Rory McIlroy counts down the hours until he can get out of Oakmont
The Northern Irishman scrambled two birdies in the final four holes during Friday's second round to book his weekend stay but revealed he would have not have minded going home.
That feeling was even more prevalent after another bruising round on 'moving day', where the only direction he was heading was down.
Rory McIlroy has had a challenging US Open (Carolyn Kaster/AP)
Trouble was never far away as he made six bogeys in a round of 74 and when his par-putt kissed the lips of the hole from three and a half feet and went out on the 14th, he was seen quietly mouthing an expletive, presumably telling the Oakmont course exactly where to go.
He sits near the foot of the leaderboard at 10 over par and is counting down the hours until he can go home.
Asked what his expectations were for Sunday's final round, he said: 'Hopefully a round in under four and a half hours and get out of here.
'It's funny, it's much easier being on the cut line when you don't really care if you're here for the weekend or not.
'I was sort of thinking, 'Do I really want two more days here or not'? So it makes it easier to play better when you're in that mindset.
'I actually feel like I've played OK this week. It's a golf course where the tiniest mistakes get penalised a lot and that's sort of how it's felt this week.
'The name of the game this week is staying patient and try to do a good job of it out there, but it's one of those golf courses that you can lose patience on pretty quickly.'
McIlroy spoke having skipped media duties after the last six rounds of major tournaments, putting it down to frustration at the reporting of his driver failing a 'non-conforming' test during the PGA Championship last month.
With media duties voluntary and not a requirement he insists he has earned the right to choose when he speaks.
'It's more a frustration with you guys,' he said. 'I've been totally available for the last few years.
'(The driver) thing was a part of it. But at Augusta I skipped you guys on Thursday, so it's not out of the ordinary. I've done it before; I'm just doing it a little more often.
'I feel like I've earned the right to do whatever I want to do.
'I'm not daring them (the PGA Tour) to do anything. I hope they don't change it because it's a nice luxury to have.
'But I'm just pointing out the fact that we have the ability to do it.'
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This storied expanse of golfing terrain, sprawling out in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, tends to lead to the kind of punishing shift that's the golfing equivalent of breaking rocks in a chain gang. As the third round of the US Open was getting underway yesterday, the leaderboard showed that only three players were under-par for 36-holes. The lead was held by Sam Burns at three-under. Funnily enough, when the aforementioned Nicklaus triumphed at Oakmont in the 1962 US Open, only three players were under-par at halfway. And the lead was three-under. 'One-under par won the tournament,' said Nicklaus of the eventual winning tally that gave him the first of his 18-major titles. 'One-under par doesn't win a lot of tournaments today, but it did then.' The way things are going this week, Jack, it might be good enough to win again come Sunday night. Time will tell. The chances, meanwhile, of someone replicating Miller's feat of 1973 and conjuring a dazzling 63 on the final day to win are probably as remote as the outer rings of Saturn. Miller probably thought the chances of doing it himself were pretty outlandish too. It was the lowest round in major history, a record low that stood for 44 years. Miller will never tire of talking about it. In fact, his iconic round has been talked about so much down the seasons, you half expect the passing years to have shaved another couple of shots off the card. In the Oakmont media centre yesterday, it was time to talk about it again. Miller had been six shots off the pace heading into the final round of that '73 showpiece after a 76 on day three. Ahead of him on the leaderboard sat giants like Nicklaus, Gary Player, Lee Trevino and Arnold Palmer. By the end of the day, they were all left wheezing behind as Miller came with a triumphant charge that could've been accompanied by a rousing bugle call and mounted cavalry. Miller hit all 18 greens in regulation. He took 29 putts. Ten of his approach shots landed within 15-feet while five were within six-feet. His only bogey came on the par-3 eighth, a three-putt blemish which still annoys him to this day. In this game, there's always something from a round that rankles, isn't there? Miller's 76 in round three, meanwhile, certainly gave him plenty to ponder. 'I was pretty down in the dumps after that,' reflected the 78-year-old. 'I thought, 'well, that's the end of that'. 'But I birdied the first four holes and thought, 'dang, I was six back and I'm four-under now and the leaders might be nervous. I might only be one or two behind'. 'I got ahead of myself like a lot of golfers do when they think they're going to play the best round of their life. I got a surge of adrenaline and started to be very tentative. But after the fourth hole, I thought, 'I've got a shot here if I can keep it up'.' And he did. Winning at Oakmont requires a bit of everything. 'Patience, basically that's what you have to have,' said Nicklaus of the importance of keeping the head while others can be losing theirs. 'Obviously you have to play good golf. But just be patient with it. The key to Oakmont to me was not three-putting.' Keeping it on the straight and narrow, especially at a place like this, helps too. 'You see the guys that don't hit the fairway, like Bryson DeChambeau,' said Miller, with a subtle dig at the reigning US Open champion who missed the cut the other night. 'He was living in the rough there these last couple days. Of course, he gets to watch it on TV today.' Whoever emerges victorious at Oakmont tonight will have displayed all these things and more. Nobody ever said winning was easy. 'You've got to be able to handle the US Open pressure,' said Miller. 'With a a lot of guys, winning a US Open is a little out of their comfort zone. So, there's only a certain kind of player that can win a US, especially on Sunday. 'That's the greatness of golf. Jack liked to hang around the first three days and then on the last day he had a huge advantage. He believed in himself, and not only believed in himself, he could produce on that last round and handle the putt or the shot.' The character and resolve of the current crop of US Open challengers will be revealed tonight.
