Min Woo Lee has started to tumble down the leaderboard after a poor start to the third round of action at the US Open while fellow Australian Cameron Smith remains in the running.
Lee, who recorded a five-under-par 65 on Saturday — the lowest round of the day — stormed to sixth alongside Dustin Johnson and entered Sunday just four shots back from the lead.
The Australian underdog, however, had five bogeys and one double bogey on the first 13 holes of the round before starting to claw back into contention with back-to-back birdies.
Lee still found himself outside of the Top 10 though and eight shots of the lead, tied for 13th alongside Hideki Matsuyama and Viktor Hovland at two-under.
Smith, meanwhile, hit back-to-back birdies on the 12th and 13th holes after three early bogeys of his own and is currently six shots back from the lead and tied at seventh on three-under.
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Both Lee and Smith will be chasing Rickie Fowler and Wyndham Clark, who have been largely locked in a two-way battle for top spot with Rory McIlroy also lurking.
Clark had two birdies without a bogey in the first nine holes to take a one-stroke lead over Fowler and English midway through the third round before Fowler regained the lead.
After two days of record scoring, the Los Angeles Country Club North Course — hosting the championship for the first time — was proving plenty capable of providing a classic US Open test of patience and nerve.
Just ask Scottie Scheffler, who was one-over for the day through 13. Scheffler though quickly recovered and later holed out from the fairway on the 17th for a stunning eagle.
There was another crazy moment earlier in the day too as Cam Young’s tee shot landed perfectly into a golf cart ball holder.
“You won’t believe this. That’s my cart, I kid you not,” Ned Michaels, a reporter covering the event, said.
Young carded a two-under 68 to move to even-par overall heading into the final round.
Meanwhile Clark, chasing a first major title, started the day one off Fowler’s lead and birdied the first and third, making the turn at 11-under.
Fowler, who missed the last two US Opens as he battled through a prolonged slump, had two birdies and two bogeys to remain 10-under at the turn, tied with English, who was 10-under through 10.
Rory McIlroy, chasing a fifth major title but his first since 2014, started the day two adrift and was still two off the lead at nine-under through 10 after two birdies and a bogey.
Xander Schauffele, who matched Fowler’s record-setting 62 on Friday, had three bogeys in the first five holes but had clawed back to even for the day with birdies at the sixth, eighth and ninth.
With the course firming up in the hot Southern California sunshine, things were only likely to get more difficult for the leaders.
South Korean Tom Kim fired seven birdies in the first 10 holes to reach six-under for the tournament.
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His front-nine 29 tied the US Open nine-hole scoring mark, but he had three bogeys coming in on the way to a four-under par 66 that put him at three-under 207 for the tournament.
He was joined in the clubhouse at three-under by former US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, who carded a 68.
“To be honest, that back nine is really hard,” Kim said. “
You just don’t really have any bail-outs.
“Those three bogeys really don’t feel like bogeys because I barely missed it by a yard or two. But major championship golf, US Open really brings it out of you.”
One of Kim’s bogeys came at the par-three 15th, playing at just 81 yards on Saturday.
He said the short yardage made it one of the few “realistic” birdie opportunities — but there was no room for error.
“I mean, it was 76 yards, 80 something to the hole. You have four yards of green to work with,” Kim said.
“You’re long, you’re dead; you’re short, you’re dead.”
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Masters champion Jon Rahm, who made the cut on the number at two-over, didn’t make any headway with an even par 72.
“Today was a US Open,” said Rahm, who lifted the US Open title down the coast at Torrey Pines in 2021.
“Today is a difficult course.
“Even in the morning it was a little firmer, faster, harder and the margins were much smaller today,” added the Spaniard, who was forced to hit away from the pin from the back greenside bunker, then chip back toward the hole on the way to a par at the par-four sixth.
“I played very good golf, I had a great day and on the second nine holes, playing well, I gave myself only two or three birdie options.”
LEADERBOARD — TOP CONTENDERS
T1: Rickie Fowler -11
2: Wyndham Clark -10
T3: Rory McIlroy -8
T3: Harris English -8
5: Xander Schauffele -7
6: Scottie Scheffler -5
T7: Ryutaro Nagano -4
T7: Cameron Smith -4
T7: Dustin Johnson -4
AUSSIES IN THE FIELD
T7: Cameron Smith -4
T15: Min Woo Lee -1
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