US Open live: leaderboard, scores and analysis from round 3

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a day ago

Spain's Jon Rahm, starting the day four over, opens with a par on the 1st. Remember, there are still no birdies at that hole today. Rory McIlroy, meanwhile, scrambles for a par in some style on the par-3 13th, splashing out from a bunker to within about five feet before holing the putt. He's eight over.
Rick Broadbent at Oakmont
The heavy rain last night lingered into this morning but the greens are still treacherous here. Famously, perhaps infamously, Oakmont has faster greens than Augusta National, and organisers have confirmed the speed on some of the greens is up to the 14s.
That means a ball rolled from an aluminium track at a certain angle will keep rolling for 14 or so feet. This device, the Stimpmeter, was invented by Edward Stimpson after Gene Sarazen's problems at the 1935 US Open at Oakmont. Stimpson was so surprised at hearing Sarazen had putted a ball off a green into a bunker that he set about measuring how fast they really were. The greens tend to measure 10 at a regular tour event.
Xander Schauffele knocks in another birdie on that mammoth 12th to go back to two under for the round and four over overall. McIlroy had a chance for birdie too but knocked the putt ever so slightly past the cup, and so ends up with par. He's eight over for the weekend and two over for the round.
Over on the 2nd, Scottie Scheffler (+4) corrects that bogey on the 1st with a birdie on 2.
Over on the 1st Scottie Scheffler has picked up a bogey to take him to five over, featuring three putts. Still no birdies on that hole today. Xander Schauffele, also five over and after a long conference with his caddie, steps up for an excellent shot on the enormous par-5 12th, playing to 632 yards. In 2016 it was the longest hole in major history, playing to 667 yards.
The memories of that birdie may be fading slightly as Rory McIlroy finds another greenside bunker on the 11th, a shot met with an expression of pain. Eventually he lines up a bogey putt and sinks it, standing over the hole with a grimace. He's eight over now.
Meanwhile, world No1 Scottie Scheffler is out for his round and promptly miscues his tee shot on the 1st, out to the left. Did we mention that Oakmont is tough?
But first it's so nearly a spectacular splash-out for Xander Schauffele, whose chip from the rough by the green hits the flag and just lips out. McIlroy, meanwhile, starts the back nine with a birdie, with everything going well there from tee to putt on the par-4 10th. He'll need a few more of those but that's important all the same.
An excellent tee shot with the four-iron on the par-3 8th and Rory McIlroy plonks it right on the fairway — a lot of players have missed that spot, make no mistake. He makes a par, his fifth in a row, while Xander Schauffele makes bogey.
Scouring the rest of the leaderboard and there are a lot of players with a neat little '+' next to their name for their round. Marc Leishman of Australia and Corey Conners of Canada are two exceptions at three under for today.
It's another for Rory McIlroy on the par-4 7th and it seems he's trending slightly in the right direction here. It's certainly true for Xander Schauffele, who has made successive birdies with a tremendous shape on his putts. He's now four over. Next up is the 8th hole, at 300 yards it's still a par-3. Gulp.
Xander Schauffele hits a lovely tee shot and that sets him up for a tap-in putt on the par-3 6th to go to five over. McIlroy saves par with a putt from about five feet and remains at seven over. A good pace of play in this partnership too.
Over to the par-4 5th and McIlroy leaves a long birdie putt a tad shy. It's an easy knock-in for another par and he's still seven over. Schauffele can't convert his own effort at birdie attempt either, a par for him and he's six over.
After plopping his approach in the bunker on the 4th, Rory McIlroy chips out but overshoots the pin by a reasonable margin. Two putts from there, the first stopping at about five feet from the pin, mean that he makes par on the par-5 hole, as does Xander Schauffele.
