2025 U.S. Open Round 3 Preview: Players to Watch on Moving Day, Weather Conditions & MORE

Rick Gehman and Doug Bell join CBS Sports HQ to preview Round 3 of the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club.

[00:00:00] Just 3 players Under Par heading into Round 3
[00:02:12] Upcoming Stormy Conditions
[00:05:02] Players Chasing the Pack
[00:08:20] Players to Watch on Moving Day

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open at this anchor site. CBS sports golf analyst Rick Damon and Doug Bell in with thoughts past and future. Let’s start. Maybe smash tee markers to sizzling 65. The options are endless. Rick, your round two headline reads. What? Oh, Sam Burns knows how to get it done. It would be my headline. A 65 around Oakmont is nuts. And it was the best round we saw at any event on the PGA tour this year. And I really love the way he bounced back. That’s the one thing that might have overlooked with his second round 65 is how he ended the opening round, playing his final four holes at five over. And I think there would have been a lot of guys who just started packing up their stuff and just packed it in on Friday and got out of there early, and Sam Burns did quite the opposite. Went out and shot one of the historic rounds at Oakmont. So I don’t I’m not ready to hand this championship to Sam Burns, but I think that stars are starting to align a little bit for him. He’s showing the mental and physical fortitude to get the job done. He’s been playing well leading into this championship. I’m I’m quite pleased with the way that Sam Burns has played, and I think he should be too. Boy, think about a headline guys. There’s so many storylines at Oakmont, but mine would read in bold letters. DeChambeau going home and Scheffler is lurking. You know, as poorly as Scottie has played over 36 holes and we’re comparing it to his outlandish standards, he is still right there. I never would have thought watching him perform over the first two days, that he would still be there. But again, as we’ve discussed, it’s all about how close are you to even par? Because ultimately, I think in the end, as hard as this golf course is, playing over par is going to win somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 or 5 over par. So I think Scottie Scheffler, if he can shoot even par on Saturday amidst soggy conditions, I think he’s going to put himself in position to win his first ever U.S. Open. And that would be saying something. But again, that shows you how great this guy is because the great ones figure it out. They don’t mail it in. They grind it out. And that’s exactly what Scottie has done for 36 holes. You touched on a couple things there that I want to go on here, because forecasting a champion might be difficult given the literal forecast out in front of us. Rain has already fallen and the weekend does include more precipitation, maybe even some action in the sky that could take players off the course. How does that factor into the way that this championship will evolve over the next two days? Do you expect it to separate further or maybe condense on moving day? Joe, it’s going to be a big time factor. You know, there’s that old adage a firm golf course is bad for the pros. A soft golf course is easy for the pros. And tomorrow at Oakmont, these guys are going to come out and face a much easier test. Listen, it won’t be a pushover, but you’re still going to have to hit fairways. But the fairways will be much more accessible and softer. And those firm greens, my goodness, the shots that we’ve seen roll off to the sides. They’re not going to stick in place. It will be a factor. And here’s the other thing. And I’ve been out with Rick in rain gear at some of these PGA tour events. If it was a regular PGA tour stop, tomorrow would be clean in place. These guys would put the ball in hand, they’d clean it, they put it back down in the ground. And that’s almost like. Like lift, clean and cheat is what they say the USGA. No, sir. They will not do lift clean in place. So after the round tomorrow there will be all sorts of bellyaching about mud balls. And we’re going to see some wild shots zinging in all sorts of directions. So the mud will be a factor. The soft golf course will be a factor. Mother nature boy apparently she wants to see some fun and she’s going to have it on Saturday. It’s much cozier in our studios, isn’t it, Doug, than being out there in the rain gear. I tend to agree with Doug, but let me try to paint a different picture here. Maybe this is a different direction that the weekend could go, because the golf course will be softer, but the undulation in these greens. I mean, it makes Augusta National blush with how much undulation there is out there. And I think depending on how frisky the USGA wants to get, they could still pin spots that are much less accessible, even even though the greens are more receptive. You mentioned those mud balls. That will be an added factor that will absolutely make it more difficult to hit greens, and when you are playing out of that thick rough, it is now going to be thick, wet, rough. Also, if there’s an active rain going on, it’s going to be annoying. Number one balls will not fly as far. Number two. So I think there is a scenario that I’m trying to paint into existence where this the rain that we’re going to get over the weekend could potentially make this more difficult. We’ll see. Mother nature is going to put her stamp on this major championship one way or another. Rick, you know, I’m contractually bound anytime we do get into the conversation to ready the soundbite. Can I get one Mudball mud ball? We’ll see if that is a part of the storyline on Saturday. Each of these stories is really an opportunity to tell one. Whether it’s Vic’s first Burns’s bounce back. Griffin sees an at large, a legacy cemented for Scott, maybe, or slow