In one of golf's biggest tournaments of the year, at one of the most iconic courses in the world, and with every top golfer present, it would be natural to expect a leaderboard packed with familiar names.
While this year's U.S. Open does have a few of those golfers — Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka among them — at the top, no one was playing better entering Saturday than Gary Woodland, who held a two-stroke lead over the rest of the field at Pebble Beach.
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Despite not being one of those familiar names, Woodland was ranked 25th in the world coming into the third major of the season A former University of Kansas golfer, Woodland turned professional in 2007 and joined the PGA Tour in 2009. In 10 years on the Tour, Woodland has won three events, most recently at the 2018 Waste Management Phoenix Open in a playoff over Chez Reavie, who is also in contention this weekend.
Entering his Saturday tee time, Woodland hadn't bogeyed in 27 consecutive holes. Although not new on the Tour, excelling at major tournaments is a recent development for the Delray Beach, Fla., resident.
Woodland recorded his first top-10 finish in a major last year at the PGA Championship after entering Round 3 with the solo lead. He was paired with Tiger Woods in the final round before fading to a tie for sixth place. At this year's PGA Championship at Bethpage Black, Woodland finished tied for eighth. Before his 2018 PGA Championship performance, Woodland had gone 27 majors in a row without a top-10.
At this year's Waste Management Open, a video of Woodland inviting Amy Bockerstette from Special Olympics Arizona to play the 16th hole went viral.
Known as one of the longest hitters on the PGA Tour, Woodland averages 309.0 yards off the tee, good for 11th on the tour. He's ranked 26th in the FedEx Cup standings and has three top-10 finishes this season. He has earned $3,108,907 in official winnings.