Gary Bourne was a happy man until Sam Burns stepped up to the 11th tee. Burns had lead the US Open from day one and was play OK. Sad to say, Burns finished his Sunday back nine with 2 double-bogeys and 3 bogeys. Ouch.  What else hurt? how about CUTs from Joaquin Niemann, Bryson DeChambeau, Tommy Fleetwood, Ludvig Aberg, and Shane Lowry? Ouch.

The boys move to CT this week, but there is no rest because we have ANOTHER signature event. 

Travelers Championship 

TPC River Highlands

Cromwell, CT • USA

Signature Event Purse - $20,000,000

The US Open

Mr. Commish,

Did you see the Canadian Open playoff between Ryan Fox and Sam Burns? It was so strange. The playoff went for four holes, playing the 18th hole each time. But after the second hole, the grounds crew came out and changed the hole location. Say what? I have been watching golf a long time, and I have never seen a situation where a hole got changed out mid round unless a cup got damaged or something weird happened. I guess they do playoffs differently in Canada, eh? I was glad the playoff didn't go to a fifth hole for fear that there might be a huge time delay while they move to a nearby golf course to finish.

Also, one final note on the Canadian Open; their logo change to include the silhouette of the Nick Taylor's putter toss was brilliant. I can't claim credit for this, but my mom suggested it would have been even better if they incorporated a logo of Adam Hadwin getting tackled by the security guard. How great would that be? Maybe the moment when the guard was on top with Adam pinned to the ground could somehow be fashioned as one of the "A's"? In hindsight, this seems like a missed opportunity. 

This week the USGA descends upon Pennsylvania for America's national championship, the U.S. Open at historic Oakmont Country Club. Past winners at Oakmont include such luminaries as Tommy Armour, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller, Ernie Els, and Dustin Johnson. My guy fully intends to join this distinguished list by winning his third U.S. Open title. With 14 professional wins, he has established himself as one of the world's best. A close call at the Masters and him feeling weirdly put off by the lack of conversation with Rory will no doubt leave him hungry and motivated for a victory. Somehow he is still ranked 10th in the Official World Golf Rankings despite playing on that "other" tour, so nobody really knows what kind of form he is truly in. His WWE-esque heel turn from villain to man-of-the people may or may not be complete BS, but you can't deny his charisma. Also, I am running out of options, forcing me to dig deep into my LIV bag of tricks, and selecting the defending champion seems like a reasonable choice. Playing out of Grapevine, Texas, give it up for the SMU Mustangs standout, a man of many talents, the Mad Scientist himself, Mr. Bryson James Aldrich DeChambeau!