Key events
Ewan Murray is at LA Country Club. Here’s his report from round three and what today holds in store.
Good news, the final two-ball tees off a full one hour and 10 minutes earlier than yesterday. So that’ll be, erm, still bloody late if you’re in the UK.
Starting at hole one (all times BST)
* denotes amateur
16:23 Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn)
16:34 Patrick Reed (US), Jacob Solomon (US)
16:45 Adam Svensson (Can), Maxwell Moldovan (US)
16:56 Ben Carr (US*), David Puig (Spa)
17:07 Romain Langasque (Fra), Aldrich Potgieter (SA*)
17:18 Abraham Ancer (Mex), Adam Hadwin (Can)
17:29 Ryan Gerard (US), Mackenzie Hughes (Can)
17:40 Yuto Katsuragawa (Jpn), Gordon Sargent (US*)
17:51 Sam Bennett (US), Jordan Smith (Eng)
18:07 Nick Hardy (US), Sebastian Munoz (Col)
18:18 Charley Hoffman (US), Sahith Theegala (US)
18:29 Austin Eckroat (US), Andrew Putnam (US)
18:40 Sergio Garcia (Spa), Kevin Streelman (US)
18:51 Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Samuel Stevens (US)
19:02 Jon Rahm (Spa), Dylan Wu (US)
19:13 Denny McCarthy (US), Gary Woodland (US)
19:24 Billy Horschel (US), Patrick Rodgers (US)
19:35 Ryan Fox (NZ), Brian Harman (US)
19:51 Justin Suh (US), Eric Cole (US)
20:02 Sam Burns (US), Keith Mitchell (US)
20:13 Si-Woo Kim (Kor), Joaquin Niemann (Chi)
20:24 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Brooks Koepka (US)
20:35 Russell Henley (US), Cameron Young (US)
20:46 Tony Finau (US), Shane Lowry (Ire)
20:57 Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng), Collin Morikawa (US)
21:08 Patrick Cantlay (US), Padraig Harrington (Ire)
21:19 Viktor Hovland (Nor), Min-Woo Lee (Aus)
21:35 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Cameron Smith (Aus)
21:46 Bryson DeChambeau (US), Joo-Hyung Kim (Kor)
21:57 Ryutaro Nagano (Jpn), Xander Schauffele (US)
22:08 Harris English (US), Dustin Johnson (US)
22:19 Rory McIlroy (NI), Scottie Scheffler (US)
22:30 Wyndham Clark (US), Rickie Fowler (US)
Preamble
Is this the day when Rory McIlroy ends his nine-year wait for a major? It’s been a week of relatively few dramas for the Northern Irishman after a turbulent build-up but McIlroy is a thinker. He knows what’s at stake. He knows it’s not just the bookmakers who expect him to win from here – a shot back from two players yet to taste major victory. That duo, Rickie Fowler and Wyndham Clark, have their own narratives. Fowler MkI had plenty of chances to join the majors club but couldn’t take them. After a couple of years in the wilderness, will the fresh perspective that comes with being a father plus his successful reunion with coach Butch Harmon combine to make Fowler MkII a different animal? And Clark? This is all new; he’s never been anywhere near a leaderboard in the majors until this week. Ignorance is bliss and all that so maybe he’s the one. Certainly a recent win at the Wells Fargo Championship means we write him off at our peril. Scottie Scheffler, who surged late in round three, isn’t done yet and Harris English, Dustin Johnson and Xander Schauffele will all feel they’re just about high enough up the leaderboard to have a say. Here we go then. Buckle up, it’s going to be a late one.
Leaderboard heading into the final round
-10: W Clark, R Fowler
-9: R McIlroy
-7: S Scheffler
-6: H English
-5: D Johnson, X Schauffele
-4: R Nagano
-3: T Kim, B DeChambeau, C Smith
