US Open day 3: Late slip sees Fowler fall back into shared lead in LA

A closing three-putt for bogey denied Rickie Fowler sole possession of the lead after three days of the 123rd US Open in Los Angeles on Saturday, but was still good enough to see him on top of the leaderboard alongside fellow-American Wyndham Clark in the year’s third major.

Fowler returned a level par 70 to tally 10 under 200, as Clark caught him with a final hole birdie in his round of 1 under 69, with former winner Rory McIlroy (69) of Northern Ireland one shot behind them in third place on 9 under 201.

With the Los Angeles Country Club getting stingier by the day, scores have not moved very much beyond what a generous opening round offered and on Saturday only three of the top 10 – Clark, McIlroy and world number one Scottie Scheffler (68) – went under par.

Scheffler (7 under 203) and McIlroy will be the leading threats to the leaders on championship Sunday with the former making a late charge thanks to an eagle-birdie combination over his closing two holes.

Fowler, whose golf has been on the upswing after a difficult couple of years during which his world ranking sank as low as 185 last year, was sanguine about what the final round could bring.

“After going through the last few years, I’m not scared to fail. I’ve dealt with that,” the 34-year-old Californian said. “We're just going to go have fun, continue to try to execute, leave it all out there, see where we stand on 18.

“I hit a good putt on 18 so really can't go back on it. It would be nice for that one to go in but it really doesn't matter, having the lead, being one back, two back. You're going to have to play good golf.”

If he does indeed land his first major, Fowler would be the first to win the US Open leading or co-leading after every round since Martin Kaymer did so at Pinehurst in 2014. Kaymer beat Fowler and Erik Compton by eight strokes.

“Through three rounds we're in the spot that we want to be in,” noted Fowler, whose last event-winning performance was in 2019, “and tomorrow is when the tournament starts.”

Day one co-leader Xander Schauffele continued to slip down the leaderboard and is now five behind the leaders with a third-round 73 and a 5 under 205 aggregate along with LIV Golf star Dustin Johnson.

“I need some help at this point now, with such a poor performance today,” the Tokyo Olympics gold medallist said. “Just going to have to do something special, and [I’m] going to need some help from up top probably.”

McIlroy’s last win at a major came nine years ago, at the 2014 PGA Championship. He briefly joined long-time friend and frequent sparring partner Fowler at the top before slipping back again, but remains one of the few real threats at an event where no player has come from more than four shots behind to win in the last 24 years.

“The golf course definitely got a little bit trickier today,” the Northern Irishman said. “I felt like I played really smart, solid golf … sort of felt somewhat stress-free out there, if you can ever call golf at a US Open stress-free. Overall, pretty pleased with how today went, and feel like I’m in a good spot heading into tomorrow.”

Further down the order, young Korean star Joohyung Kim became only the fourth in the tournament’s history to shoot as low as 29 over nine holes. The 20-year-old Kim got to 7 under for his round before making three bogeys to bring in a 4 under 66 card in a 54-hole total of 3 under 207. “It did catch my mind once I was 7 under after 10 where, man, if I can keep this going, have a good finish, I might … have a chance to be really close up there on Sunday. But it was a really short thought because I still had the hardest part of the golf course right in front of me.” Kim said later.