Leishman shot a stunning 66 to post 12 under par and for a time at TPC River Highlands, it looked like he might either reach a playoff or even win the event outright, a little like he did in the same tournament in 2012.

He held the clubhouse lead for several hours but just when he headed to the driving range to warm up again, Harris English buried a birdie putt from almost 10 metres on the par-four 18th hole to post 13 under.

By the time Kramer Hickok matched English’ birdie at the 18th to force a playoff, Leishman was down to third place, having to be content with $US510,000 prizemoney.

“I knew that I needed to have a really low one to have a chance,” he said after his round.

“Probably think that birdie on 17, possibly 18, may have helped my chances a lot. Would’ve helped my chances a lot. That’s pretty obvious. Yeah, happy with the day. I mean, game is feeling really good. Nice to make a run and be around the lead. Not holding my breath, but I won’t be going anywhere.”

The Australian said he had endured a “tough day” after the death of John Mascatello, his US agent, aged 61. “(I) was definitely thinking about that and trying to — it was kind of — made things a little — golf is obviously not the be all end all.

“Thinking of his family. Not getting over the line or who knows, but probably not getting over the line, yeah, that’s kind of irrelevant at the moment.”

Cameron Smith fell away on the final day having started out with a winning chance, shooting a 74 to dip to tied-30th, while Adam Scott vaulted up to tied-13th with a 67 today.

Jason Day finished tied-10th after a closing 70 while Lucas Herbert (69) completed a good week in 19th place.

Travelers result

Winless on the PGA TOUR for more than three years, without a top-five since last August and fresh off missing his first US Open in a decade, the confidence Day has spoken of all year seemed misguided.

Yet the decision to put his TaylorMade Spider putter back in the bag and ongoing stiffness related to the back injury that forced his withdrawal from the Memorial Tournament three weeks ago somehow elicited a round of 8-under 62 on Friday for a one-shot lead at the halfway mark of the tournament.

A double-bogey at the par-4 10th in his opening round saw the 35-year-old open the tournament with a 1-under 69 but he wiped that sour memory from his mind to go out in 32 and then surge up the leaderboard across the TPC Rover Highlands front nine.

Birdies from two and 13 feet at the first and second holes respectively were followed by a tap-in birdie at four and then a 36-foot bomb at the par-3 fifth. His eighth and final birdie of the day came from 12 feet at the par-4 seventh to post 9-under through 36 holes and a one-shot lead from three-time champion Bubba Watson and Kramer Hickok.

“Sometimes when you do have sort of an injury or stiffness, even if you’re sick, sometimes

you can come out and play some good golf,” was Day’s reasoning but his somewhat surprising position through two rounds.

“It’s sore to get onto the other side of the golf swing, so any time going left was a little bit sore.

“It is what it is. I haven’t had time to really rest it since I kind of put it out. Having a couple weeks off was great, but you just need a little bit more time.

“I was fortunate enough to not really get in my own way today. Hit a lot of good quality drives and my tee to green was pretty solid, I thought. Then holed a lot of crucial putts out there.”

Without an equipment contract, Day started using a SIK putter last month but said a return to the TaylorMade Spider-style flatstick he used to become one of the game’s best putters brought back some familiar sightlines and more familiar results.

“Just going back to something that felt a little bit more square to me,” said Day, currently ranked No.71 in the world.

“I was looking down at the putter and just wasn’t lining up correctly. To me felt a little bit closed.

“I crossed myself up and wasn’t trusting my line. So going back to the Spider, which sits a

little bit more open for me, I can trust the line that I’m aiming at.

“It’s nice to be able to visualise a ball going in the hole again instead of thinking, Am I going to hole this putt?

“Nice to be able to do that.”

With Day out in front the next best of the Australian contingent are 2021 Olympians-elect Marc Leishman (66) and Cameron Smith (68) in a tie for 20th at 5-under with Cameron Percy and Matt Jones a shot further back after both had 66s in the second round.

