It’s Moving Day in North Carolina, and we started with a U.S. Open rookie leading the way.
Ludvig Åberg entered Saturday with a one-shot lead over the field after his 1-under 69 on Friday at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina. He’s playing in his first ever U.S. Open, and is just a few months removed from his first major championship appearance. If he can pull off a win this week, he’d be the first tournament rookie to do so in more than 100 years.
Åberg’s lead, however, didn’t last long. Matthieu Pavon, who held a share of the lead briefly on Friday before a couple of late bogeys hurt him, quickly overtook Åberg on the front nine on Saturday afternoon. Pavon carded three birdies on his front nine, nearly matching the low round of the day before making the turn, while Åberg held strong at even par.
There are plenty of big names behind both of them, though, including Bryson DeChambeau — who took the solo lead with his birdie at No. 10, which came after a ridiculous approach that he carried 278 yards with a 6-iron. He then pushed his lead to two shots with a second straight birdie at No. 11, which only came after he stepped into the woods to get work done on his hip.
Patrick Cantlay, Rory McIlroy and Tony Finau are all still in the mix, too.
Early on Saturday, Pinehurst was the big winner. Very few golfers were able to get under par, and the early scoring average was around 73. Collin Morikawa was the lone exception. He posted a bogey-free 66, which brought him back to even par. Depending on how the rest of the afternoon goes, he could be right up there on Sunday.
If you want to check out the leaderboard, click here.
And if you want some help keeping up with the action, follow along below:
Live40 updates
Bryson’s lead keeps growing
Bryson’s lead keeps growing. Rory McIlroy just bogeyed again ahead of him to fall back to 4-under. So DeChambeau’s lead is now an incredible four shots as he tries to go up-and-down for par at the 15th.
ANOTHER Bryson birdie
Bryson DeChambeau is starting to run away with this thing. He just sank another birdie putt after a rough drive, which pushed his lead to three.
The fans at Pinehurst are loving it, too.
Walking with Bryson and he is a HUGE crowd favorite now. The U-S-A chants kicked up as he punched the air after that birdie.
Bryson had a great birdie look at the 13th, but he just barely missed the cup. He settled for an easy par — but, since Rory McIlroy just bogeyed ahead of him, Bryson’s lead is back to two.
Ludvig Åberg, on the other hand, is now out of it. He just made a triple at No. 13, which was the fourth on the hole today, to drop five shots back. Brutal.
“Don’t boo me, I’m sorry.”
Bryson couldn’t give the crowd what they wanted, and he landed in the bunker.
Of course, it worked out for him.
Rory cuts the gap
Rory McIlroy is now 1 back after a huge tap-in birdie at the 14th. We could be looking at a Rory-Bryson final pairing on Sunday …
Rory’s not going away
Rory McIlroy is hanging in there. A huge par save at No. 13 keeps him at 5-under for the week, which is still two back from DeChambeau.
Bryson pushes his lead to 2
Yeah, Bryson DeChambeau is fine.
After getting work done on his hip and hitting the longest drive of the day, Bryson just sank his second straight birdie. His lead is now 2.
Bryson DeChambeau getting work done
Meanwhile, Bryson DeChambeau was down getting some work done before teeing off at No. 11.
He then hit the longest drive of the day, because of course he did.
Leaderboard update (again) after Rory’s latest birdie
This is getting hard to keep up with. Rory McIlroy just sank a birdie putt at No. 12 to join the group at 5-under. It was his second birdie in the last four holes.
Bryson DeChambeau may be in the lead, but we’ve got a lot of golf to go on Saturday. Let’s look at the top of the leaderboard.
Leaderboard
1. Bryson DeChambeau -6 (10)
T2. Matthieu Pavon -5 (13)
T2. Tony Finau (11)
T2. Rory McIlroy (12)
T2. Ludvig Åberg (10)
DeChambeau takes solo lead
Ludvig Åberg just barely missed his eagle putt at the 10th, so he’ll settle for birdie. That gave him a share of the lead at 5-under … which lasted all of about 30 seconds.
Bryson DeChambeau, who landed a ridiculous approach of his own in the greenside bunker, went up-and-down for a birdie to take the solo lead at 6-under.
6-iron from 278
Bryson DeChambeau just hit a 6-iron from 257-yards out on an already 630-yard par 5. A 6-iron from 257. Alas, he hit it only 256, a yard short of clearing the greenside trap.
Ludvig crushes No. 10
Ludvig Åberg just hit perhaps the best approach of the day. He just stuck his second shot on the par-5 10th to 9 feet with a 7 wood! Insane.
Their faces say it all.
If he sinks that putt, he’ll be back in the solo lead.
Bryson calls for help
As he’s making the turn in a share of the lead, Bryson DeChambeau has called for his Physio.
Bones just said on the broadcast that DeChambeau’s right hip is tightening up. He has torn ligaments in both hips.
DeChambeau seems like he’s walking and swinging fine, and he’s still in the lead, but we’ll see what happens here down the stretch.
Leaderboard Reset after Pavon, Åberg bogeys
Matthieu Pavon just bogeyed No. 11, so we’ve got a tight battle at the top of the leaderboard.
Pavon with his first bogey of the day on 11.
We now have a four-way tie for the lead at -5; Pavon, Finau, DeChambeau and Åberg. pic.twitter.com/mkOwSDPIUL
Here’s a look at where things stand as the final group makes the turn at Pinehurst No. 2.
Leaderboard Update:
T1. Pavon -5 (11)
T1. Controversy (10)
T1. DeChambeau (9)
T4. Åberg -4 (9)
T4. McIlroy (10)
T6. Hatton -3 (12)
T6. Cantlay (9)
Tony Finau hanging on
Somehow, Tony Finau made it off the 10th green with a tap-in par. His second shot out of the rough behind the green ended up rolling all the way back down to him, but then he nearly chipped-in for birdie the second time.
He’s still at 5-under, just a shot back from Matthieu Pavon.
Finau’s shot at 9 so, so much better than McIlroy’s
Tony Finau hit a brilliant iron into the par-3 9th hole, using the slope to get within seven feet of the hole. It was a thing of beauty, one that Rory McIlroy simply could not match. Better luck next time Rory!
Both would drain their putts, McIlroy with the more difficult one, pushing him to 4-under and Finau to 5-under, one back of Pavon.
Bryson to within 1
DeChambeau stole a birdie at the par-4 seventh to join Aberg at 6-under, just one back of Pavon.
Bryson DeChambeau out there signing autographs
While pretty much every LIV player has turned into person non grata since moving to the rival tour, Bryson DeChambeau has managed to become one of the most likeable (and now popular) players on either tour. But signing autographs during a round? These guys don’t even like to give fist bumps between holes, let alone stop, grab someone’s pen and sign something, but apparently that’s what DeChambeau did earlier.
Pavon into the lead
Three birdies for Matthieu Pavon, including one from downtown at No. 7, have the Frenchman into the lead by himself.
At 3-under on his round so far, Pavon is the outlier. Par is a good score today at Pinehurst. No one has gone lower than Collin Morikawa’s 66 earlier in the day.
Aberg gives one back
Ludvig Aberg’s first slip came at the long par-4 fourth. After a decent drive, he missed the green well short on his approach, and couldn’t get it up and down.
That made it a three-way tie atop the leaderboard until Tony Finau bogeyd the sixth. So it’s Aberg and Pavon at the top.
