Justin Thomas shoots U.S. Open record round of 63, stroke back of lead

A U.S. Open short on big names and a leaderboard that might as well be a phonebook of random people, found a bright star under a partially cloudy sky at Erin Hills golf course.

Justin Thomas made history on Saturday when he shot a 63, shattering a record that stood for 44 years. His nine-under score was the lowest relative to par in U.S. Open history. And the 63 tied the eight-under mark set by Johnny Miller at Oakmont in 1973.

As good as that round was, Thomas has not run away with the tournament. In fact, he’s not even leading. Brain Harman has a one-shot lead at 12 under. Tied with Thomas at 11 under are Brooks Koepka and Tommy Fleetwood. Rickie Fowler is at 10 under.

“I’m not sure when it’s going to sink in or when I’m going to realize what I did,” Thomas said. “I know one thing, if it happened tomorrow and the result is what I want it to be, then I’d probably have a different feeling. I’m just so excited to give myself a great chance to win this golf tournament.”

Thomas’ dramatics happened on the 18th when he hit his second-shot three wood more than 300 yards on the par-five 667-yard finishing hole. The ball hit just short of the green and popped forward and rolled 8 feet 1 inch past the hole.

“I obviously needed to nuke it,” Thomas said of his three-wood shot, which he later called his best of the round. “But I just felt like I could get it up in the air enough to hold the green as soft as they were. And it came out nicely.”

After waiting while playing partner Jonathan Thomas hit his third, fourth, fifth and six shots, Thomas stood over his ball for a couple seconds and rolled it in for an eagle.

“I was excited to take the lead,” Thomas said. “I was excited to shoot 63. I had no idea that nine-under was the best ever in an Open, so that was pretty cool once I saw my card. The guys at the scoring table told me that, so I was pretty pumped.”

john.cherwa@latimes.com

Follow John Cherwa on Twitter @jcherwa

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