A round of 3-under 67 saw Lucas Herbert safely inside the cut number at 3-under with Adam Scott also qualifying for the weekend with consecutive rounds of 1-under 69.

On a day in which the front-runners failed to separate themselves from the field, Scott had five birdies and five bogeys in an even par round that moved him up 10 spots on the leaderboard to be tied for 31st at 3-over par with one round to play.

Joint 36-hole leader Russell Henley also shot 71 on Saturday to maintain a share of top spot, level with Canadian Mackenzie Hughes (68) and South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen (70) at 5-under par, two clear of Rory McIlroy (67) and Bryson DeChambeau (68).

Playing in his first US Open South Australian Wade Ormsby also made positive progression up the leaderboard in the third round, rising four spots thanks to a round of 2-over 73 to be tied for 54th.

Victorian Marc Leishman is also tied for 54th after dropping 24 spots with a round of 4-over 75 while Matt Jones, playing alongside McIlroy, fell to a share of 67th after posting 8-over 79 in his third round, a run of three bogeys from the 12th hole and a double bogey at the par-4 17th doing the lion’s share of the damage to his scorecard.

Playing in his 80th consecutive major championship and with 19 top-10 finishes during his career, Scott wrestled with the give-and-take of a US Open set-up at Torrey Pines, dropping shots at four, six, 10, 14 and 17 but picking them back up at seven, 12, 13, 15 and 18 to sit four shots outside the top 10.

A superb approach shot from 148 yards set up birdie from 14 feet at the par-4 seventh but better was to come at the 12th, running his second shot from deep rough 209 yards out through the front portion of the green up to seven feet, making the putt to get back to 4-over for the championship.

A perfect tee shot of 338 yards put Scott in position to attach the green with his second at the par-5 13th, the 40-year-old unlucky to see his second fly directly over the pin and roll into the back bunker.

He played an exquisite bunker shot down to four feet and made the putt for his second consecutive birdie.

Another superb approach from 219 yards set up a birdie putt from 14 feet at the par-4 15th that curled in on the left edge and after laying up with his second hit a wedge in tight at the par-5 18th for his fifth birdie of the day.

Ormsby made a bright start to his third round with birdies at two of his opening three holes but it was a smattering of bogeys from that point on.

He was unable to get up and down from left of the seventh green and after missing the green short and right at the par-3 11th – the hardest hole on the course on Saturday – was left with a par putt of some 35 feet that broke so savagely that he started his stroke with his back to the hole.

Ormsby dropped a shot at the next hole when his par putt broke across the face of the cup at the par-4 12th and missed a 10-footer for par at the 17th to finish at 2-over for the day and 6-over for the championship.

Following on from his 4-under 67 on Friday Mackenzie Hughes climbed into a share of the lead with a round of 3-under 68 and knows that playing in the final group of a US Open will bring with it a different level of energy, if not a change to his dinner plans Saturday night.

“I’ve had pizza the last two nights, so I’m probably going to have pizza again tonight,” Hughes said.

“There’s probably a strong chance I’ll eat pizza. I’m not that superstitious but I’m a little superstitious.

“You get goosebumps thinking about it, so I know I’m going to be nervous tomorrow.”

McIlroy’s round of 67 was matched only by Englishman Paul Casey on Saturday and puts him in prime position to pressure the leaders in search of a fifth major championship victory and second US Open crown, his first coming a decade ago at Congressional Country Club.

“I’m trying to think of the last time where I really felt like I had a chance,” McIlroy said of being two back and in the penultimate group.

“Carnoustie in ‘18 felt like I maybe had half a chance, going into the final day at Pebble in 2019.

“But apart from that, there’s been some good finishes but never felt like I was in the thick of things.

“I’m just excited for the opportunity to have a chance and be in one of the final groups.”

