Play resumed this morning at 7 AM with a handful of players set out to finish their third round. Lowry was up by two this morning and wasted no time to stretch his lead with birdies on 15 and 17. He holed a 10-footer for par on the 18th to polish off a 5-under, 65 and moved to 7-under, which set the 54-hole scoring record in US Opens at Oakmont.
The 29 year old is now wearing the target at the US Open and it won’t be easy. He is four shots clear of Andrew Landry, who has held his own through three rounds in his first major championship appearance. Landry shot an ever Par-70 in his third round to remain at 3-under. This duo is closely followed by Dustin Johnson (-3) and Lee Westwood (-2).
Is a four shot lead safe? The US Open is anything but predictable. And Oakmont is a course which can spring a surprise or two.
Palmer
At the 1960 US Open at held at Cherry Hills in Englewood, Colorado, Arnold Palmer perhaps staged the greatest comeback ever, erasing a 7-stroke deficit during the final round to win his only US Open title. Palmer began the final round tied for 15th place and eventually shot a 6-under 65 to win by two strokes over Jack Nicklaus.
Miller
At the 1973 US Open at Oakmont, Johnny Miller fired a final round 63(-8) to win his first major. The Golf Hall of Famer began the round in a tie for 13th place, 6 strokes behind leaders Jerry Heard and John Schlee. Miller fired 9 birdies against one bogey to eventually win by one stroke. What made his final round comeback even more incredible was that only three other players managed to break 70 on that day.
Cabrera
The last time around at Oakmont, Angel Cabrera began the final round 4-strokes behind the leader Aaron Baddeley. On one of the toughest scoring conditions at a major, Cabrera shot a final round 69 (-1) to win by one stroke over Jim Furyk and Tiger Woods. There was only one other sub-par round on that day.