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As the third round of the US Open was getting underway yesterday, the leaderboard showed that only three players were under-par for 36-holes. The lead was held by Sam Burns at three-under. Funnily enough, when the aforementioned Nicklaus triumphed at Oakmont in the 1962 US Open, only three players were under-par at halfway. And the lead was three-under. 'One-under par won the tournament,' said Nicklaus of the eventual winning tally that gave him the first of his 18-major titles. 'One-under par doesn't win a lot of tournaments today, but it did then.' The way things are going this week, Jack, it might be good enough to win again come Sunday night. Time will tell. The chances, meanwhile, of someone replicating Miller's feat of 1973 and conjuring a dazzling 63 on the final day to win are probably as remote as the outer rings of Saturn. Miller probably thought the chances of doing it himself were pretty outlandish too. It was the lowest round in major history, a record low that stood for 44 years. Miller will never tire of talking about it. In fact, his iconic round has been talked about so much down the seasons, you half expect the passing years to have shaved another couple of shots off the card. In the Oakmont media centre yesterday, it was time to talk about it again. Miller had been six shots off the pace heading into the final round of that '73 showpiece after a 76 on day three. Ahead of him on the leaderboard sat giants like Nicklaus, Gary Player, Lee Trevino and Arnold Palmer. By the end of the day, they were all left wheezing behind as Miller came with a triumphant charge that could've been accompanied by a rousing bugle call and mounted cavalry. Miller hit all 18 greens in regulation. He took 29 putts. Ten of his approach shots landed within 15-feet while five were within six-feet. His only bogey came on the par-3 eighth, a three-putt blemish which still annoys him to this day. In this game, there's always something from a round that rankles, isn't there? Miller's 76 in round three, meanwhile, certainly gave him plenty to ponder. 'I was pretty down in the dumps after that,' reflected the 78-year-old. 'I thought, 'well, that's the end of that'. 'But I birdied the first four holes and thought, 'dang, I was six back and I'm four-under now and the leaders might be nervous. I might only be one or two behind'. 'I got ahead of myself like a lot of golfers do when they think they're going to play the best round of their life. I got a surge of adrenaline and started to be very tentative. But after the fourth hole, I thought, 'I've got a shot here if I can keep it up'.' And he did. Winning at Oakmont requires a bit of everything. 'Patience, basically that's what you have to have,' said Nicklaus of the importance of keeping the head while others can be losing theirs. 'Obviously you have to play good golf. But just be patient with it. The key to Oakmont to me was not three-putting.' Keeping it on the straight and narrow, especially at a place like this, helps too. 'You see the guys that don't hit the fairway, like Bryson DeChambeau,' said Miller, with a subtle dig at the reigning US Open champion who missed the cut the other night. 'He was living in the rough there these last couple days. Of course, he gets to watch it on TV today.' Whoever emerges victorious at Oakmont tonight will have displayed all these things and more. Nobody ever said winning was easy. 'You've got to be able to handle the US Open pressure,' said Miller. 'With a a lot of guys, winning a US Open is a little out of their comfort zone. So, there's only a certain kind of player that can win a US, especially on Sunday. 'That's the greatness of golf. Jack liked to hang around the first three days and then on the last day he had a huge advantage. He believed in himself, and not only believed in himself, he could produce on that last round and handle the putt or the shot.' The character and resolve of the current crop of US Open challengers will be revealed tonight.
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