Scottie Scheffler enters Sunday’s final round at Shinnecock Hills six shots behind Wyndham Clark, needing the biggest comeback of his major championship career to complete the career Grand Slam on his 30th birthday.
Scheffler posted a 1-under 69 on Saturday, one of only two under-par rounds in the entire field. He started bogey-bogey, then made three straight birdies on the back nine, starting with a chip-in at 14, before bogeys on 17 and 18 cost him. He sits at 1-under, tied for second with Tom Kim, Sahith Theegala and Sam Stevens.
“We’ve been battling for three days now, and at that point over par for the tournament, you can feel like it’s kind of slipping away,” Scheffler said after his back-nine birdie run. “To steal one there was really nice.”
“You can hit a lot of good shots and end up in some spots where you’re going to be frustrated with the result, but I think that’s part of the U.S. Open test,” he added. “We did a good job of staying patient and stealing some shots where we could.”
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A win Sunday would make Scheffler just the seventh player in history to complete the career Grand Slam, joining Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. He won the Masters in 2022 and 2024, the PGA Championship in 2025, and The Open Championship in 2025.
“I’ll need a really nice round tomorrow if I’m going to try and catch Wyndham,” Scheffler said.
Coming into the week, Scheffler repeatedly downplayed the Grand Slam narrative.
“Would it be a dream to win the U.S. Open? Of course,” he said. “But at the end of the day, the Grand Slam has never been a motivating factor for me. I always just wanted to be the best version of myself, and that got me this far.”
“If I win this tournament that would be amazing, but then I show up the next week and it’s like, ‘OK, now Scottie’s won the Grand Slam, he’s won all these golf tournaments. Now where do we go from here?’ So no matter what, as a player and as a professional athlete, you’re never going to live up to the expectations of people.”
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Scheffler also addressed what a runner-up finish would mean. “If I finish second this week, it’s almost like ‘hey, you failed in your first chance to win the career Grand Slam.’ Is finishing second a failure?” he said. “Yeah, it can feel that way, but sometimes when you look at a wider view of the sport and where your game’s at, second is not always that bad. But man, does it frickin’ hurt at the same time.”
Only Arnold Palmer in 1960 and Johnny Miller in 1973 have won the U.S. Open when trailing by six or more strokes entering the final round. Scheffler tees off alongside Clark at 2:30 p.m. ET.
