Finau, Berger make surprising rise to top

Both Daniel Berger and Tony Finau were done early, then they were able to sit and watch as the U.S. Open became a bloodbath and their names shot up the leaderboard.

And eventually, matching scorecards of 4-under 66 shot early Saturday at Shinnecock Hills got both of them into the final group going into Sunday, joining a fourway tie with stumbling leaders Dustin Johnson (77) and Brooks Koepka (72), all at 3over par for the tournament.

“This is why I practice and play because I want to be in this position to have a chance to win golf tournaments,” said Berger, who will tee off with Finau at 2:24 p.m. “It hasn’t necessar- ily gone my way this year, but I’ve done a lot of the right things, and it’s more about just letting it happen and not putting too much pressure on myself. Today, I did that. I just went out there and played golf and added up the score at the end of the day, and it happened to be a good one.”

Berger’s best finish in 11 previous major champion- ship appearances was a tie for 10th at the 2016 Masters, and he missed the cut at last year’s U.S. Open at Erin Hills. Yet that was a lot different than this U.S. Open, when he predicted the leaders were going to struggle in the rising afternoon winds.

“I think it’s going to be extremely difficult,” Berger had said. “Some of these pins are three off the edges, where you hit one by, three feet past the hole and it’s going 40 yards away from the green. I think to get out there early and play a good round really was to my benefit.”

Finau, meanwhile, is just trying to get over the stigma of being the guy that dislocated his ankle during the par-3 contest at this year’s Masters. A good showing on Sunday, and that can happen very fast.

Now both Finau and Berger have a chance to breakthrough on a big stage, even if it didn’t seem like it was going to be this good an opportunity when they first got in.

“You know, this is what we play for. This is what we practice for,” Finau said. “Put ourselves in contention and just in a good position going into Sunday.”