Perfectly imperfect

 We've all been where young Matthew Wolff is this morning. OK, so we haven't.

Where the 21-year-old is, is leading the U.S. Open by two strokes going into the final round at Winged Foot, and the ghost of Francis Ouimet rides with him. Like Ouimet, the former caddie who famously won the U.S. Open in 1913 and became the face of American golf, Wolff is playing in his first U.S. Open. And if he wins today he'll be the first golfer to win the U.S. Open in September since ... Francis Ouimet.

So we haven't been where Matthew Wolff is. Although we've certainly been to some of the places he has on his way there.

Wolff gouged a 65 out of Winged Foot yesterday, and by "gouged" I mean, "gouged." He hit only two fairways in 18 holes. The rest of the time he was inventing amazing shots from the trackless wastes of Winged Foot's rough. It might have been both the ugliest, and impressive, 65s ever shot.

This is because no one else could do it, and pretty much everyone was playing from the trackless wastes. Winged Foot's fairways being skinnier than a bolo tie, hardly anyone could keep it in play. Bryson DeChambeau, who trails Wolff by two shots, hit only three fairways himself. Patrick Reed, the Open leader through the first two rounds, missed a whole pile of fairways, too, and blew to a 77. He started the day with a two-shot lead and finished it eight shots back.

This likely finishes one of the PGA Tour's less amicable figures (the Blob would use the term "punk," but let's play nice), which might not be a bad thing. DeChambeau, however, is right there, and he's also one of the Tour's less amicable figures. You take the bad with the good in these deals.

Or, if you're Matthew Wolff, you turn the bad into the good -- and phooey on the conventional U.S. Open wisdom  that says you tiptoe your way around, as if the course were seeded with land mines.

"I like to go out there and do what I feel comfortable with, rip dog and see how it goes from there," Wolff said.

You gotta love a guy who says stuff like "rip dog."

Spray it some more out there today, young man.