Bouncebacks
U.S. Open 2024: British tour pro matches biggest tournament turnaround in 40 years
Jared C. Tilton
It will go down as a missed cut by Sam Bairstow this week at Pinehurst. In fact, the 25-year-old English tour pro won't come close to making the weekend. But he'll still leave North Carolina with a boost of confidence—and a (small) piece of U.S. Open history.
Nothing went right for Bairstow during a first-round 84 that put him in dead last after Day 1 as he battled to beat bogey golf. But through most of Friday's morning wave, no one played better than the lefty.
Bairstow bounce back in a big way with a second-round 67, an amazing 17-shot improvement from Thursday. And according to stats guru Justin Ray, that matches the biggest turnaround in U.S. Open history over the last 40 years.
Bairstow won on the European Challenge Tour last year and currently plays on the DP World Tour. He's played in two previous Open Championships with a T-81 in 2022 being his best result.
Bairstow will finish lower than that in his U.S. Open debut, but in a strange way, it will probably feel a lot better. Just ask any player sticking around the rest of the week how much they'd pay to shoot 67 here over the weekend.