US Open Golf 2016 Leaderboard: Live Look at Sunday Scores, Overall Predictions
Shane Lowry capped off a spectacular third-round 65 Sunday morning at the 2016 U.S. Open, giving the Irishman a four-stroke lead entering the final 18 holes at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania.
Lowry won the 2015 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, so he's proven capable of defeating a world-class field on a big stateside stage before. Despite his comfortable cushion atop the leaderboard, though, trouble lurks everywhere around Oakmont.
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Sunday afternoon figures to present the toughest scoring conditions players have faced thus far. If someone mounts an early charge, Lowry may start to feel the heat in pursuit of his maiden major title.
While the top eight players on the leaderboard through three rounds haven't won majors, stars like Dustin Johnson, Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia have had numerous close calls. Should any of them get hot, the complexion of the U.S. Open could well change.
2016 U.S. Open Overall Sunday Predictions
Prior to this week, Lowry had made 11 official PGA Tour starts this season and had some alarming statistics in those events. The 29-year-old was 169th in three-putt avoidance and 182nd in scrambling at 53.68 percent.
Impeccable ball-striking through three rounds saw Lowry hit 67 percent of fairways and 74 percent of greens in regulation. He's put himself in position to avoid three-putts and has rolled the rock better at Oakmont than he has for much of the 2015-16 campaign.
Kyle Porter of CBS Sports documented how Lowry isn't short on confidence entering the last round and expressed belief Lowry will emerge with the trophy:
But the closing round of the most grueling mental test in golf lends itself to heightened pressure, the likes of which Lowry hasn't dealt with before. It's hard to envision him keeping up his current GIR clip, especially with the slippery Oakmont greens drying out and getting faster as Sunday progresses.
It does help Lowry's cause that he's playing in the last pairing with world No. 624 Andrew Landry, who is bound to level off with a score around 73 to close what will still be a landmark, career-changing tournament for him.
Johnson, Westwood and Garcia are all among the best players not to have won a major.
The penultimate duo has a lot of major scar tissue accrued over the years, though; the same goes for Garcia. LostLetterman.com founder Jim Weber weighed in on the latter two:
That leaves Branden Grace as the contender to be reckoned with among those in red figures following a four-under 66 in Round 3.
After experiencing the heat of contention last year and finishing tied for fourth, backed up by a third-place effort at the PGA Championship, Grace has been up and down in 2016 but has won twice. He has a knack for finishing first, already with seven European Tour victories and a PGA Tour win at age 28.
Credit to Lowry for coming out hot Sunday morning, but Grace had all that time to rest, which should work to his advantage as the grind of the final round wears on.
| Shane Lowry | 0.7 (22) | 0.6 (28) | 2.0 (1) | 2.3 (2) |
| Dustin Johnson | 2.3 (1) | 1.0 (15) | 0.3 (34) | 0.7 (24) |
| Lee Westwood | 1.1 (13) | 1.1 (13) | 1.4 (4) | 0.4 (36) |
| Branden Grace | 0.6 (24) | 0.4 (36) | 1.0 (11) | 1.6 (8) |
| Sergio Garcia | 1.4 (6) | -0.4 (60) | 1.8 (2) | 0.5 (30) |
As for Johnson, Westwood and Garcia, they all have red flags, visible in the table above, courtesy of USOpen.com's Mark Broadie.
Although Garcia is saving strokes around the green, he isn't hitting it close with enough frequency to really go low. Johnson is adhering to the classic "drive for show, putt for dough" adage, and Westwood's flat iron is letting him down most of all the top players.
Grace is the only under-par golfer through 54 holes who seems up to the task of catching Lowry. Look for the South African to post a 67 to get to four under overall, tie Lowry's number and beat him in an 18-hole Monday playoff.
Note: Stats courtesy of PGATour.com.
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