Ludvig Aberg takes a one-shot lead into Saturday at the 2024 US Open.
The Swedish golfer handled Pinehurst No. 2 the best over the first two rounds. He currently sits at five-under. Three players are one stroke behind him.
The newest young phenom in men’s golf will play on Saturday with Bryson DeChambeau, who once filled that role himself.
DeChambeau has been one of the most consistent major-tournament golfers in 2024, but he does not have a win to show for it yet.
The season’s first two major winners, Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele, reside in much different positions going into Saturday. Schauffele is a run of birdies away from the lead, while Scheffler is just hoping to get close to even par.
The full list of Saturday’s tee times can be found here on PGATour.com. TV coverage begins at 10 a.m. ET on USA and then shifts to NBC at Noon ET. The event can be live-streamed on Peacock.
Aberg and DeChambeau both had rare starts to the US Open compared to the rest of the field.
Aberg had a 66-69 start, while DeChambeau carded rounds of 67 and 69. Thomas Detry and Tony Finau were the only other players to shoot the first two rounds in the 60s at Pinehurst.
Aberg has been a fairway-hitting machine. That led to few mistakes on one of the more difficult major-tournament courses we have seen in the last few years.
DeChambeau’s power off the tee has put him in some bad spots, but he has been able to recover off any mistakes committed over the first two days.
On Friday, DeChambeau recorded five bogeys and four birdies. He needs to be a little more consistent to compete with Aberg, who only carded two bogeys on Friday.
Aberg has been the more consistent player, but DeChambeau carries more major experience into Saturday’s final group.
DeChambeau won the 2020 US Open and finished in the top 10 at both The Masters and PGA Championship in 2024. Aberg’s only felt the weekend pressure at Augusta in April.
Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele are lurking a few shots back of the lead.
The two previous major winners are more than capable of moving up the leaderboard on Saturday.
McIlroy was tied for the first-round lead with Patrick Cantlay. He gave back two shots to the course on Friday, but he is still in the mix at three-under.
Schauffele battled on Thursday and Friday to get to one-under. He did not have his best driving performance on either day, but his scrambling was superb.
Schauffele tees off in the sixth-to-last pairing on Saturday, while McIlroy is in the third-to-last group.
Both players could potentially put pressure on Aberg’s lead and end up in Sunday’s final pairing themselves.
Few low scores have been recorded so far at Pinehurst, but both players have a round in the 60s and we could see something similar from at least one of them on Saturday.
Scottie Scheffler’s third round will probably be finished by the time Aberg and DeChambeau reach the first tee.
It’s an odd situation for the world’s best player to be in. He has not finished outside the top 10 in his last 11 starts on the PGA Tour.
Scheffler could still find himself in the top 10, but he needs two rounds of his life to reach that point.
Scheffler is currently five-over. He barely made the cut thanks to the poor scores from Friday’s afternoon wave of players.
The good news for Scheffler is that he will not face any pressure from his 10:01 a.m. ET tee time. That could allow him to play loose and avoid the mistakes that plagued him on Thursday and Friday.
We will not see Scheffler at the top of the leaderboard, but there’s still a small chance come Sunday that he’s somewhere around the top 10 if he fixes his mistakes from the first two days at Pinehurst.