Rory McIlroy's strong charge at U.S. Open leaderboard fizzles out

Rory McIlroy gave Shinnecock Hills an early thrill on Saturday but couldn’t maintain his scoring long enough to remain near the top of the U.S. Open leaderboard.

After starting the day at even-par and racing back into contention at four strokes off the lead with three-straight birdies that included a 66-foot putt on the green on the sixth, McIlroy finished the third round at 3-over thanks to five bogeys on the back nine. He goes into Sunday’s final round tied for 17th place.

“If there's a course where you feel like you still have a chance if you're seven back going into the weekend like I am, it's definitely this one,” McIlroy said on Friday night.

McIlroy opened the tournament with a 69 but in the two rounds since has struggled badly to figure out Shinnecock's second nine, and the mess Saturday started from a perfect position.

He was in the 10th fairway, just 49 yards from the hole, when his second shot bounced on the green but rolled well off it. It was the second straight day he botched 10 from within 100 yards in the fairway.

McIlroy added another bogey at 12. He had bogeyed Nos. 10-12 on Friday, but was able to get that round back on track with birdies on the next two holes.

Not Saturday. He bogeyed 14 and 15, then added a final one on No. 18.

Facing an even steeper climb with just one round remaining, though, may be insurmountable, even for the 2011 U.S. Open champ and the No. 2-ranked player in the world.

“You can't go chasing pins around here,” he said. “You can't try to be too aggressive. I think you still have to play smart, try to keep the ball under the hole, hit it into the middles of the greens and take your chances when they present themselves.”

Grillo makes a strong move

Emiliano Grillo shot the best round of Saturday with a three-under 67 that included four birdies on the front nine and moved him into a tie for sixth place at even-par. “Obviously when you stand on the 10th tee with 4-under par in the U.S. Open, you're just rushing to get it done and finish it,” Grillo said. “I kind of had to slow down a little bit and be patient and was able to do so. Three-under par, or any under par, in a U.S. Open round, you'd always take it.”

Wu five-putts first hole

Dylan Wu made the cut by one stroke by sinking a 7-foot putt for bogey on is final hole on Friday, but he five-putted the par-4 first as the first golfer off the tee on Saturday. “It was just kind of laughable,” Wu said afterward of the quadruple bogey that kicked off his 12-over round of 82. “You kind of just have to laugh it off because you’re still trying, but you get to a point where you can’t really get too frustrated. It’s a great place, a great test of golf. It’s still a great place to play on Saturday.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.