UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. – Looky, looky. The guy practically all of us expected to be on top of the U.S. Open leaderboard is.
Jordan Spieth shot a 3-under 67 on Friday morning at Chambers Bay to move (at the time) into a share of the lead at the U.S. Open. (Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed are setting the pace in the afternoon rounds.) Getting there wasn’t as easy as Spieth made it look while taking the 36-hole scoring record at the Masters (en route to winning the green jacket), but perhaps it was more satisfying.
The U.S. Open is a grind. It’s a grind that can easily undo a kid – and, at just 21, he is still a kid – like Spieth. Sometimes, the ball bounces the wrong way. Sometimes, a hole just doesn’t make sense as the changeling par-4-or-5 18th didn’t to Spieth on Friday.
“I thought it was a dumb hole today,” said Spieth, who made a double bogey there on Friday that would have been a mere bogey on Thursday. “But I think we’re going to play it from there again, so I’ve got to get over that.”
A hole after that round-stunting double, the Texan got a bad bounce into the rough at the other changeling par-4-or-5, the first. That’s when Spieth’s caddie, Michael Greller, who used to loop at this track, might have salvaged the championship.
“I was really frustrated walking off the tee box, and Michael did a great job coming in and telling me, ‘Sit back, you’re still very much in this tournament, don’t let this get to you,’ ” Spieth said.
“The second something gets to you you’re in trouble in a U.S. Open.”
Spieth is supposed to figure it out, keep it in check. It’s his destiny, or so we’ve surmised. But while the kid has put himself in position for a second-consecutive major title, there’s a cast of others who threaten to unseat his presumptive place on the throne of the sport.
At 4-under, there’s Branden Grace, a heralded South African whose game has never traveled well to the States, much less the United States Open.
There’s long-hitting Tony Finau at 3-under. A former contestant on Golf Channel’s “Big Break” reality series, Finau can pound his way past the trouble – no matter how long the USGA makes Chambers Bay play.
How about Daniel Summerhays? Golf fans know the name from the occasional PGA Tour leaderboard, but he thrives on tough tracks.
After an early splash, 27-year-old Jamie Lovemark has struggled to maintain his PGA Tour status. He qualified alongside 50-year-old two-time U.S. Open winner Lee Janzen, and now he’s a contender.
For a few minutes on Friday, amateur Brian Campbell held the lead. He’s just four away from Spieth. Then again, maybe Campbell’s contention isn’t so wacky as it is that both players are the same age but seem separated by a lifetime of experience in such a short life span.
This is the story of the Open: A mixing bowl of pros and amateurs, the best and the pretty good, the present and the once-was, all throwing their names in the hat to see if, for one week, they have what it takes to survive this exacting and exhausting brand of golf. The odds suggest most of these contenders don’t. Spieth and his elite ilk are better suited for the rigors of the U.S. Open. However, for every champion-in-waiting like Spieth, there’s a spoiler-in-hiding like 1996 champion Steve Jones, who pounced when Davis Love III couldn’t seal the deal. There’s Lucas Glover, who took advantage of Bethpage Black’s 2009 transformation into Woodstock South to steal a major title.
The potential equalizer is that Chambers Bay is getting tougher. Every minute it bakes in the the June sun, this unique test becomes more difficult. Spieth and the morning wave were fortunate a sprinkle of overnight rain softened this course just enough to temporarily stymie its march to full-on Mickey Mouse golf. As the fine fescue starts to shine like the sun beaming down on it, precision and patience will be even more important.
Earlier in the week, Rory McIlroy said Chambers Bay should have no trouble in identifying the contenders from the pretenders.
“I think a place like this can separate the field a lot,” McIlroy said Monday. “This is the sort of golf course that if you’re just slightly off, it’ll magnify that. But it’ll really reward people that are hitting good shots and are confident and their short games are sharp.”
The Chambers Bay sifter isn’t done with its work yet, but with four of the world’s top 15 players near the top of the leaderboard, including No. 2 Spieth, it seems poised to bake a delicious finish.
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
Follow @RyanBallengee
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