Burns takes one-shot lead over Scott and Spaun into final round at Oakmont
OAKMONT, Pennsylvania, June 15 (Reuters) - Sam Burns will try to secure the biggest win of his career when he sets off in the final round of the U.S. Open clinging to a one-shot lead over Australian Adam Scott and J.J. Spaun at Oakmont Country Club on Sunday.
Burns, whose best finish at one of golf's blue-riband events came at last year's U.S. Open where he earned a share of ninth place, has been impervious to the major-championship pressure all week and now stands 18 holes away from glory.
"As a kid growing up, you dream about winning major championships and that's why we practice so hard and work so hard," Burns, who is four under on the week and one of four players under par, said after the third round.
"All these guys in this field I think would agree that to have the opportunity to win a major is special."
Scott, the 2013 Masters champion and only player in the top 10 after the third round with a major to his name, has flashed vintage form this week with brilliant ball-striking prowess.
The 44-year-old Australian, who is the only player this week with three rounds of par or better, will head out in the final pairing with Burns at 2:15 p.m. ET (1815 GMT).
"It would be super fulfilling," Scott said after the third round when asked about the idea of claiming a second major so late in his career. "It would be a hell of a round of golf and an exclamation point on my career."
A win for Scott would break the record for longest time between a player winning his first and second majors. The current mark of 11 years is shared by Julius Boros (1952 and 1963 U.S. Opens) and Ben Crenshaw (1984 and 1995 Masters).
J.J. Spaun, who had a share of the lead until a bogey at his closing hole on Saturday, will head out in the day's penultimate pairing alongside world number 14 Viktor Hovland, who is three shots back of Burns.
Mexico's Carlos Ortiz, one of 14 LIV Golf players who teed up in this year's U.S. Open, was even par on the week and alone in fifth place.
Entering the final round, all of the players among the top-10 on the leaderboard rank outside the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
The last time all of the players who were among the top 10 on the 54-hole U.S. Open leaderboard ranked outside the top 10 in the rankings was in 1998.
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