Virtual U.S. Open Round 3: A lightning Bolt
By Bill Felber
Tommy Bolt shoots another 67 to lead a roster of Hall of Famers
A literal Hall of Fame roster of contenders is positioned to chase the 2020 Virtual U.S. Open championship Sunday. They’re all following a man with a reputation for a torrid putter and an even more volcanic temperament.
Tommy Bolt, winner of the 1958 U.S. Open at Southern Hills, will begin the final round Sunday at Winged Foot with one-stroke lead. Bolt moved to the front of the pack with a third round 67 Saturday, one of the day’s best rounds.
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It was a classically uneven round for Bolt, who mixed six birdies and an eagle with three bogeys that kept him from opening up an even larger margin. His strength was on Winged Foot’s notoriously difficult putting surfaces; he got around in 27 putts.
Still it would be impossible for Bolt’s lead to be more in jeopardy Sunday than it is. Eight of the pre-tournament favorites, seven of them Hall of Famers and possessed of a combined 22 U.S. Open titles, will start the day within a reachable six strokes of the leader.
Four-time champion Ben Hogan will begin play just a single stroke behind Bolt at -11. So will two-time champion Gene Sarazen. Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, with a combined seven Open titles, will begin two behind Bolt.
A couple of early two-time champions, Alex Smith and Walter Hagen, are just three back. Arnold Palmer, the 1960 champion, is four behind at -8, while Bobby Jones joins Jim Barnes and Hale Irwin at 6-under, six strokes behind.
Bolt was wobbly early Saturday. Finding the rough with his drive off the opening tee, he made bogey, offset that with a birdie at the par 4 second, then bogeyed the 245-yard par 3 third when his tee shot would not hold the green.
Then Bolt found his game, reeling off consecutive birdies at the seventh, eighth and ninth holes to make the turn at 2-under 34. He was 3-under coming to the short par 5 16th, when Bolt reached in two shots and canned a 42-foot eagle putt to take the lead away from Hogan.
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Almost all of the game’s top players prospered in Winged Foot’s tough environs, especially in comparison with the entire field. Among Hagen, Hogan, Nicklaus, Woods, Jones, Sarazen and Palmer – maybe the seven best players in the game’s history – there were 42 birdies compared with just 17 bogeys. The average Saturday of that group of seven was 68.43. The full field average was 71.90.
Palmer made the day’s biggest move. Starting eight strokes back at 2-under, he staged a classic Arnie’s Army attack, birdying the first, second and third holes. Then the other side of Palmer’s stylistic volatility kicked in via bogeys at nine, 10 and 12. Coming home, Palmer staged yet another rally, with birdies at four of the final five holes.
The fascinating part of Palmer’s 66 is that he made only four pars all day, only one on the back nine.
Here are the leaders’ cards:
Winged Foot 4 4 3 4 5 4 3 4 5 3 4 5 3 4 4 5 4 4 – 72
Bolt 5 3 4 4 5 4 2 3 4 3 5 5 2 3 4 3 4 4 — 67
Sarazen 4 3 4 3 6 5 3 3 4 2 4 3 3 5 4 5 4 4 — 69
Hogan 4 3 2 5 5 4 3 3 7 4 3 5 2 4 4 4 5 3 — 71
Woods 2 4 3 5 5 4 3 4 4 2 3 6 3 4 3 5 4 4 — 68
Nicklaus 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 5 4 4 3 5 4 4 — 68
Hagen 4 4 3 4 5 4 2 4 6 3 4 3 3 3 5 4 4 4 — 68
Alex Smith 4 4 3 4 5 3 3 3 6 2 4 6 3 3 3 6 4 3 — 69
Palmer 3 3 2 4 5 3 2 4 6 4 3 6 3 3 3 6 3 3 — 66
Barnes 5 3 2 4 5 3 2 4 5 3 5 4 4 4 4 6 4 4 — 71
Jones 4 3 2 4 5 4 4 4 5 5 4 5 3 3 3 5 3 4 — 69
Here are the 54-hole scores.
Tommy Bolt 67-70-67-204
Ben Hogan 68-66-71-205
Gene Sarazen 69-67-69-205
Jack Nicklaus 70-68-68-206
Tiger Woods 68-70-68-206
Alex Smith 72-66-69-207
Walter Hagen 69-70-68-207
Arnold Palmer 70-72-66-208
Bobby Jones 72-69-69-210
Jim Barnes 69-70-71-210
Hale Irwin 70-71-69-210
Gary Player 70-66-75-211
Fred McLeod 65-76-70-211
Billy Burke 74-68-69-211
Hubert Green 75-68-68-211
Brooks Koepka 72-71-71-212
Lee Trevino 67-74-71-212
Johnny Farrell 67-74-71-212
David Graham 70-74-68-212
Willie Macfarlane 69-70-73-212
Byron Nelson 66-74-73-213
George Sargent 76-68-69-213
Julius Boros 75-70-68-213
Olin Dutra 73-74-67-214
Johnny Miller 68-75-72-215
Graeme McDowell 71-70-74-215
Corey Pavin 72-74-69-215
Gene Littler 71-71-74-216
Alec Ross 76-71-69-216
Tommy Armour 73-75-68-216
Ernie Els 70-77-69-216
Dick Mayer 71-75-70-216
James Foulis 73-70-74-217
Tony Manero 71-74-72-217
Ed Furgol 75-70-72-217
Tom Watson 76-71-70-217
Lloyd Mangrum 75-74-68-217
Willie Anderson 72-75-70-217
Ken Venturi 72-75-71-218
Jerry Pate 77-69-72-218
Scott Simpson 78-68-71-218
Curtis Strange 69-74-75-218
Chick Evans 75-71-72-218
Willie Smith 73-74-71-218
Payne Stewart 71-76-71-218
Cyril Walker 69-75-75-219
Laurie Auchterlonie 77-72-70-219
Ralph Guldahl 75-77-67-219
Lee Janzen 74-75-70-219
Lew Worsham 71-76-72-219
Dustin Johnson 74-70-76-220
Raymond Floyd 74-72-74-220
Michael Campbell 67-76-77-220
Martin Kaymer 79-68-73-220
Gary Woodland 74-73-73-220
Tom Kite 72-76-72-220
Billy Casper 73-75-72-220
Andy North 71-72-79-222
Fuzzy Zoeller 75-73-74-222
Johnny Goodman 74-74-74-222
Angel Cabrera 72-77-73-222
Lawson Little 73-75-75-223
Horace Rawlins 75-73-77-223
Steve Jones 76-74-73-223
Geoff Oglivy 75-77-71-223
Cary Middlecoff 73-79-71-223
Larry Nelson 78-77-70-225
Lou Graham 76-72-77-225
Jim Furyk 76-78-72-226
Rory McIlroy 71-76-79-226
Webb Simpson 79-77-70-226
Retief Goosen 76-74-77-227
Justin Rose 80-76-73-229
Sam Parks Jr. 78-73-79-230
Jack Fleck 76-79-77-232
Lucas Glover 73-85-76-234
Tony Jacklin 78-80-78-236
Jordan Spieth 71-87-81-239