By Rory Carroll
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Rickie Fowler has a chance to cap a remarkable comeback story with his first major title while Rory McIlroy can put an end to his nine-year major drought in the final round of the U.S. Open on Sunday.
Fowler grinded his way to a round of even-par 70 at the Los Angeles Country Club on Saturday to enter the final round tied atop the leaderboard with fellow American Wyndham Clark at 10-under par.
They will be in the final pairing again on Sunday and are scheduled to tee off at 2:30pm local time (2130 GMT).
Southern California native Fowler is a former top-10 player who fell off the golf map in recent years but has been in first place at the end of each round to the delight of his many fans in LA.
“Tomorrow is when the tournament starts,” he said on Saturday.
“After going through the last few years, I’m not scared to fail.”
Clark, who won his first PGA Tour event last month, has been attacking the George C. Thomas designed course near Beverly Hills with impressive confidence through the first three days and won’t go down without a fight on Sunday.
One shot back of the leaders is a dialed-in McIlroy, another fan favorite who is looking to capture his elusive fifth major championship and first since 2014.
“I feel like over the last three days I’ve executed that game plan really, really well, and I just need to do that for one more day,” he said.
The world number three from Northern Ireland will tee off alongside world number one Scottie Scheffler, who finished his third round with an eagle-birdie one-two punch to take momentum into the final round. Playing in the penultimate grouping, they tee off at 2:19pm local time (2119 GMT).
Harris English, who has quietly put together a solid three rounds to sit just four back of the leaders, will play alongside fellow American Dustin Johnson. They are set to take the course at 2:08pm local time (2108 GMT).
Sunday’s winner will walk away with $3.6 million of the tournament’s $20 million purse.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Toby Davis)
