Shane Lowry starts his final round of the US Open four shots clear of his rivals. His main opponent today might prove to be himself, but the stats are in his favour. Out of 65 times when a golfer had a four shot lead going into the last round of a Major - only eight have failed to win. Here, Balls.ie takes a look at the four men chasing Lowry.
Andrew Landry
In the last few any outsider in any sport is the Leicester City of something. But Lowry's playing partner Landry kind of is the Leicester City of golf. He's a 28-year-old PGA tour rookie and his best finish before this weekend was coming in a tie for 41st place at the FedEx St Jude's Classic.
He's ranked as the 624th best player in the world - that's 228 places lower than the lowest-ranked golfer to win a Major title before (Ben Curtis who won The Open in 2003 ranked 296). 624th place in the world is not a particularly heady ranking. Tiger Woods is currently ranked at 569th in the world and he's essentially taken two years off.
Dustin Johnson
Has been known as somewhat of a choker for his performances in Major chamopionships, especially throwing last year's edition of this tournament away on the last hole. Jonhson had a 12-foot putt for a win which he missed, leaving a four-foot putt for a tie - which he missed too - handing the title to Jordan Speith.
But defining Johnson as a choker would be far from fair. The New York Times last week called him "arguably the most talented player on the PGA Tour". Jordan Speith agrees saying: “Dustin Johnson is arguably the most talented player on the PGA Tour. I think he’s not only a freak athlete, but a freak golf athlete."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uho-CMkKpe4
Keith Sbarbaro, TaylorMade's vice president of PGA Tour operations told Golf.com that Johnson "He has almost freakish natural talent. He's the kind of guy who can do anything. Give him a basketball, he can dunk it in bare feet. Give him a baseball, he can throw it 90 miles per hour..."
Johnson's other runner-up spot at a Major came in the 2011 Open at Royal St George's - where he finished three shots behind Darren Clarke. He took time out of golf in 2014 and Golf Magazine reported it was because he had failed a third drugs test. He's married Paulina Gretzky - daughter of hockey great Wayne.
Lee Westwood
If you're reading this post, you probably know all about Lee Westwood. He's represented Europe at eight Ryder Cups, was the world number 1 in 2010 - ending the Tiger Woods era - and is probably the best current golfer not to have won a major. He's come close - he's lead two majors going into the final round. His best US Open finish was behind Rory McIlroy in 2011.
Westwood, who is big pals with Darren Clarke through their shared agent, Chubby Chandler, is currently ranked number 30 in the world but spent the five years between 2010 and 2015 in the top ten. He was laid off for the most of the winter but still nearly won the Masters - he has the talent but never seems to get the luck. Hopefully that trend will continue.
Daniel Summerhill
The 32-year-old Utah native is a 6-year tour veteran. He only qualified for the US Open via a play-off in last week's qualifier. Summerhill is a Mormon who spent two years on a mission in Chile and didn't pick up a club for the entire duration of his stay there and attended Brigham Young University - the predominantly Mormon University.
Summerhill, like Lowry, won a professional tournament as an amateur - winning the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational in 2007. Summerhill lost out on the $108,000 prize but turned professional straight away afterwards. He's made up for the loss since - despite the fact that only the most hardcore golfing fans would know his name - he's won the guts of $1 million so far this year alone.
His tees are personalised saying, "make lots of birdies Daddy" - a message to him from his four children. Despite his earning prowess, Summerhill is a van aficionado - the only vehicles he's bought since turning pro are a Ford Transit and a Honda minivan.
Photo by Diarmuid Greene/Sportsfile
