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)

LONDON (AP) — Right before Wimbledon began, Novak Djokovic declared it was the tournament that gave him the best chance to claim an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam singles trophy. Made sense, really, given that he’s won seven titles there already and reached the past six finals.

For one uncharacteristically unsteady set in the fourth round Monday, it sure didn’t look as if that would happen this year. Djokovic, though, turned things around and avoided what would have been his earliest exit at the All England Club since 2016, coming through for a 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory over 11th-seeded Alex de Minaur at Centre Court.

With eight-time Wimbledon winner Roger Federer sitting in the front row of the Royal Box, very little went right at the outset for the 38-year-old Djokovic on the grass below during a breezy afternoon with the temperature in the 60s Fahrenheit (teens Celsius), a week after matches were contested in record-breaking heat.

“A lot of challenging moments for me,” Djokovic said right after the win, then later called it a “big, big relief” not to get pushed to a fifth set.

He trailed 4-1 in the fourth — before taking the last five games and 14 of the final 15 points.

“Lifted his level,” de Minaur said, “big-time.”

Djokovic's bid for an eighth Wimbledon title and 25th Grand Slam singles trophy overall will continue against No. 22 Flavio Cobolli of Italy. Cobolli reached his first major quarterfinal with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3) victory over 2014 U.S. Open champion and two-time major runner-up Marin Cilic.

No. 10 Ben Shelton improved to 3-0 against Lorenzo Sonego at majors this year by beating him 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (1), 7-5. Shelton's first Wimbledon quarterfinal will come against either No. 1 Jannik Sinner or No. 19 Grigor Dimitrov.

Against de Minaur, Djokovic made mistake after mistake, double-faulting four times in the first set alone. Djokovic lost five of his first seven service games against de Minaur, a 26-year-old Australian who accumulated 19 break points in all.

Djokovic made 16 unforced errors in the first set alone.

All in all, Djokovic was discombobulated, chalking it up afterward to nerves and a swirling wind. He rushed between points. He reacted to flubbed shots by rolling his eyes or shouting and glaring in the direction of his guest box or putting his arms wide as if seeking explanations from someone, anyone.

At changeovers, he placed an ice-filled towel — usually wrapped around necks by players in steamy conditions — on his stomach, which he complained about during his first-round victory last week. But afterward, Djokovic dismissed the significance of that.

A loss would have been Djokovic's soonest at Wimbledon since he was eliminated in the third round by Sam Querrey nine years ago.

Since winning his men’s-record 24th major title at the 2023 U.S. Open, Djokovic has come close to raising his total. He was the runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon last year — the second consecutive time they met in the final, with the results the same — and departed each of the first two Slams of 2025 in the semifinals.

No man as old as Djokovic is now has won a major championship. He keeps showing why it's not preposterous to think he could.

“I didn't have many solutions, to be honest,” Djokovic said, “but I just reset myself in the second.”

By the very end, it's almost as though de Minaur was resigned to defeat, knowing he's only the latest — and perhaps not the last — opponent to succumb to a surging Djokovic.

“I mean,” de Minaur summed up, “he’s been pretty good in big moments for a very long time.”

No. 7 Mirra Andreeva, an 18-year-old Russian, became the youngest player to reach the women's quarterfinals at Wimbledon since Nicole Vaidisova in 2007, beating No. 10 Emma Navarro 6-2, 6-3. Andreeva next meets Belinda Bencic, who defeated No. 18 Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6 (4), 6-4. Iga Swiatek, the five-time major champion who is seeded No. 8, was a 6-4, 6-1 winner against No. 23 Clara Tauson and will play No. 19 Liudmila Samsonova, who advanced to her first major quarterfinal with a 7-5, 7-5 victory against Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.

The women's quarterfinals are No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka vs. Laura Siegemund, and No. 13 Amanda Anisimova vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. The men's quarterfinals are No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz vs. Cam Norrie, and No. 5 Taylor Fritz vs. No. 17 Karen Khachanov.

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

Iga Swiatek of Poland celebrates a point during the women's singles fourth round match against Clara Tauson of Denmark at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Monday, July 7, 2025.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Flavio Cobolli of Italy celebrates winning his men's singles fourth round match against Marin Cilic of Croatia at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Monday, July 7, 2025.(AP Photo/Joanna Chan)

Mirra Andreeva of Russia returns to Emma Navarro of the U.S. during a fourth round women's singles match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Ben Shelton of the U.S. celebrates winning the men's singles fourth round match against Lorenzo Sonego of Italy at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Monday, July 7, 2025.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Tennis legend Roger Federer applauds after Serbia's Novak Djokovic beat Australia's Alex de Minaur during a fourth round men's singles match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Australia's Alex de Minaur returns to Serbia's Novak Djokovic during a fourth round men's singles match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Serbia's Novak Djokovic returns to Australia's Alex de Minaur during a fourth round men's singles match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Tennis legend Roger Federer applauds after Serbia's Novak Djokovic beat Australia's Alex de Minaur during a fourth round men's singles match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Serbia's Novak Djokovic reacts as he plays against Australia's Alex de Minaur during a fourth round men's singles match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Australia's Alex de Minaur returns to Serbia's Novak Djokovic during a fourth round men's singles match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Serbia's Novak Djokovic reacts as he plays Australia's Alex de Minaur during a fourth round men's singles match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)