SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) — Dylan Wu got the chance to lead off the weekend at the U.S. Open after making the cut by the skin of a 7-foot bogey putt.
His first hole Saturday did not feature the same good fortune, and by the time his third round was over, Wu could only shake his head and chuckle at himself. Teeing off and playing in swirling winds, Wu five-putted No. 1 at Shinnecock Hills for a quadruple bogey on the way to a 12-over 82.
“It was just kind
of laughable,” Wu said afterward. "You kind of just have to laugh it off because you’re still trying, but you get to a point where you can’t really get too frustrated. It’s a great place, a great test of golf. It’s still a great place to play on Saturday.”
Flags around the conspicuously difficult eastern Long Island course were whipping around pretty good by the time Wu and playing partner Jacob Bridgeman (who shot a 4-over 74) finished their round in the early afternoon. It was worse at 9 a.m. when they got started.
Wu said the wind was blowing around 23-24 mph and gusting to 35 mph, contributing to his opening drive going just 224 yards. The adventure really got going when he made it to the green and kept knocking the ball here, there and everywhere but the hole until tapping it in.
“I thought I hit a pretty good first putt and then just kind of played tic-tac-toe there,” Wu said. “I was just like, ‘What’s going on right now?’”
Wu wrote an 8 in his scorecard and made the best of the bad conditions. He birdied the 10th hole and lamented not having a better first two rounds, which would have allowed him to begin later when the wind died down a bit.
“It was tough,” Wu said. “I honestly think if you played in the first probably five groups of the day, if somebody shoots 2 over, that’s an unreal round. Some of the holes were just kind of impossible.”
A month shy of his 30th birthday, Wu was just glad to be playing the weekend. Former U.S. Open champions Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm and J.J. Spaun were among the accomplished players who missed the cut.
Even at the bottom of the leaderboard at 16 over, Wu took an optimistic approach hours after a forgettable experience, knowing he'll have another early tee final round Sunday that he's aiming to enjoy with his dad, Kevin, who introduced him to the sport.
“You just control what you can control,” Wu said. "Just looking forward to spending Father’s Day with my dad tomorrow and having another walk around here. It’s an awesome place to play a U.S. Open, my first time on Long Island, a historic place like this. Whoever wins this week, it’s a true U.S. Open champion.”
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