SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) — The bunched leaderboard, the inability to pull away, the momentum changing with virtually every shot.
Yes, if the U.S. Open plays out Sunday like it did in the third round, then the race for second place will be a nailbiter.
Three players whose names will drive Google searches galore for casual golf fans — Tom Kim, Sam Stevens and Sahith Theegala — found themselves tied with a bigger name, Scottie Scheffler, in a four-way logjam for second with 18 holes to play at Shinnecock.
They all finished Saturday trailing leader Wyndham Clark by six shots.
"As you can see, it’s kind of a jumbled leaderboard," Kim said, “except for where the leader is.”
For the record, a six-shot rally would be one less than the biggest final-round comeback in U.S. Open history. That belongs to Arnold Palmer, back in 1960 at Cherry Hills.
Even if they had resumes approaching Palmer's, the odds would be stacked against these three dreamers. Turns out, they don't.
Kim, Stevens and Theegala have a total of one top-5 finish in majors between them. All in their 20s and looking for a breakthrough, they have a total of 39 starts in majors between them, dating to 2020.
They will play in groups ahead of Scheffler, whose early round of 69 left him in that jumble at 1-under 209 and gave him the last, and featured, tee time with Clark on Sunday.
The other three know they have quite a hill to climb. If Clark falters or Shinnecock Hills rises up — now less likely with the wind expected to calm down — then Scheffler figures to be the best bet to scoop up the trophy and wrap up the career Grand Slam.
“So much of it kind of depends on what Wyndham does,” Stevens said. “I could play a great round tomorrow and shoot 3- or 4-under and still lose by seven.”
But, stranger things have happened.
“There's a disaster waiting to happen on every hole,” Theegala said. “So you just have to be patient.”
A quick look at the group in second place:
At Pepperdine, became only the fifth player in the last 30 years to win the three biggest awards for college players: The Fred Haskins, Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus Awards.
But Theegala became a bigger name when he appeared on the Netflix series “Full Swing,” which takes an inside look at players on the PGA Tour. He was still living at home when he made it to the tour, and things like doing his laundry felt new.
Theegala's best major finish was ninth place at the 2023 Masters. His lone win on tour was at 2023 at the Fortinet Championship.
Quotable: “There’s a lot of danger involved in pushing it a little bit, but you do have opportunities to kind of make a push at the end there.”
Kim became a lightning rod for his fiery appearances at the Presidents Cup in 2022 and 2024. There was friction because of the fist-pumping antics he pulled and some difference of opinion over who, if anyone, crossed the line when he teamed with Si Woo Kim in a match against Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay.
Kim also made a splash when he waded into a swamp looking for an errant tee shot at the 2023 PGA at Oak Hill. He came out a muddy mess and had to dip into a stream to clean up — a viral moment that he explained by saying: "I mean it’s a major championship. I’m fighting for every single stroke I have.”
Kim finished in a tie for second at the 2023 British Open, though he shot a 67 to pull into that tie and was still six shots behind winner Brian Harman in a major as lopsided as this one is shaping up to be.
Quotable: “I think you’ve just got to look at it as you’ve got to kind of do your own thing. You can’t really force a lot of things out here. You’ve got to keep staying patient, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
A father of four, Stevens is the third generation of a golf family with deep roots in Kansas and across the Midwest.
His grandfather, Johnny “Slim” Stevens, made more than two dozen starts on the PGA Tour in the 1960s and played in the 1969 U,S. Open. His father, Charlie, played college golf at Oklahoma, had a brief stop on the Korn Ferry Tour and won the Kansas Amateur in 2010.
He has made more than $10 million on the PGA Tour but has yet to post his first win. Asked earlier in the week about his surge at Shinnecock, he said a good conversation with his wife, Kelsey, helped him rediscocver his perspective.
“I’m only 29,” he said, “so I probably don’t need to be bitter about things quite yet.”
Quotable: “You don’t normally shoot a low number trying to shoot a low number. You kind of shoot a low number just because it happens.”
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Tom Kim, of South Korea, watches his tee shot on the 17th hole during the third round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y., Saturday, June 20, 2026.(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Sam Stevens watches his tee shot on the 17th hole during the third round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y., Saturday, June 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Sahith Theegala reacts after missing a putt on the fourth hole during the third round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y., Saturday, June 20, 2026.(AP Photo/George Walker IV)
TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — Less than 150 miles (240 kilometers) from Los Angeles' World Cup stadium sits the hotel housing Iran's team. The entrance to the Marriott in Tijuana, Mexico, is barricaded, flanked by police and members of the Mexican National Guard, guns held close. No one enters without a hotel reservation or special permission.
