Virtual U.S. Open Round 3: A lightning Bolt

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.

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