Sam Burns leads US Open with 65 and avoids calamity at Oakmont

OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — The pounding rain arrived far too late to douse so many of the meltdowns across Oakmont on Friday in a U.S. Open that produced a brilliant round by Sam Burns and a litany of collapses and tantrums typical in a major that prides itself on being the toughest test.

Only three players remained under par.

Still to come are two more rounds on an Oakmont course that ruined good scores with remarkable swiftness on a day when rounds took nearly six hours to complete.

“There’s no hole where you can get up there and just hit it and not really pay attention to what you’re trying to do,” Burns said after a 5-under 65, giving him a one-shot lead. "I think it requires a lot of focus on every shot, and even when you’re in the rough and you’re trying to get it back in the fairway, it’s just every shot is difficult.

“I think over time that’s just pretty taxing.”

Scottie Scheffler battled just to salvage a 71 — the sixth straight round over par in a U.S. Open for the No. 1 player — and then headed to the range with arms flailing while venting frustration on why the ball wasn't going where he wanted. He was seven shots behind and felt he was still very much in the hunt for a second straight major.

Rory McIlroy flung a club on No. 12 and smashed a tee marker on No. 17, made a birdie on his last hole and then declined to share thoughts on his round or anything else for the sixth straight round in a major.

Shane Lowry was having such a tough time that he picked up his ball on the 14th green without marking it, a one-shot penalty that turned his 77 into a 78, not that it mattered.

That was the mental side. The physical part of golf looked even worse.

Thriston Lawrence became the only player to reach 6-under par. He promptly made six bogeys and a double bogey over his next nine holes. He was still 1 over — four shots behind — and was ready to hit a 4-foot par putt when the round was halted because of weather.

The South African had to return Saturday morning. Have a nice night.

“A bit frustrating in that sense, but those are the rules,” Lawrence said. “It’s an important putt. Each shot means a lot in a championship like this.”

He returned at 7:30 a.m. Saturday and made the putt to finish his 74, and then a seven-hour wait before starting the third round. Phillip Barbaree Jr. had to par the ninth hole, the toughest at Oakmont, and made a 5-footer to be among 67 players to make the cut at 7-over 147.

Thomas Detry can appreciate the suffering. He was challenging for the lead until three double bogeys in a four-hole stretch.

“If I can avoid making a double bogey on those next two days, I will have achieved what I wanted to achieve,” Detry said.

And then there was Phil Mickelson, in his 34th and likely final U.S. Open. He was just outside the top 20 until two double bogeys in his last four holes for a 74 to miss the cut.

It was the highest U.S. Open cut since it was 8 over at Shinnecock Hills in 2018. Zach Bachou, who was 15 over with one hole to play, was the only player who didn’t return to finish his round. He still received $10,000, along with everyone else who missed the cut.

Burns played in the morning and missed all this chaos, posting a 3-under 137 that no one could match the rest of the day. He wound up one shot ahead of J.J. Spaun, who fell out of a share of the lead with a bogey on the 18th, his sixth in a round of 72.

Burns and Viktor Hovland (68) each have 11 sub-par holes over 36 holes, the most in three U.S. Opens at Oakmont since it switched to a par 70 in 2007. Hovland was two shots behind.

Burns can only imagine where he would be if not for a shocker of a finish Thursday, when he was one shot out of the lead and then played his last four holes in 5-over par.

“I played really well yesterday other than the finishing holes. So I think today was just kind of getting mentally ready to come out and try to put a good round together,” Burns said.

“It was unfortunate, but there was too much good to focus on the little bit of bad.”

Hovland twice holed 50-foot shots from off the green — a putter from the collar on No. 10 when he started his round, and chipping in for eagle on the reachable par-4 17th. He also chopped up the second hole for a double bogey. But he was happy to be done.

“Definitely tired, exhausted because you’re just focusing so much on every single shot,” he said. “I’m very pleased with 2-under par, but also I know that I was 4 under at some point. So it's like very pleased, but also, ‘Man, that could have been a little bit lower.’ But we’re in a really nice spot after two days, so I’m just kind of happy.”

