Wyndham Clark, the winner of the U.S. Open, had a memorable round at the revered Pebble Beach Golf Course, where he appeared to make practically every putt and played a perfect round. With a 12-under 60 on Saturday, it earned him the course record.If he doesn’t make it to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, it might also be sufficient to earn him another major championship and $3.6 million.On a chilly, wet course, Clark came within inches of shooting a sub-60 round; his incredible performance was nine shots over the field average. Just six golfers out of the 80 competitors in this signature event shot more than par in the third round.His 12-under 60 was three strokes lower than Jason Day’s second-best round of the day, which started with four straight birdies before he bogeyed the par-3 fifth.Clark made 5 putts from a distance of 25 feet or more. He hit a chip left-handed and made bogey, maybe his finest putt of the day.Ludvig Åberg shot 67, missing a long eagle putt on the par-5 18th hole, but he ended one shot ahead of him.It is now up to Mother Nature to decide.Rain started to rain on the last few holes; on a course that was already wet, the heavy stuff was expected overnight. The fierce wind was also a cause for concern, with gusts predicted to reach 60 mph.
Chief PGA TOUR referee Gary Young stated that officials would determine before sunup on Sunday whether or not to postpone the final round and whether or not golf could then be played. If they were unable to complete on Monday, it would be shortened to 54 holes.In that scenario, 54 holes would be the first Signature Event on the PGA TOUR.”With everyone talking about how horrible the weather is going to be, I definitely gave it some thought last night and this morning. You have to approach every day as if it were your last, so strive to go all out. Having said that, it’s really uncommon for us to have 54 holes, so I wasn’t and still am not placing any bets on it.” Clark said.In addition, his thoughts were largely blank once the putts began to fall but for the possibility of hitting birdie and two eagles on the front nine.”See ball, hit ball, try to hit it where I wanted to, was all I could say. I felt quite confident about the greens. I said to myself, “Well , Now that we’re there, let’s get started because today’s hole felt like a bucket.” Clark said.Indeed, it was. On Nos. 2 and 6, Clark made 190 feet of putts from the 40-foot range for eagles. He then made 5 consecutive birdies following his second eagle, including a 30-footer on the challenging 18th hole and a 25-footer on No. 9.With 11 holes to go, he was 10-under, and Clark was half-assuring himself of a 59. And even that felt like a victory when he made his one and only bogey.
On the twelfth par-3, he hit his tee shot into a plugged lay in a bunker, leaving him with about 40 yards to the hole. With the ball hovering well over his feet, he could only manage to chop that out to the collar of the rough in another bunker. In the end, Clark decided to go left-handed by inverting a wedge, sending the ball flying across the green and into the first cut from a distance of roughly 25 feet.It was probably a double bogey. Three bogeys could happen. After making 2 more birdies and holeing it for bogey, he managed to get back on track.To be honest, it was the one putt of the day that I wasn’t really trying to make. Really, all I was thinking about was getting down there quickly, making two putts, getting the double, moving on to the next hole, and so on.I was like, “All right, man, I’m hot, when that went in.”When his drive on the sixteenth went into the deep, soggy rough, Clark knew this was his day. By chance, it happened to be directly in front of the animal’s burrow, providing him with a clear lie and a free drop. The greens were so tender that he could aim perfectly at a back pin. The downhill birdie putt was one turn short after he shot that to ten feet behind the hole.His 15-foot birdie putt on the 17th par-3 landed just inches short of the cup. He missed his 25-foot eagle putt for 59 on the last hole by a couple of inches as well.Whatever. His 60 smashed the four-player tournament record by two shots, and it topped the German Hurly Long’s course record at the 2017 Carmel Cup with Texas Tech by one shot.After an incredible round,
Clark is waiting to find out if he needs to play in the championship round. According to Young, players will know by 5:15 a.m. PT on Sunday whether the final round will be postponed; if so, it will be a long one.Whether or not it is a Signature Event, the goal is 72 holes. Commencing on Monday would indicate the TOUR’s confidence in their capability to finish.After missing a 2-foot par putt at Spyglass Hill Golf Course on Thursday, Åberg has gone two days without making a bogey at Pebble Beach. He had two opportunities to tie Clark, missing 6-foot and 10-foot birdie putts on the 14th and 16th par-5 , respectively.Frenchman Matthieu Pavon, who won the Farmers Insurance Open the previous week, finished alone in third place after birdieing his final hole for a 66.After starting in a three-way sharing of the lead, Scottie Scheffler shot 70 and trailed by four strokes.
