U.S. Open: As Oakmont devours hopes, four questions for Saturday

OAKMONT, Pa. — Now this is why we watch the U.S. Open: carnage, high scores, seething players. We watch the world’s greatest hack their way around a course, missing fairways, missing greens, missing putts, throwing ugly numbers up on the board, and we think, "Now you know how we feel."

We spend 51 weeks a year to watch pros beat the brakes off poor defenseless courses, putting up scores of -15, -20, -25. So to see the best humbled like this? Oh yeah, give us all of that bloodshed, baby. We want to see players audibly cursing, we want to see players slinging clubs, we want to see players caught in a blender, we want to see players beaten so badly they forget the basic rules of golf:

We’re halfway home in this 125th U.S. Open, but even now we don’t have a read on who’s going to win this tournament. You could make a case for overnight leaders like Sam Burns (-3) and J.J. Spaun (-2), or you could make a case for Scottie Scheffler (+4) getting white-hot and snagging his fourth major. (That would be a much tougher case to make.)

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The game’s biggest names are lost in the Oakmont rough. The chance for a star-making performance is right now. Who’s going to step up? Let’s start with the man with the fiery putter …

Can Sam Burns putt his way to a U.S. Open title?

Sam Burns is, statistically speaking, the PGA Tour’s greatest putter, leading the entire tour in strokes gained on the green. He rode that hot putter all the way to the top of the leaderboard Friday, posting a 5-under round early in the day that held up until sunset. Burns and Viktor Hovland (-1) have both carded 11 birdies or better over the tournament’s first two days. Dustin Johnson had 11 birdies or better for his entire 2016 U.S. Open, and he won that one. As long as Burns keeps putting like the cup is the size of a hot tub, the championship is well within his reach.

Can Scottie Scheffler figure things out?

Even after all the madness of Friday, Scottie Scheffler — world No. 1, dude who’s halfway to the career grand slam — is a mere seven strokes off the lead at +4. Given how Oakmont can devour a player in just a couple holes — see: DeChambeau, Bryson — it’s not outside the realm of possibility that our leaders could fall back to the pack in a hurry. Of course, that would require Scheffler to get his act together, and so far, he hasn’t proven he has the ability to do that; he even seemed incensed on the practice range after his round. This is one major where he might just have to wait 'til next year. He’ll figure it out one day, right? (Don’t see: Mickelson, Phil.)

Will Brooks Koepka rediscover his major-winning form?

For a minute there, it sure seemed like Brooks Koepka was going to just grab this tournament by the throat and run away with it like he used to. He birdied two of his first three holes and reached -3, a stroke off the lead. And then he started leaking oil, finally bogeying his last two holes of the day to limp in at +2. He’s still close — and because of the wreckage of the day, he’s T8 — so can he keep it together for a full round on Saturday? If he does, he’ll be tough to beat, given that only one of the 11 players around or ahead of him — Adam Scott at even par — has a major win. Keep an eye on Brooksie.

Will rains soften Oakmont’s bite?

After threatening for most of Friday, the skies opened up late in the afternoon and dumped what felt like an entire Great Lake’s worth of rain onto the course. That will soften the grass and take away much of the course’s primary defense — its ultra-slick greens. On the other hand, a pelting rain — which could be in the mix this weekend — will have its own negative impacts on the head spaces and games of the players still around.

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Well, most of 'em. Ben Griffin, at least, is taking this in the right spirit: “What's the projection? What does the rain look like tomorrow?” he said after his Friday round. “Steady all day? Bring it on. I don't really care. I'm down for whatever.”

Hell, yes. Let’s have us a wet, fun weekend at Soakmont.