Adam Scott, playing in his 96th consecutive major, had another 70 and joined Ben Griffin (71) at even-par 140.

Scheffler was among those who had little room left for mistakes. He opened with a birdie on No. 10, but then didn't find another fairway until he came up just short of the green on the 17th, 50 feet away for eagle. Four putts later, he had a bogey.

It was a grind all way, battling his swing and the rough, making a number of key par putts that kept the round from getting worse.

“Today was, I think with the way I was hitting it, easily a day I could have been going home,” Scheffler said. “And battled pretty hard to stay in there. I’m 4 over. We’ll see what the lead is after today, but around this golf course I don’t think by any means I’m out of the tournament.”

Neither is Brooks Koepka, who had a 74 but was only five behind.

Jon Rahm went from red numbers to red in the face with a 75, leaving him in the same spot as Scheffler. Rahm, who took 35 putts, was asked if his score could illustrate how tough Oakmont was playing.

“Honestly, too annoyed and too mad right now to think about any perspective,” he said. “Very frustrated. Very few rounds of golf I played in my life where I think I hit good putts and they didn’t sniff the hole. So it’s frustrating.”

That's not just Oakmont. That's most U.S. Opens. In that respect, Hovland was a curious contender. He has been all over the place with his swing, his expectations, his confidence. He won during the Florida swing and is making progress. Perhaps no expectations helped him.

“For some reason I’ve just been in a really nice mental state this week,” Hovland said. “Both my rounds have been very up and down. I feel like a couple times if it would have happened at another tournament, for example, I could have potentially lost my mind there a little bit. But I felt like I kept things together very well.”

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

J.J. Spaun reacts after missing a putt on the 15th hole during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Thomas Detry, of Belgium, chips onto the fourth green during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Adam Scott, of Australia, chips onto the fourth green during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Xander Schauffele chips onto the 13th green during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Viktor Hovland, of Norway, hits from a bunker on the second hole during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Scottie Scheffler plays out of the Church Pews bunker on the third hole during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Sam Burns waits to putt on the 18th hole during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

SYDNEY (AP) — Two gunmen opened fire during a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney's Bondi beach, killing 15 people, including a child, officials said Monday, in what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called an act of antisemitic terrorism that struck at the heart of the nation.

The massacre at one of Australia’s most popular beaches followed a wave of antisemitic attacks that have roiled the country over the past year, although the authorities didn’t suggest those and the shooting Sunday were connected. It was the deadliest shooting in almost three decades in a country with strict gun control laws.

One gunman, a 50-year-old man, was fatally shot by police. The other shooter, his 24-year-old son, was wounded and was being treated at a hospital, said Mal Lanyon, New South Wales police commissioner.

Police said one gunman was known to security services, but Lanyon said authorities had no indication of a planned attack.

Those killed were aged between 10- and 87-years-old, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns told reporters. At least 38 others were injured in the attack.

“What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism on our shores in an iconic Australian location, Bondi Beach, that is associated with joy, associated with families gathering, associated with celebrations,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday.

“It is forever tarnished by what has occurred.”

Police pledged a “thorough” investigation, Lanyon said. Authorities were not looking for anyone else in connection with the massacre.

The violence erupted at the end of a summer day when thousands had flocked to Bondi Beach, including hundreds gathered for the Chanukah by the Sea event celebrating the start of the eight-day Hanukkah festival.

Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish movement that runs outreach worldwide and sponsors events during major Jewish holidays, identified one of the dead as Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and an organizer of the event.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the death of an Israeli citizen, but gave no further details.

Police said emergency services were called at about 6:45 p.m., responding to reports of shots being fired. Video by onlookers showed people in bathing suits running from the water as shots rang out. Separate footage showed two men in black shirts firing with long guns from a footbridge leading to the beach.

