with a 67, and J.J. Spaun, with a 69, are tied for second at 3 under. Viktor Hovland is alone in fourth at 1 under after a 70, and Carlos Ortiz is fifth at even par after a 67. Only four players are under par with 18 holes to go.

Burns Bends Without Breaking

Burns did not overpower Oakmont on Saturday. He out-thought it. By the AP's count he wobbled only twice, and he saved par three times from the fairway after getting out of position off the tee. The birdies came where he could take them: a wedge to a back pin at the fifth and a tee shot to 7 feet at the par-3 13th. At the 17th he checked a wedge up a foot from the cup.

The finish was the kind of hole that makes a 54-hole lead feel earned. At the 18th, Burns caught a rare clean lie in the rough, reached the back of the green nearly 60 feet away, and lagged his putt to 4 feet to save par.

This is new ground. Burns has five PGA TOUR titles, the last more than two years ago, and had never contended in 20 previous majors. A week ago he lost a playoff at the RBC Canadian Open. Now he sleeps on the lead at a U.S. Open. There is a subplot, too. Burns shares a house at the majors with Scottie Scheffler, his best friend on TOUR, who sits eight shots back.

Scott Turns Back the Clock

The round of the day belonged to Scott. He made one bogey, a soft one at the opening hole, and then put on an iron-play clinic for 67. At 44, Scott is the only player in the top 10 who has won a major, and that lone title came at the 2013 Masters. If he wins on Sunday, he becomes the first player to go more than 11 years between major titles.

Even a rival was impressed. "Adam Scott played a brilliant round today, just didn't really miss a shot," Hovland said.

Spaun Stays in the Fight

Spaun spent the back nine trading blows with Burns, and the lead changed hands more than once. It was a fair fight until the 18th, where Spaun could not get up and down from a bunker and settled for bogey, slipping back into a tie for second.

"It seemed like we were kind of back and forth," Spaun said.

Spaun has now led after the first round, sat one back after the second and one back after the third. For a player whose last chance at a big title ended with a playoff loss at THE PLAYERS in March, the U.S. Open is offering another shot at the same kind of Sunday.

The Chase Pack

Hovland's 70 was a microcosm of his week. He saved bogey after hitting his opening tee shot into the bushes, hit the flagstick for birdie on the uphill ninth, and played a wedge out of the thick stuff left of the 17th green to tap-in range for another birdie. The rain-soaked rough at the 18th cost him a bogey, and he sits three back.

Ortiz quietly put together 30 consecutive holes without a bogey before one at the last. Tyrrell Hatton (68) and Thriston Lawrence (70) are tied for sixth at 1 over. Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen is alone in eighth at 2 over, and Robert MacIntyre and Cameron Young are tied for ninth at 3 over, seven shots back.

Scheffler's Long Climb

Scheffler, the world No. 1, never found the gear he needed. He holed a 20-footer for birdie at the sixth, then missed a short par putt at the par-3 eighth that sapped the momentum. His 70 moved him from a tie for 23rd into a tie for 11th at 4 over, eight behind Burns.

"I put myself in this position," Scheffler said. "It's not the position I want to be in, but I've done a good job of hanging in there and staying in the tournament."

Jon Rahm shot 73 to drop to 7 over. Rory McIlroy shot 74 and fell to 10 over, well out of the picture.

Sunday's Stakes

The setup is about as wide open as a U.S. Open gets. A 28-year-old from Louisiana with no major contention on his résumé holds the lead. A 44-year-old former Masters champion is one back, and so is the journeyman who led after Thursday. Hovland is close enough to make noise, and he said he was well aware that a low round on Sunday could make anything happen.

Oakmont has already shown it can swing a leaderboard by four shots in a handful of holes. Nobody inside that four-man group under par can afford to give it the chance.

Catch up on the first two rounds in our Round 1 recap and Round 2 recap. The PGA TOUR's Round 3 wrap (opens in a new tab) has more from Oakmont.

Sources: PGA TOUR, AP, Golf Channel. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: David Cannon/Getty Images via PGA TOUR.