PINEHURST, N.C. – Saturday, Clayton Rask showed off his "eagle dance." He practiced his "birdie dance." And he was forced to work on his bogey shrug.
Pinehurst No. 2 turned rude in Round 3 of the U.S. Open. Rask, the Otsego native and former Gopher, played the two par 5s in a combined 3 under, but otherwise was unhappy with his ball-striking as he shot a 77, leaving him in a tie for 57th entering Sunday's final round.
He had his moments, though.
He hit a mammoth drive on the par-5 fifth and made the eagle putt. A few people in his growing entourage flapped their arms. Rask spotted them and flapped back.
"Oh, yeah, we've got the eagle dance, we've got the birdie dance," Rask said. "It was a fun day."
A couple of seconds later, he said, "It was a tough day. Out here, if you're not hitting it well, the course will give you trouble, and that's what I got."
Fun day? Tough day? Both are true given Rask's reverence for the U.S. Open and his ambition of making it to the PGA Tour.
When he was 7, he met Payne Stewart at the U.S. Open held at Hazeltine National. After finishing his round early Saturday afternoon, he planned to visit Stewart's statue at Pinehurst.