Jones was steady and reliable in his second-round even-par 71 at Torrey Pines South to go into the weekend at one over par, six from the lead.

American Russell Henley sleeps with the lead for the second consecutive day at five under par after he posted a 69 to go with his opening 67, along with the 48-year-old Englishman Richard Bland, who is chasing fairytales again.

Bland made headlines recently when he won his first European Tour event at his 478th attempt, is close up as well after a superb 67 that puts him in the final group for Saturday.

A cluster of the Aussies were slightly off the pace, including world No. 28 Cameron Smith, who had two triple-bogey sevens on his card in a second-round 75. At five over par Smith signed his card and prepared to head home to his Florida base for the weekend.

“There was lots of good and just a few bad holes in there,” said Smith. “It was pretty disappointing, actually.”

Marc Leishman hit a gorgeous, spinning wedge and made a nice birdie from two metres at the 18th to shoot 70 and get himself to two over, ensuring he would make the cut at two over par overall.

Adam Scott struggled to a 75 but made the weekend at three over par, although he called his golf “terrible”.

Wade Ormsby (four over overall after a 74 today) sneaked back inside the cut-line late in the day as the scores edged higher. But Steve Allan (80-79) is going home to Arizona, while Brad Kennedy (78 today) could not extend his time in San Diego.

Meanwhile the veteran Bland continued to be the surprise packet following his remarkable win in the British Masters a few weeks ago, shooting a brilliant 67. The Englishman said that while he went 20 years without winning, he never seriously considered another career.

“Yeah, but golf is all I know,” he said. “When times got tough and I lost my card two or three times, I think, what am I going to do, go and get an office job? I’m not that intelligent, I’m afraid.

“So it was just, right, okay, I’ve always been someone that can get my head down and work hard, and I always knew I had the game to compete on the European Tour at the highest level. I’ve always known that.”

Henley was quiet for much of the day but a beautiful tee shot on the-par three eighth hole, his 17th of the day, gave him the birdie that he needed to get the outright lead. He had not made a bogey all day but out of nowhere at the par-five ninth he three-putted to drop a shot and fall back into joint leadership with Bland.

A bunch of major winners, including Louis Oosthuizen (-4) and Bubba Watson (-3) as well as recent world No. 1 Jon Rahm (-3) are in the mix.

Leaderboard

Only qualifier Steve Allan is too far from the -4 pace of Russ Henley and Louis Oosthuizen (thru 16) to make a challenge, but his six compatriots – headed by a plucky Adam Scott – all remain within reach on a crowded leaderboard.

Both Cameron Smith and Matt Jones were forced from the course by darkness before their rounds were complete after almost 90 minutes were lost to morning fog earlier in the day.

But it was Scott who took advantage of still conditions late on day one with back-to-back closing birdies to post a one-under-par 70 to vault to a share of 11th.

The veteran Queenslander had been two over through the first three holes, but managed to claw a shot back with a superb trap shot to birdie range on the par-5 ninth.

He made a similar up-and-down for par on the long 13th which enabled him to cash in with a bomb for birdie on the 17th and then a last-roll special from the fringe on the 18th as the siren to end play sounded.

Smith has just one bogey and one birdie to date and will resume on the 17th, as will Jones who scrambled well to sit at one over.

Also at one over is South Australian Wade Ormsby who was extremely impressive in just his second major championship appearance.

Ormsby made his share of bogeys during his round, but never strayed from his attacking mantra and answered all bar the last one with a birdie to share 41st.

Brad Kennedy was largely solid en route to a 74, the same number as Marc Leishman who will be disappointed with his finish.

Having started on the 10th, the Victorian loomed late with a birdie on the fifth to be even par, but made three late bogeys in fading light to fall back to a share of 78th, albeit only seven off the pace.

Allan hung tough through the front nine, but it all came apart in a hurry with back-to-back double-bogeys on the 13th and 14th holes as he stumbled to nine over par.

LEADERBOARD