125th US Open: Burns Sizzles on Day 2 at Oakmont for 36-Hole Lead

USGA

OAKMONT, PA. (June 13, 2025) - When a U.S. Open is contested on a beast of a layout like Oakmont Country Club, volatility is expected along with lots of carnage.

Thursday’s opening round of the 125th edition of this championship – the 10th on this venerable western Pennsylvania cathedral – certainly had all of that, with just 10 sub-70 scores and one of the highest scoring averages (74.64) in the last 25 years.

Nothing changed much in 24 hours.

Friday’s scoring average was slightly higher (74.75) as the course continued to firm up, and while much of the 156-player field struggled with the 5-inch rough and Stimpmeter readings starting at 15 feet and settling into the upper 14s, there were some spectacular performances, none better than the 5-under-par 65 produced by Sam Burns.

A five-time PGA Tour winner coming off a playoff defeat to Ryan Fox in last week’s RBC Canadian Open, the 28-year-old Burns matched the third-lowest round in a U.S. Open held at Oakmont. It is only bettered by Johnny Miller’s remarkable final-round 63 to win the 1973 U.S. Open and Loren Roberts’ 64 in 1994, when he and Colin Montgomerie later lost in a Monday playoff to Ernie Els.

Coming off a first-round, 2-over-par 72 when he played his final four holes in 5 over par, the former Louisiana State University All-American posted a 36-hole total of 3-under 137, good enough for a one-stroke advantage over first-round leader J.J. Spaun (66-72).

Viktor Hovland, of Norway, who followed a 71 with a 68, was the only other player to finish in red figures at the midway point. It’s the fewest players under par through 36 holes in a U.S. Open since just one (Dustin Johnson) achieved the feat in 2018 at Shinnecock Hills.

That Oakmont volatility victimized South African Thriston Lawrence. After a Thursday 67, the four-time winner on the DP World Tour briefly got it to 6 under par before running into the challenging outward nine, which played 2.1 strokes higher than the inward nine (38.45 to 36.3). He was 3 over through his final eight holes, with a 4-foot par putt remaining to complete Round 2.

Play was suspended for the day at 8:15 p.m. EDT for dangerous weather, with 13 players still on the course. Play will resume at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, followed by the start of Round 3 at approximately 9 a.m.

Adam Scott, playing in his 96th consecutive major championship, and the suddenly hot Ben Griffin each posted even-par 140, along with Thomas Detry.

The cut came is likely to come at 7-over 147, with multiple major champions Scottie Scheffler (144), Rory McIlroy (146), Brooks Koepka (142), Jordan Spieth (145), Jon Rahm (144), Collin Morikawa (144) and Xander Schauffele (146), who has now made 66 consecutive cuts in PGA Tour co-sponsored events (the tour’s longest current streak), earning weekend tee times.

Maybe it was apropos that Miller was on property Friday, visiting with NBC lead golf announcer Dan Hicks for a reunion. The two worked side by side for a number of years during the former’s tenure at the network (1990-2019), and Miller always relishes returning to the site of his greatest achievement.

When strokes gained against the field are taken into consideration, Burns was 9.75 shots better than the second-round average. Miller’s Sunday charge was 10.77 better than the field average. Of course, Burns’ effort came in Round 2 as compared to the final round for Miller.

But considering the sour taste left from Thursday’s finish and the fact there were only six sub-par scores on Day 2 (one is still pending), Burns’ 65 was mighty impressive. It included a 22-foot par save on the difficult par-4 9th hole, his last of the day.

Burns also rolled in birdie putts of 21 feet (No. 11), 7 feet (13), 5 feet (17) and 8 feet (18) on his first nine, and a 6-footer at the 2nd. His only blemish came on the downhill first hole when he encountered trouble off the tee. He hit 14 of 18 greens and 9 of 14 fairways. He was second in strokes gained-approach (+3.21) and third in strokes gained-putting (+2.99).

