{"id":717313,"date":"2026-06-21T12:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T12:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/717313\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T12:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T12:08:09","slug":"rory-mcilroy-falls-out-of-us-open-contention-after-back-nine-implosion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/717313\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy falls out of US Open contention after back nine implosion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rory McIlroy\u2019s up-and-down weekend at the U.S. Open took another roller coaster of a turn Saturday, as the world No. 2 imploded on the back nine with five bogeys to finish at 3 over and fall out of contention.<\/p>\n

McIlroy, whose only win in the tournament occurred in 2011 at Congressional Country Club, sank a 66-foot birdie on No. 6 as part of a string of three consecutive birdies, but he went from potentially playing in one of the final pairings to an earlier tee time for the final round at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.<\/p>\n

It marked a second consecutive day when McIlroy struggled after the turn, after finishing the back nine even during the opening round of the U.S. Open. <\/p>\n

\"RoryRory McIlroy reacts after missing a putt on the 16th hole during the third round of the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on June 20, 2026. AP Photo\/David J. Phillip<\/p>\n

He shot 3 over across those holes Saturday, even recording a double bogey on No. 15. Though McIlroy avoided another double during the third round, he bogeyed Nos. 10, 12, 14, 15 and 18.<\/p>\n

McIlroy, who heads into the final round tied for 17th and trails leader Wyndham Clark by 10 strokes<\/a>, finished in the top 10 at both of the majors earlier this season, winning the Masters \u2014 his second consecutive victory in the tournament \u2014 and finishing in a tie for seventh at the PGA Championship last month.<\/p>\n

One year after a top five finish at the U.S. Open, Cam Young won\u2019t be anywhere near there when Sunday begins. That means the search for the long-awaited first major of his career will likely extend into the British Open next month.<\/p>\n

The Westchester native and third-ranked golfer struggled again in the third round, finishing 3 over and moving to 5 over for the tournament. And after winning two tournaments \u2014 the Players Championship and the Cadillac Championship earlier this year \u2014 Young has faltered for a second consecutive event after shooting 8 over at the Memorial Tournament earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know, I didn\u2019t play awful, didn\u2019t play great and I\u2019m not in a great spot going into [Sunday],\u201d Young said following his round.<\/p>\n

Young collected a birdie and a par across his final three holes, and he hit his second shot on the 10th hole to within 3 inches of the pin to set up a birdie putt. But mixed in between the flashes were more holes of disappointment, as he recorded bogeys on four of his first six holes and added strokes on Nos. 6, 11 and 18.<\/p>\n

Sahith Theegala is positioned for the best major appearance of his career after shooting an even-par 70 to sit in a tie for second place \u2014 at 1 under \u2014 heading into Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly I was just hoping I would get into the tournament,\u201d Theegala said following his round. \u201cHonestly bummed I missed a couple majors last year with injury and started this year with pretty poor status, honestly. I wasn\u2019t in any of the elevateds or majors. The goal was just to get here.<\/p>\n

\"SahithSahith Theegala plays a shot on the sixth hole during the third round of the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI really didn\u2019t have too much expectations, other than to just really enjoy the week and embrace the challenge, and it\u2019s worked out really well so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emiliano Grillo joined Dustin Johnson \u2014 in the opening round \u2014 as golfers to make four consecutive birdies this week<\/a>, per the Elias Sports Bureau. \u2026 Dylan Wu and James Nicholas recorded the worst scores of the third round from the earliest tee times, finishing at 12 over. \u2026 New Jersey native Chris Gotterup shot 3 over to sit at 7 over heading into the final round.<\/p>\n

Sam Stevens shot 2 over to sit in a tie for second at 1 under entering Sunday, positioning the 29-year-old with a chance to top his previous best in a major \u2014 when he was in a tie for 23rd at last year\u2019s U.S. Open.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t remember where I was to start the final round last year at Oakmont,\u201d Stevens said. \u201cMaybe I was, like, in 15th place or 20th, but at the time that felt like a pretty big deal to me. Now this feels like a big deal, but I feel \u2014 I\u2019m just excited to play, which is a good place to be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy\u2019s up-and-down weekend at the U.S. Open took another roller coaster of a turn Saturday, as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,6082,99,23234],"class_list":["post-717313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-rory-mcilroy","tag-sports","tag-us-open-golf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=717313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}