A good tee shot from McIlroy, following his playing partner Xander Schauffele in that regard. Water, incidentally, is absolutely spraying off the fairways. It's a damp course at Oakmont today — a full inch of rain fell overnight and the USGA has even announced that it will offer a refund to any ticketed fans who didn't want to navigate the 'very saturated' areas outside the ropes.
Rory McIlroy is one of the early starters here. He hasn't exactly lit the course on fire so far (though few have, in fairness) and he drops a shot at the par-4 3rd hole after getting stuck on the rough to the side of the green. That bogey takes him to seven over.
Rick Broadbent, at Oakmont
Rory McIlroy may be continuing his major media blackout — it is six consecutive rounds without a word now — but old timers Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller, winners here in 1962 and 1973 respectively, have been chewing the fat. Not much sympathy for any bleating about the rough from them. 'It's still about hitting the ball in the fairways,' said Miller. 'You see guys that don't, like Bryson DeChambeau, he was living in the rough the last couple of days and, of course, he gets to watch it on TV today.'
This feeds the argument that the modern game has become overly dominated by big-hitting and accuracy is an after-thought. 'I was talking to some of the guys in the locker room a few minutes ago,' added Nicklaus. They asked what I thought. I said putting is the key. I had one three-putt that week in 1982 and I'm still ticked off.'
It's a birdie for Brian Harman at the fourth. He is the only player currently under par on the day, but he is still six over par for the tournament.Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele are the next pair to tee off.
Scottie Scheffler, who has been the No1 player in the world entering every US Open since 2022, finished at four over par and admitted that he is lucky to have made the weekend.
'Mentally this was as tough as I've battled for the whole day,' Scheffler said after his second round. 'With the way I was hitting it, it was easily a day I could have been going home and battled pretty hard to stay in there.'
Rory McIlroy, nine shots off the lead, will be teeing off in around 15/20 minutes. It's a late one for the leaders though. American pair Sam Burns and J.J. Spaun are scheduled to start around 8.30. Very late night for the UK viewers!
They probably knew what to expect when they turned up for more torment on Friday the 13th. Half a century ago it is said Tom Weiskopf's errant approach found a passing train here and ended up in Cleveland. A six-lane highway has replaced the railway, but there was still blood on the tracks after a torturous US Open grind at Oakmont.
A totem for the angst-ridden was the sight of Rory McIlroy smashing a tee marker with a wood on the 17th hole. Earlier he had tossed another club in frustration during a day that sapped body and mind. McIlroy says he wants to enjoy life after completing the career grand slam, but has been exuding an air of festering misery over the past month. A birdie on the last hole ensured he scraped into the weekend. On cue, the heavens then opened.
• Read Rick Broadbent's report from day two
Rick Broadbent, at Oakmont
Well, there was a fair bit of damage done to scores, seasons and egos yesterday. Bryson DeChambeau, Shane Lowry, Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood, Joaquin Niemann, Justin Rose, Sepp Straka, Phil Mickelson, Ludvig Aberg were among those leaving early. How hard is it here? The top ten in the world were a collective 70 over par. Pretty hard.
Loads of rain overnight means it will be easier to hold the fairways but the greens will still be fast and we could see a new problem — mudballs!
Scottie Scheffler needs to rectify his game off the tee, something he managed to when winning the US PGA, Brooks Koepka will be licking his lips at some of the lesser names ahead of him, and it would be typical of Rory McIlroy to have a run. The most consistent player so far, though, has been Adam Scott, who had done absolutely nothing this year to suggest this was coming.
Day three at Oakmont after a torturous second day. The winner of the US Open last year, Bryson DeChambeau, failed to make the cut, as did a number of other top stars including: Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry and Ludvig Aberg.
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'It sucks,' Thomas said after his second round. Rory McIlroy just about scraped through, but is nine shots of the leader Sam Burns. The American Burns leads the way at three under par as he got the better of the course on Friday with a sensational 65 that set the new low round of the week, and tied for the third-lowest score ever compiled at an Oakmont-hosted U.S. Open.