“There's obviously a lot of golf left on a very tough golf course, so I think [the key is] really just getting rest and getting ready for tomorrow,” said Burns, whose best major finish came a year ago at Pinehurst when he tied for ninth. “Honestly, I didn't really think of a score. Like I said, the golf course is really too difficult to try to figure out what's a good score and what's not. You're really just shot by shot and trying to play each hole the best you can.”

For Spaun, repeating his brilliant putting performance from Thursday was a tall order. He converted eight par putts from 7 feet or longer to produce his 66. The former San Diego State star tied for 61st in strokes gained-putting (he was second in Round 1) at +.67 and T-89 in putting (1.92 per green). His consecutive streak without a bogey ended at 20 holes when he sustained a 5 on the par-4 3rd. Spaun matched his first-round birdie total with four, but had six bogeys, including one at the par-4 closing hole.

Nevertheless, the 34-year-old from Los Angeles, Calif., is right in the hunt at the midway point of a major and just his second U.S. Open start. In March, he lost a playoff to McIlroy at The Players Championship, two weeks after tying for second at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches.

A few years ago, I would probably expect to play poorly today,” said Spaun, the 2022 Valero Texas Open champion who has enjoyed a breakout season in 2025. “But I knew it would be hard to back up a bogey-free 4-under [66] at Oakmont in the U.S. Open. I'm just glad that I kept it together.”

Hovland, playing alongside Scheffler and Morikawa for the first two rounds, put together a hot streak over his first eight holes that included a chip-in eagle on the 305-yard 17th hole to get him to 3 under for the championship. One of the best PGA Tour players without a major title also bounced back from a double-bogey 6 on No. 2 with consecutive birdies on 4 and 5, only to give those strokes back with bogeys on a pair of par-3s (Holes 6 and 8). The seven-time PGA Tour winner heads into the weekend in his best position at a U.S. Open in seven starts. Now he’s hoping some of that experience can pay off.

“For some reason I've just been in a really nice mental state this week,” said Hovland. “It's like, both my rounds have been very up and down. I feel like a couple times if it would have happened at another tournament, for example, I could have potentially lost my mind there a little bit. But I felt like I kept things together very well.”

Given what Oakmont can dole out, even players seven strokes back like world No. 1 Scheffler have a chance on the weekend. Miller, after all, started the final round six strokes back.

A wild weekend of golf awaits.

Notable

• Bryson DeChambeau became the first defending champion since Gary Woodland (2019) to miss the cut.

• Other notables who failed to play the weekend include past U.S. Open champions Woodland, Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Rose and Dustin Johnson, reigning U.S. Amateur champion Jose Luis Ballester, reigning U.S. Senior Open champion Richard Bland, reigning U.S. Junior Amateur champion Trevor Gutschewski and reigning U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Evan Beck.

• Phil Mickelson, who turns 55 on Monday, also missed the cut. Two disastrous double bogeys over his last four holes ended the left-hander’s hopes of surviving the weekend for a 27th time. Jack Nicklaus holds the record for most cuts made at 35.

• Victor Perez, of France, recorded a hole-in-one on the 192-yard 6th hole with a 7-iron. It is the 54th known ace in championship history, and first at Oakmont since Scott Simpson in 1983 on the 16th hole during Round 1.

• Thomas Detry registered the third eagle of the championship on a non-drivable par 4 when the Belgian holed out from 141 yards out on the 368-yard 14th hole. Maxwell Moldovan (1st hole) and Shane Lowry (3rd hole) made 2s in Thursday’s first round. The other three eagles on par 4s have occurred on the drivable 17th hole.

• Max Greyserman and Jason Day made the largest moves up the leader board with second-round 67s on Friday, going from a share of 98th to a tie for 12th when play was suspended. They had each opened with 76s.

• Of the 15 amateurs who started the championship, only one made the cut: 2025 Latin America Amateur champion Justin Hastings (146). That will guarantee the recent San Diego State graduate from the Cayman Islands low-amateur honors, provided he completes all 72 holes. Jackson Koivun, who ascended to No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking® on Wednesday, posted 148 to miss by one stroke. Also missing by one was world No. 2 Ben James (148) and world No. 3 and 2025 NCAA individual champion Michael La Sasso (150).