Incredible second major on the cards as Adam Scott makes move in US Open thriller

Australia’s Adam Scott is one shot off the lead at the US Open after firing the equal best round of the day in the third round at Oakmont.

Australia’s Adam Scott is one shot off the lead after the third round of the US Open after he fired the equal best round of the day courtesy of a back nine birdie blitz at Oakmont.

The 44-year-old shot a three-under par round of 67, matched only by Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz, to move to -3 overall after consecutive rounds of 70 to start the tournament, hot on the heels of leader Sam Burns (-4).

Scott will join Burns in the final group on Monday morning Australian time after first round leader J.J. Spaun bogeyed the last to slip back to -3.

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The 2013 Masters champion strung together back-to-back birdies at 13 and 14 followed by another at 17, which lifted him to a share of the lead until Burns and Spaun both made birdies on the same hole in the group behind.

Scott hit a cracking tee shot at the par 3 13th to have less than five feet for the hole, and then played one of the shots of the day with his approach into the par 4 14th, flying it past the hole, spinning it back and almost holing-out to leave a tap-in.

The short par 4 17th is gettable, and he capitalised by draining a near-15 footer to cap off a great up-and-down form a greenside bunker.

Scott made made bogey at the first hole, but recovered with birdie on the fourth hole to return to even par, where he remained until the 13th as he rattled off eight straight pars, playing the “old man par golf” he joked about yesterday.

Adam Scott ties the low round of the day at Oakmont.

Will he win his second career major championship on Sunday? pic.twitter.com/Orq6FWNxvl

— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 14, 2025

Fellow Australian Marc Leishman (+4) held low round of the day of the honours for several hours before Scott and Ortiz pipped him.

Leishman fired a two-under par 68, which Englishman Tyrell Hatton (+1) matched later in the day.

Viktor Hovland (-1) is another contender as he shot an even par round of 70 playing alongside Scott.

The US Open winner will take home A$6.6 million in prize money.

Adam Scott is chasing his second major win. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

The Norwegian made birdies either side of the turn, including a curling 18-footer at ten, made another birdie at 17 but dropped a shot at 18 that could be costly.

There were plenty of horror shows throughout the field again, but none worse that Australian Cam Davis’ (+19) nightmare round as he shot a 12-over par 82.

Jason Day (+5), meanwhile, struggled to keep pace as he followed up his second round 67 with a 72.

The former world No.1 provided one of the best moments of the day as he came within an inch of making a hole-in-one at Oakmont’s notorious 253-yard par-three eighth.

Rory McIlroy only found more misery at rain-soaked Oakmont.

McIlroy made bogeys on three of his last five holes to fire a four-over par 74 and stand on 10-over, 13 strokes adrift.

“I was hoping to play better, but I didn’t,” McIlroy said, calling his tournament “pretty average” so far as he broke his media silence.

“The name of the game this week is staying patient, and try to do a good job of it out there,” McIlroy said.

“But it’s one of those golf courses that you can lose patience on pretty quickly.”

McIlroy, who completed a career Grand Slam by winning the Masters for his fifth major title, missed a seven-foot putt to bogey the third hole and took a penalty drop leading to a bogey at nine.

He dropped his approach inside four feet to set up a birdie at the 10th but found a greenside bunker at 11 and made bogey then lipped out from inside four feet to bogey 14 and missed the green at the par-three 16th on the way to bogey.

Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, reacts after missing a putt on the ninth hole during the third round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Saturday, June 14, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

McIlroy found a greenside bunker off the 17th tee but blasted out inches from the hole and tapped in for birdie, only to find the right rough off the 18th tee on the way to bogey.

Asked what he looked for on Sunday, McIlroy said, “Hopefully a round in under four and a half hours and get out of here.”

- Scheffler holds firm -

Third-ranked American Xander Schauffele, the reigning British Open champion, fired a 71 to stand on seven-over 217.

Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler, seeking back-to-back major titles after taking last month’s PGA Championship, had two birdies and three bogeys in his first nine holes to fall to five-over.

Scheffler opened with a three-putt bogey, dropped in a 13-foot birdie putt on the right side of the hole at two, curved in a 19-foot birdie putt at the par-three sixth but made a three-putt bogey at the par-three eighth and a bogey at nine after a penalty drop.

But the world No.1 clawed his way back with birdies at the par 5 12th and the par 4 17th taking him back to even par for the day, eventually signing off on a round of 70 to remain at +4 overall.

Two-time major winner Jon Rahm of Spain sank a birdie putt from just inside 14 feet at the second, made bogey at three after finding a fairway bunker, then sank a 23-foot birdie putt at the par-three eighth to stand on +3 for the tournament.

That number, and seemingly Rahm’s hopes, blew out on the back nine with poor chipping and putting leading to a bogey at the 10th and a double bogey at the 15th.

There were bright spots, Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre among them. The reigning Scottish Open champion birdied the second on a 12-foot putt and the sixth from 19 feet on his way to a round of 69 that took him to +3 overall.

Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen reeled off four consecutive birdies on the front nine and he stands at +2 after a round of 69.

Originally published as Incredible second major on the cards as Adam Scott makes move in US Open thriller