and steady for Scotty Brooks. Out of nowhere. So on and so forth. Rick, if you could write one of these stories or write the next 48 hours of this script, what might that look like? Where are we headed? Yeah, I think often at major championships in US opens the course, ends up being the story. But I would I would love to write and I’d love to read. The Viktor Hovland first major championship story. You know, he remembered the way that he just went scorched earth in 2023 to rattle off a playoff event and then, of course, win the Tour Championship. And he looked like he was bound to be the number one player in the world. And then 2024 was a lost year. He has shuffled through swing coaches frequently. He actually graded his swing very well on the Richter scale after Friday’s round, which should be scary for everyone because this is a guy who gave himself a six when he won the Valspar earlier this year, and if he’s grading himself on a higher scale than that, then he really is hitting it well. He would be a great US open champion. He’s a US amateur champion. He is a great international star. I think he would be he would relish in in the opportunity to represent himself as a as a major champion. That’s the story that I want to read come Sunday evening. We started the week talking about Stimp meters. We might end it talking about the Richter scale. We will see if it is Hovland’s story in the end. Doug, you astutely pointed out last week that we’re in this stretch of the season where guys are winning tournaments who have already won tournaments. Hovland would fit that billing, certainly, but what’s the story you want to tell? Well, again, if you look at the leaderboard right now, Sam Burns is on top. And I think he’s probably ready to win a major championship. But you go down 27 spots to Scottie Scheffler. So I’m looking at the names. Who among those names in the middle is playing the best golf right now Ben Griffin guys there’s no doubt about it. The 29 year old has two victories. One was the team deal. But then he follows it up with a win at the Charles Schwab at Colonial, which was very impressive. He had a chance to win at Memorial. You know he’s number six in Fedex Cup points right now right up there with the biggest names on the PGA tour. He’s climbed inside the top 60 in the Official World Golf Rankings. Ben Griffin is becoming a household name. And this guy I mean he’s averaging this week 322 yards off the tee at Oakmont where you have to hit it a long way. He hit more fairways today. More greens than the field by a wide margin. Listen, if you’re looking for the best player so far up to this point in the PGA tour, and he’s put himself in position 6971. Look no further than Ben Griffin. And oh by the way this is his first ever U.S. Open. He’s only played in six major championships. What a baptism. And what a performance so far for Ben Griffin at Oakmont. You just offered two guys as the parameters to this conversation. Scheffler and Burns proximity often close to one another. Those are dear friends. And what a pairing that would be on Sunday. A lot of work to be done for Scheffler if that is to be our reality. Maybe we pencil him in for a playoff. They do, they do call him Uncle Scotty. That would be an interesting Sunday certainly at the US open. Give me a player to keep an eye on Doug here on moving day. I know that’s a term we love to use in the game of golf, but moving at a US open is often relative to par. Where do you think we might find that mover, and how big of a move is a move on moving day at Oakmont? Well, you’re not going to make a huge move, even though I do think the rain will bring the scoring average, which is about 75 for the second straight day, down to maybe 73, 73.5. That will be significant. I told you all about Ben Griffin and I’m high on Ben, but another name that pops into my mind. Guys, how about Adam Scott? And here’s a guy who’s been working with your friend Joe Trevor Immelman on his swing. Trevor has always had that great golf swing. The CBS analyst he’s been working with, Adam Scott. Adam Scott has played very well the first two days, kind of flying underneath the radar, he said in his Post-round interview. He said, you hate to walk away with his score so far. Be disappointed. But he said, I left a few out there today. Here’s a guy who has that incredible streak of playing in major championships. He is a major champion. He’s never won a US open. I’m keeping an eye on Adam Scott to make a move on Saturday. I think he still has a lot of gas left in the tank. I would love nothing more than Adam Scott winning his second major, going 70, 70, 70, 70. Even par at Oakmont would just make me so happy. But the guy that I’m laser focused on on moving days is Jon Rahm. He has just flushed it both days around Oakmont. He has made zero putts. He was incredibly frustrated with either the reeds or the execution of the reeds on the putting surfaces. I don’t think he thought that they were particularly fair, running at nearly a 15 on the stimp, but there is a lot of juice to squeeze out of Jon Rahm’s stat profile right now. If you remember, his last three major championships have basically just been getting better and better. He’s starting to put himself in the mix more frequently than not in these types of events. We know he’s already got a couple to the name. I think that there is a Rahm movement, which might just be an even par round while everyone moves around him coming on on Saturday, Rick Damon and Doug Bell, we are on to the weekend at the US open. Thank you fellas. Thanks, Jeff. For more golf content from the eye, check out the early Wedge Sportsline crew has you covered five times a week. Get DFS lineups, pre-tournament picks, and live wagering. Watch the early Wedge live on the Sportsline YouTube channel, or find episodes of the early wedge anywhere you get your