Rory McIlroy was paired with Tony Finau for this penultimate trip around Pinehurst. It marked the latest chapter of a long friendship that has lasted the gruelling journey from junior golf to the final stages of a major championship.
There is one picture of them together that always resurfaces on days like this. It was taken many years ago and it shows Finau dwarfing the small and slight McIlroy.
The Northern Irishman has filled out since then and for most of this third round, he stood tall and stared down both expectation and a course which punished many more players on Saturday.
McIlroy’s hopes of ending his decade-long wait for another major are still alive after he carded a one-under-par 69 on a chaotic moving day which veered this way and that. Particularly in the final hour as darkness closed over North Carolina.
At the end of it all, McIlroy is in a tie for second at four-under-par. He sits alongside Matthieu Pavon and Patrick Cantlay. He is three shots adrift of leader Bryson DeChambeau. He is right in the hunt. It’s a simple enough formula but we only got there after a whirlwind climax.
Rory McIlroy is in a tie for second at four-under-par after a dramatic third round at the US Open
McIlroy is three shots behind leader Bryson DeChambeau after his third-round 67 on Saturday
A brief synopsis: at around 7pm local time, with four holes left of his round, McIlroy was two shots adrift of DeChambeau, who had caught fire and wrest control of this US Open. But then McIlroy found trouble at 15 and 17 and suddenly the gap was four. Suddenly a molehill had become a small mountain.
Moments later, however, DeChambeau - who had been near-flawless from holes seven to 15 – decided to give the chasing pack renewed hope. From nowhere, Pinehurst bit back and the leader made a double bogey. We were back to two. Only briefly, though, because DeChambeau then atoned for his error with a birdie at 17.
It was his sixth of this third round. One more at 18 and he would have set a US Open record. But the ball rolled by, he closed out for 67 and supporters could breathe again ahead of a tantalizing final day which promises fireworks and pits McIlroy alongside Cantlay. They have an - err - tricky relationship and tensions between McIlroy and Cantlay's caddie boiled over at last year's Ryder Cup. The Norther Irishman later branded his rival a 'd***'.
The odds are against them both on Sunday. But not history. No one has ever made a double bogey en route to winning the US Open at Pinehurst.
McIlroy, the 2011 US Open champion, is looking to end his 10-year wait for another major win
The Northern Irishman played alongside his good friend Tony Finau during Saturday's round
McIlroy, the 2011 champion, has got closer and closer to another victory over the past half-decade. He lost by a single shot last year and risks another near miss here.
'It was just a really difficult US Open Saturday. Everything we expected it to be,' McIlroy said.
'It's what a U.S. Open should be like. It's obviously great to be in the mix... no matter what happens, I feel like two shots, three shots, four shots, I've got a great chance.'
The 35-year-old deserves credit for not succumbing to Pinehurst in the sweltering heat on Saturday. It broke plenty of others. Including his old pal Finau -who was briefly in a tie for the lead before dropping four shots in the space of two holes. And overnight leader Ludvig Aberg.
They both befell the same fate on the par-four 13th, making return journeys from the front of the green and a nearby bunker. They both made triple bogey. They were both suddenly well adrift.
McIlroy is closer but standing in his way is a mad-scientist-turned-pantomime-villain-turned-LIV-rebel who is now the new darling of American golf. DeChambeau’s next stop on that bonkers ride could well be the winner’s enclosure here.
'Three years ago, the landscape was a lot different. I tried to show everybody who I was. I didn't do it the right way and could have done a lot of things better,' he said.
Big-hitting DeChambeau hit six birdies in a brilliant third round at Pinehurst in North Carolina
'(I now have) not only have a new perspective but an opportunity to show myself in a different light and to entertain the fans out there on the golf course.'
There was a point late on Saturday afternoon, however, when it seemed medical science might derail golf’s mad scientist.
After taking a share of the lead with a birdie on hole 10, DeChambeau called for a physio to look at his hip. Drone images showed the 2020 champion on the floor being stretched this way and that.
Moments later, however, DeChambeau emerged to hit the longest drive of day three. That set him up course for a second-straight birdie and a big fist pump. No wonder the galleries have learned to love him.
Aberg was the poor kid tasked with keeping pace with DeChambeau as the American went through the gears. The 24-year-old led at halfway and is bidding to become the first rookie to win this tournament in more than a century.
Frenchman Matthieu Pavon is alongside McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay at four-under at Pinehurst
But he was already trailing – and already clinging on - by the time he and DeChambeau reached hole 13. Then came Aberg’s meltdown.
Much like Finau, his approach rolled back off the front edge. Much like Finau, the rookie then chipped all the way into a greenside bunker. Much like Finau, Aberg went from the sand back down to the same hollow. Three more shots later, the bleeding finally stopped.
The youngster showed tremendous mettle at the next hole, sinking a birdie putt from nearly 15 ft. But then Aberg surrendered that shot immediately. He is alongside Hideki Matsuyama at two-under-par, with Finau and Tyrrell Hatton at one-under.
As for McIlroy, his success this week has been underpinned by an ability to avoid catastrophe. The Northern Irishman has not made worse than a bogey over three rounds. He made some more crucial par-saves on Saturday, too. But he might come to rue that pair of errors as the sun came down on another dramatic day at Pinehurst.