One dramatic clip broadcast on Australian television showed a man appearing to tackle and disarm one gunman, before pointing the man’s weapon at him, then setting the gun on the ground.

Minns called the man, identified by relatives to Australian media as fruit shop owner Ahmed al Ahmed, a “genuine hero.”

Arsen Ostrovsky, a lawyer attending the Hanukkah ceremony with his wife and daughters, was grazed in the head by a bullet. Ostrovsky said he moved from Israel to Australia two weeks ago to work for a Jewish advocacy group.

“What I saw today was pure evil, just an absolute bloodbath. Bodies strewn everywhere,” he told The Associated Press in an email from the hospital. "I never thought would be possible here in Australia."

Lachlan Moran, 32, from Melbourne, told the AP he was waiting for his family when he heard shots.

"I sprinted as quickly as I could," Moran said. He said he heard shooting off and on for about five minutes. “Everyone just dropped all their possessions and everything and were running and people were crying and it was just horrible."

Albanese vowed the violence would be met with “a moment of national unity where Australians across the board will embrace their fellow Australians of Jewish faith.”

King Charles III said he and Queen Camilla were “appalled and saddened by the most dreadful antisemitic terrorist attack.” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said on X he was horrified, and his “heart is with the Jewish community worldwide.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on X: “The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Australia targeting a Jewish celebration. Antisemitism has no place in this world.”

Police in cities around the world, including London, said they would step up security at Jewish sites.

Australia, a country of 28 million people, is home to about 117,000 Jews, according to official figures. Antisemitic incidents, including assaults, vandalism, threats and intimidation, surged more than threefold in the country during the year after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel launched a war on Hamas in Gaza in response, the government's Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal reported in July.

Last year, the country was rocked by antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne. Synagogues and cars were torched, businesses and homes graffitied and Jews attacked in those cities, where 85% of the nation’s Jewish population lives.

Albanese in August blamed Iran for two of the attacks and cut diplomatic ties to Tehran.

Pastor Matt Graham, who was conducting a service at Bondi Anglican Church when panicked people began entering for shelter, said antisemitism has been brewing in Sydney’s eastern suburbs including Bondi, where the Jewish community is centered.

“I’m surrounded by antisemitic graffiti constantly,” Graham told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "As a Christian, I just want to declare I stand with the people of Israel.”

Israel urged Australia's government to address crimes targeting Jews. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he warned Australia’s leaders months ago about the dangers of failing to take action against antisemitism. He claimed Australia's decision — in line with scores of other countries — to recognize a Palestinian state “pours fuel on the antisemitic fire.”

“Your government did nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism in Australia ... and the result is the horrific attacks on Jews we saw today,” Netanyahu said.

His office released safety recommendations Monday for Israelis traveling abroad, including avoiding large gatherings that don’t have security, especially events at synagogues and Hanukkah gatherings. It also called for heightened awareness at Jewish and Israeli sites.

Mass shootings in Australia are extremely rare. A 1996 massacre in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur, where a lone gunman killed 35 people, prompted the government to drastically tighten gun laws, making it much more difficult to acquire firearms.

Significant mass shootings this century included two murder-suicides with death tolls of five people in 2014 and seven in 2018, in which gunmen killed their own families and themselves.

In 2022, six people were killed in a shootout between police and Christian extremists at a rural property in Queensland state.

McGuirk reported from Melbourne, Australia, and Graham-McLay from Wellington, New Zealand. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Mustakim Hasnath in London contributed to this report.

Police patrol in the early morning following a shooting Sunday at Sydney's Bondi Beach, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

A motorcycle lies on the ground in the early morning near the site of a shooting Sunday at Sydney's Bondi Beach, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

A small Christmas tree is at the center of an abandoned holiday picnic at Bondi Beach after a reported shooting in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Bystanders stay where police cordon off an area at Bondi Beach after a reported shooting in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Emergency workers standby at Bondi Beach after a reported shooting in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)