Oakmont Country Club is showing its teeth on Friday at the U.S. Open, but a select few players still got the best of it.
Sam Burns had one of the best rounds of his year in the second round, signing for a 5-under 65 to post 3-under par through 36 holes.
Incredibly, only Johnny Miller (63 in 1973) and Loren Roberts (64 in 1974) have posted better scores in a U.S. Open round at Oakmont, per Underdog Golf. He is the 10th player to shoot 65, putting him in very rare territory.
“If you can get a round under par out here, no matter if it’s 1-under, you’ll take it,” Burns said after the round. “I think today was really nice with the finish I had yesterday, and it felt like I played really well. Yeah, I’m looking forward to the weekend.”
The American had to navigate a number of tough pins and a golf course that firmed up since Thursday evening, but still was able to post the best number of the championship thus far with the afternoon wave still going on Friday.
Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
Burns teed off on No. 10 in the second round and quickly tore up the much easier back nine at Oakmont, making four birdies to reach the turn at 4-under par for his round.
The front nine, which has ruined more than a handful of U.S. Open rounds over the last two days, proved to be much tougher. Burns started with a bogey on No. 1 before quickly rebounding with a pair of birdies on the second and fourth holes to get back to 3-under par for the tournament and 5-under for his round.
The work didn’t stop there for the 28-year old. He seemed destined to drop a shot on his final hole of the day before sinking a 22-foot swinger to save his par and get into the clubhouse with the round of the week.
“It’s obviously a difficult hole,” Burns said of the ninth. “It’s a blind tee shot kind of up the hill, and was trying to hit kind of a fade off the left side and just pulled it a little bit. Then that putt was, I don’t know, six feet of break. Yeah, it was a nice one to make for sure.”
Burns’ round was even more impressive following the finish to his first round on Thursday afternoon. Sitting at 3-under par through 14 holes, he played his final four holes in 5-over to post a 2-over 72.
However, that didn’t affect him heading into Friday, and now he has himself on the front page of the leaderboard heading into the weekend.
“I played a really nice round of golf, and I think you get out of position here, and the golf course will bite you,” Burns said of his first round. “It was unfortunate, but there was too much good to focus on the little bit of bad.”
Burns surely gained plenty of confidence after a great week at the RBC Canadian Open, where he shot a 62 on Sunday to get into a playoff before losing to Ryan Fox.
He has carried that over to Oakmont and has been playing some of the best golf in the field so far at the third major of 2025.
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