Despite the tensions and challenges surrounding Iran's participation in the World Cup, early Saturday morning finds the mood inside the four-star hotel relaxed, even jubilant. Several dozen fans mingle and bond over their shared excitement to see the squad's players before they depart for their second group-stage match.
“I wanted to come down to support Iranian soccer, and cheer for them when they exited the building and make them happy,” says Lucas Zarrabi, 13. The teen, who attended Monday's 2-2 draw with New Zealand and has a ticket for Sunday's match against Belgium, is one of several fans from Los Angeles who made the drive to stay with the team. Others flew in from San Jose, California, and even Miami, turning up at the hotel not quite 4 miles (6 kilometers) from the border crossing.
Showing up is important, some said, because of what they describe as unfair conditions imposed on the team. After the outbreak of war, the Iranian team was forced to move its base camp from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana. Eleven team officials and staff members did not receive U.S. visas. The U.S. has also denied Iran’s requests to arrive two days before matches — and mandated that the team must leave immediately after the game.
“Every little technicality is making it difficult for the team,” says Abbas Eftekhari, who was born in Iran and has lived in the U.S. for more than 40 years. “I think this is going to drain them psychologically and also physically.”
Iran's soccer federation has been vocal about the obstacles, saying it would lodge a complaint with FIFA.
“Football shouldn’t lose its power to politics,” Hedayat Mombeini, secretary-general of the Iran Football Federation, said Friday. He added that the restrictions “are certainly having a negative effect on us, but we are trying to overcome these problems with our Iranian pride.”
Since the team landed on June 7, Ali Eslami has visited the hotel gates nearly every day.
“It’s the best pleasure for me. I wished them the best luck, I told them it’s hard but they’re doing excellent things,” said Eslami, who splits his time between Southern California and Tijuana.
He was there again Friday, waiting for the players to return from afternoon training just blocks away at the Estadio Caliente, home to the Liga MX's Xolos.
“I have been in America for 50 years — this has been the most emotional thing, to see the team that I have not seen in 50 years,” he said.
Some Iran fans fear reprisal from fellow members of the diaspora for supporting the team, insisting they were in Tijuana for the love of soccer and the players, not politics. Eftekhari worries that the mood at Iran’s first match, where fans and protesters clashed, impacted the players.
“As soon as they see that their countrymen have slogans against them, it also has a negative psychological effect on them. But, that’s how things are at this time,” Eftekhari says.
Just over 24 hours until Sunday's noon kickoff, it's not just Iranian fans contributing to the atmosphere. A group of flight attendants from China staying at the hotel embrace the excitement, donning jester hats and waving scarves with red, white and green. And soccer fans from Tijuana are eager to show some local hospitality. Iran has diplomatic ties with Mexico, unlike the U.S., and had sought to move its group stage matches to the country where it has an embassy.
“We love the Mexican people very much and for us, the best situation is for our games to be held in Mexico,” Abolfazl Pasandideh, the Iranian ambassador to Mexico, said at the time.
Leonardo Ramirez Lopez, a 10-year-old soccer fanatic from Tijuana, clutches his autograph album in hopes he’ll get more signatures.
“It’s a new team that I don’t have experience with how they play,” he says. But Iran is already his third-favorite team, behind Colombia and Argentina.
After more than two hours of waiting, several dozen fans break into cheers as players finally file through the lobby. The squad smiles and waves, stopping for a few autographs. As each player leaves, he kisses a Quran, pressing his forehead against it before boarding the bus to Tijuana's airport.
“Iran, Iran! Whoop, whoop!” fans cry, breaking into song.
AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup
Fans for team Iran wave as players arrive for the World Cup soccer tournament in Tijuana, Mexico, Sunday, June 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Players for Iran participate in a training session ahead of their team's World Cup Group G soccer match against Belgium Tuesday, June 16, 2026, in Tijuana, Mexico. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
A member of the Iran national soccer team kisses the Quran as he departs from the Tijuana Marriott in Tijuana, Mexico on Saturday June 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriela Aoun Angueira)
Children cheer for the Iran national soccer team as they depart from the Tijuana Marriott in Tijuana, Mexico on Saturday June 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriela Aoun Angueira)
Iran national soccer team member Alireza Jahanbakhsh touches his forehead to the Quran as he departs from the Tijuana Marriott in Tijuana, Mexico on Saturday June 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriela Aoun Angueira)
