LOS ANGELES: Rickie Fowler only had 3 1/2 feet left for par on what should have been his last shot Saturday in a US Open round filled with far bigger moments.
At stake was his first 54-hole lead in a major. Shockingly, he missed and slipped into a tie with Wyndham Clark. Fowler wasn’t the least bit bothered.
He knows what to expect by looking ahead at a final round on a Los Angeles Country Club course getting tougher by the minute, and by looking behind at some of the players chasing them — Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Dustin Johnson. “It would be nice for that one to go in,” Fowler said. “Really doesn’t matter — having the lead, being one back, two back — you’re going to have to play good golf tomorrow.
Bummer to have that one slip away, but tomorrow is a whole new day. “That’s kind of when the tournament really starts.” Fowler brought the buzz to the US Open with a 70-foot birdie putt only to lose the lead with a three-putt bogey on the 18th hole, which turned into a two-shot lead and a tie for the lead when Clark boldly took on a tight pin he could barely see for a closing birdie.