U.S. Open Round 3 updates: Scheffler, McIlroy trying to chase down Clark at Shinnecock

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. -- Can anyone stop Wyndham Clark? The 2023 U.S. Open winner raced out to an impressive four-stroke lead through 36 holes, but a firm and windy Shinnecock Hills promises to make the final 36 much more difficult.

Clark, 7-under, has no shortage of stars chasing him. The 2022 U.S. Open winner, Matt Fitzpatrick, who trails by four strokes, will play alongside Clark in the final pairing, teeing off at 3:45 p.m. ET. Two-time major winner Xander Schauffele is in the penultimate pairing with Sam Stevens, both of whom are also 3-under, four back. Collin Morikawa is 2-under, five back. Justin Thomas, Sam Burns, Harry Higgs and Sahith Theegala are all 1-under, six back.

Follow along for on-site updates all day long (all times ET).

2:00 p.m.: It's getting fun now. Scottie Scheffler just teed off. Rory McIlroy is right behind him. The wind is still up, though not as strong as it was this morning. Just got back from chatting with Dylan Wu, who had the worst of it as the first group off. He found it to be playing "very, very tough and that’s what you want in a U.S. Open.” He also said he had to just laugh at some of the "impossible" situations he found himself in on his way to shooting 82. Wu said the greens continued to firm up as the round went along. His 9-iron into the 18th bounded 25 yards. As I've been saying, that will be the defense as the top players get rolling this afternoon.

12:30 p.m.: We've talked a lot about how difficult it is out there, but good scores are still possible. Michael Kim just shot 3-under 32 to rocket up to even-par overall. The wind is already slowing a little bit, and for how difficult Shinnecock is, it's still fair. If you hit fairways and greens, you're going to have a chance to make a birdie. Kim has hit all eight fairways and eight of 10 greens. That's the recipe.

11:30 a.m.: Let's take a quick look at the forecast for the rest of the day. The wind is up right now and gusts were around 40 mph as the first few pairings got rolling. The wind is not expected to remain that intense. As the top part of the leaderboard tees off, winds are expected to sustain between 10-20 mph with gusts ranging from 20-30 mph. That's still enough to cause some issues, but the bigger factor at that point will be the greens. With high winds this morning, the greens are quickening and drying out, and by this afternoon, they could be glassy. That will be the bigger storyline. Expect a lot of tenative puts this afternoon.

-- Paul Hodowanic

11:00 a.m.: Back inside after a glorious two-hour stroll to begin the day. Hard to overemphasize how different it feels out there. It's the gustiest I've felt all week. Thought it could be fun to walk with the first pairing, so that's what I did with Dylan Wu and Jacob Bridgeman. It paid off. Wu hit driver off the first tee, and the ball went only 224 yards. Why? The wind has flipped completely from the first two days, which will make it much tougher. Shinnecock members will tell you that when they get this wind direction, they don't even play. They just hang out in the clubhouse and play cards. Wu found that out quickly. He five-putted the first green and made quadruple bogey, then made bogeys at the second and third holes. He hit the fairway on the fourth, and as he walked off, he proclaimed, "I'm going to break 100 today." As of this writing, Wu is 9-over through eight. Come on, Dylan. Aim higher. You can break 90 today!

-- Paul Hodowanic

10:48 a.m.: It's official, folks. We have our first birdie of the day. It only took 108 minutes of play and 68 total holes. Caleb Surratt made birdie at the par-5 fifth, the first in the field since 8:21 p.m. of Friday's second round.

-- Paul Hodowanic

9:00 a.m.: Here are some of the highlight pairings to follow today.

• 10:17 a.m.: Jackson Koivun (a), Miles Russell (a)
• 10:55 a.m.: Jordan Spieth, Joaquin Niemann
• 11:06 a.m.: Russell Henley, Dustin Johnson
• 11:50 a.m.: Cameron Young, Sungjae Im
• 12:50 p.m.: Ludvig Åberg, Tommy Fleetwood
• 2:01 p.m.: Scottie Scheffler, Brian Harman
• 2:12 p.m.: Rory McIlroy, Maverick McNealy
• 3:23 p.m.: Collin Morikawa, Tom Kim
• 3:34 p.m.: Xander Schauffele, Sam Stevens
• 3:45 p.m. Wyndham Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick

-- Paul Hodowanic