Ryder Cuppers like Patrick Reed, Brooks Koepka and Paul Casey, along with other big names like Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas.

And despite starting his second round with bogeys on his first two holes, the South African bounced back to record a superb 66 which he matched in the third round.

The lead, however, belonged to Brian Harman.

This isn't like most Opens.

For Justin Thomas, Sunday's U.S. Open final round could be even more historic. Champ ranks 66th in fairways hit; 40th in Greens-in-regulation; 20th in putting; and, you guessed it, first in driving distance, averaging 340 yards off the tee. It led to an eagle to close out his 63. "Who can forget Tiger Woods" 18-hole playoff with Rocco Mediate at Torrey Pines in 2008; battling the course on an injured knee, Woods scripted what will be remembered as his most astonishing achievement. His rationale was straightforward: you're not going to win if you're whining about the golf course.

"Let me make it very clear that (when) we came here, this was all about coming to a great golf course to play the greatest championship in women's golf", Davis told The Washington Post last month. And he wasn't through. He two-putted for birdie, and he rolled in a 25-foot birdie putt on the 17th.

Morgan shot 77 and, remarkably, still had the lead at 4-under 212. It would have been the round of the day had Thomas not shot 63.

None has won a major championship yet.

Day shot a 3-over-par 75 on Friday to follow up his 7-over 79 on Thursday to finish 36 holes at 10-over-par. No one had a chance.

This birdie putt on the Par 4, 504-yard 5th hole will go down as one of the greatest putts in U.S. Open history.

As a point of fact, the U.S. Women's Open is not organized by the LPGA. In the previous 116 U.S. Opens, no one had ever gone so low.

Miller pointed out that the course was softened by rains and set up cautiously by the USGA. The last player to accomplish the feat was Vijay Singh in 2003 at Olympia Fields.

The tournament was such a slog that it didn't finish 72 holes until Monday. Until this week, a total of five players reached -10 in US Open history - Morgan, Tiger, Furyk, Barnes, Rory. On one, a par 5, he was 85 feet short of the hole on his second shot and got the easy up and down.

Harman, bidding to become the first left-hander to win a US Open, is a victor on the PGA Tour this year and he leads in Wisconsin by a stroke, with world number 13 Thomas, Brooks Koepka and England's Tommy Fleetwood (both 68) sharing second place. And at the end of the day add them up and see how you do. A mere hiccup. On Saturday, he got to 14 under, then on Sunday, he widened the gap versus par to 16 under. That score was 8-under as the course was a party 71.

By day's end, Thomas, a four-time victor on the PGA Tour, was a shot behind the leader, Brian Harman, one of a dozen players that blitzed Erin Hills with rounds in the 60s on a shootout kind of day following overnight rain that left the course soft with only its 7,741 yards as its defense - and even Thomas, the smallest of bombers at 5-foot-10 and 145 pounds, said, "You can't make courses more hard today by making them longer". The tournament was never really in doubt after that, though the wind arrived and Kaymer couldn't maintain the pace.