U.S. Open notebook: Bogey on 18 aside, Carlos Ortiz ties for best 3rd-round score

Don’t think of a pink elephant.

That’s the dilemma Carlos Ortiz found himself in while standing on the 18th tee during the third round of the U.S. Open on Saturday at Oakmont Country Club.

He had yet to make a bogey, and a bogey-free round is a rare creature at Oakmont. But top golfers don’t ever want to think about making a bogey. Their swing thoughts need to be more positive than that.

Ortiz said his thoughts stayed pure, but that didn’t stop his drive from drifting right of the fairway and the 5-inch rough from grabbing his clubhead on his approach. He ended up making a 5 for his only bogey of the round.

“It’s a bogey. It just happens here,” Ortiz said. “I didn’t hit the best drive. I had a good lie, and it just closed the face. But all in all, it was a good round. It doesn’t really matter if I bogey 18 or not.”

Ortiz has a point. Even with the bogey, he tied Adam Scott for the best round of the day, a 3-under 67, to move to even par for the tournament, four strokes off the lead.

Ortiz is making his mark with his iron play, leading the field by hitting 80% of greens in regulation.

He might even say he’s enjoying himself out there.

“Obviously, it’s tough out there,” he said. “You are just hitting the putts and hoping it doesn’t go past the hole, but, yeah, I guess I’m enjoying it in a way.”

Ortiz, a 34-year-old from Guadalajara, Mexico, played his first major tournament at Oakmont in 2016, missing the cut. He’s had an up-and-down career, but he won on the PGA Tour in Houston in 2020 and LIV Golf in Tucson in 2023.

He’s bidding to become the first Mexican golfer to win a men’s major championship. Lee Trevino was known by his nickname, “Super Mex,” but he was born in Texas. Lorena Ochoa won two majors on the women’s side.

“It would be great,” Ortiz said. “Winning any kind of tournament is awesome, but I always said I’m just going to do my best and, hopefully, that’s enough. If not, that’s all I had.”

Still kicking

For the second straight day, world No. 1 Scott Scheffler said he feels like he still has a chance to win his first U.S. Open.

He is, however, running out of holes to make that happen.

Scheffler made four birdies and four bogeys to shoot an even-par 70 Saturday. He’s at 4-over for the tournament, tied for 11th, eight strokes off the lead.

“Do I feel like I’m out of the tournament? No,” Scheffler said. “Do I wish I played a little bit better today? Yeah. Of course.”

Course evaluation

Oakmont Country Club director of golf Devin Gee got a first-hand look at how the course is playing this week when he served as a marker in Round 3.

What he saw was a pretty stern test, in spite of nearly an inch of rain falling overnight and softening the grounds and greens.

The USGA said the greens were triple cut Saturday morning and still were running in the 14s on the Stimpmeter.

Gee said the membership is happy with how challenging the course has been and looks forward to Sunday’s final round.

“I’m thrilled with how the golf course has played, given that it’s a little soft,” he said. “I think the USGA has done an incredible job, riding that line and staying on the appropriate side of it. So I think we’re thrilled with, for the first time in a long time, having real U.S. Open rough out there.

“And we have been able to get the green speeds really appropriate for a championship like this. So that’s all you can ask for. Would it be great if it was rock hard and firm? Yeah, we’d love it. But we’re in Pittsburgh in June, so … .”

Spoils to the winner

The USGA announced Saturday a $21.5 million purse for the U.S. Open, the same as the 2024 championship. The winner will take home $4.3 million, with the runner-up receiving $2.32 million, and the third-place finisher earning $1.46 million.

The last-place finisher will collect $41,254.

Each of the 75 professional golfers who missed the cut will be awarded $10,000.

Making the grade

Players struggled most on the 15th on Saturday, with a stroke average of 4.410 on the par-4, 523-yard hole. It yielded no birdies, 39 pars, 23 bogeys and four doubles.

The easiest hole for the second straight day was the 17th, which played as a 320-yard par 4. There were 28 birdies, 34 pars, five bogeys and a 3.66 stroke average.