The top of the US Open leaderboard after 36 holes features some interesting names, as many top players are already out of the running.
While Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele barely made the cut, Bryson DeChambeau and Ludvig Aberg were among the big-hitters to miss out.
The top five after two rounds at Oakmont are as follows: Sam Burns (-3), J.J. Spaun (-2), Viktor Hovland (-1), Adam Scott (E), and Ben Griffin (E).
Golf writer Rex Hoggard has assessed which one of the five has the best chance to win the US Open on Sunday.
Rex Hoggard picks most likely US Open winner out of top five after 36 holes
Ryan Lavner raised an important statistic in his discussion with Hoggard after play was suspended for bad weather on day two at the US Open.
“11 of the past 12 US Open winners were within the top five after 36 holes, and so that would be Sam Burns, J.J. Spaun, Viktor Hovland, Adam Scott, and Ben Griffin,” he explained.
“If history is any indication, the winner of the 125th US Open is coming out of that group. Of those five, who do you feel the most confident in?”
Hoggard initially said he has some confidence in Brooks Koepka to win his third US Open from five shots off the lead, before answering the question.
“Probably, if you’re keeping me locked into those five players, it has to be Viktor Hovland,” Hoggard replied. “I thought it was an interesting, different Viktor than what we ran across over the last few weeks.
“Even when he would shoot a good score, he still didn’t seem happy with his swing. We love the honesty that comes out of Viktor. This time around, though, there was a level of confidence and ease that we haven’t seen in a while.
“It feels like he’s come forward with his swing, and that’s hard to do on this golf course. I think that’s one of the keys coming into this week. If you could just get out of your own way and not try to be perfect… that’s what Viktor did today.
“I loved that he described it as fun. I don’t think many guys walked off that golf course today and thought it was fun. Of those five, I would lean towards Hovland.”
Viktor Hovland says slow pace of play is helping him at US Open
The pace of play at this year’s US Open has made the headlines for the wrong reasons.
Slow play is already an issue the PGA Tour is trying to deal with, and rounds are taking significantly longer at Oakmont this week.
However, Viktor Hovland suggested that the long periods waiting between holes are actually helping him to reset his focus.
“That’s probably a fair point. I’d say just personally, when I’ve had a couple of bad holes back-to-back, I tend to rush. I tend to really get quick,” he said.
“Out here, when the rounds are so long, you can’t really do that. As you said, you have to reset, and yeah, you might have had a bad hole on the last hole, and then you’re sitting on the tee box for 10, 20 minutes.
“At least it gives you a good opportunity to get that out of your system and reset and think about the next shot.”
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