41st U.S. Senior Open Home | Tickets

What Happened

Two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen moved within striking range of Furyk on Saturday, closing with back-to-back birdies for a round of 4-under 66. Goosen, 52, of South Africa, finished in a tie for 14th in 2019 on the Warren Course at Notre Dame in his only previous U.S. Senior Open start.

“My expectations were really low in the beginning of the week,” said Goosen. “I was hitting it so bad the last few weeks, and I was trying everything. I just decided to stick with something, and as the week got on, I started hitting it better and better. My confidence is coming back a little.”

After a violent rain and wind storm moved through the Omaha area early Saturday morning, downing trees and TV towers on the golf course, play began three hours later than scheduled, at 10:15 a.m. CDT. It was halted just before 2 p.m. when more rain pelted the area, and resumed nearly three hours later.

Steve Flesch made the strongest move of the day with a 6-under 64, moving from a tie for 39th to solo fourth place. Four players are tied for fifth at 1-under 209: Masters champions Fred Couples and Mike Weir along with Kevin Sutherland and Wes Short Jr. Another group of six players – including past champions Jeff Maggert (2015) and Gene Sauers (2016) – sits in a tie for ninth place at even-par 210.

Six players have held a 54-hole lead of four or more strokes in U.S. Senior Open history and five of them have gone on to win. Only Bernhard Langer in 2012 at Indianwood Golf & Country Club failed to convert the advantage into a victory.

Said Goosen after his round of 66: “It could have been a really, really low round, but I’m going to take this and see what Jim does coming in and hopefully be out in the last group [Sunday], and we’re fun and games.”

Goosen ended up in the second-to-last pairing with Flesch at 2:50 p.m. CDT, 10 minutes ahead of Furyk and Ames, but that doesn’t preclude some fun and games to come on Sunday at Omaha Country Club.

What’s Next

Round 4 will begin at 9:40 a.m. CDT on Sunday, with the last group starting at 3 p.m. The TV broadcast will be on Peacock from 3 to 4 p.m. EDT and from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. EDT on Golf Channel.

Notable

• The U.S. Senior Open has not been known for come-from-behind champions. Thirty-six of the 40 champions were either first or second entering the final round. Only one champion all-time has started the final round outside the top 6 on the leader board: Allen Doyle was tied for 16th when he shot a final-round 63 to win in 2005 at NCR Country Club.
  
  
• 2,999 golfers entered this championship, and 82 of the 156 who started on Thursday earned their spot in the field through qualifying, rather than exemptions. Of those 82, 20 survived the 36-hole cut on Friday. That’s the most qualifiers to make the weekend in the U.S. Senior Open since 2015, when 24 advanced (out of 85 qualifiers). Tim Petrovic, who tied for 2nd in 2018 at The Broadmoor, has the best finish by a qualifier since Don Pooley won in 2002. Pooley’s victory in a playoff over Tom Watson is the only one by a qualifier in Senior Open history.
  
  
• Bernhard Langer broke par for the first time this week with a 2-under 68 on Saturday. It marked the 25th time in Langer’s U.S. Senior Open career that he shot in the 60s. That broke a tie with Tom Watson at 24 for the most all-time. Hale Irwin is third with 21, and Jay Haas had his 20th career round in the 60s on Thursday.
   
• No left-handed golfer has ever won the U.S. Open or U.S. Senior Open. Steve Flesch (4th) and Mike Weir (T-5) will try to make history on Sunday. Flesch’s best finish to date in a senior major is a tie for fifth in the 2017 Senior Players Championship. Weir, of Canada, who had a double bogey in each of the first two rounds, had only one bogey on Saturday in his round of 68.

Quotable

“It’s a cool statistic, but the reason all of us are out here playing the Champions Tour and playing the U.S. Senior Open is just for opportunities to get in the hunt and get to compete. I’m just really excited about the opportunity tomorrow and to come out here and compete and try to win a golf tournament like everyone else.” – Jim Furyk, on his opportunity to join those who have won both the U.S. Open and U.S. Senior Open

“Jimmy’s too solid, he’s not going to shoot, whatever, I won’t even put a score out there. Could he shoot 68 and win by nine? Of course he can, he’s that good. But you know, when you get to a certain age, I’m not going to go out there and worry about it. I’m just going to try and make more birdies.” – Fred Couples, who is tied for fifth, seven strokes back through 54 holes

“I was left of the green on No. 10 and didn’t hit a very good chip and made a nice putt there for par and that really set the rest of the round. But I played pretty well. I feel like I’m due for a good one. I’ve kind of been just playing OK, I would say, and hopefully tomorrow all facets show up.” – Mike Weir, who rallied for a round of 2-under 68 on Saturday

“Spent the time watching “Talladega Nights” in the fitness trailer with some of the guys. Did a little stretching, kind of warmed back up again because I had a feeling that it was going to be in that 4:30, 5 o’clock window.” – Mike Weir, on what he did during the nearly three-hour delay on Saturday

The Social Scene