Steve Palmer's US Open final-round tips and best bets

Where to watch

Sky Sports Golf, 5.30pm Sunday

Best bets

Scottie Scheffler to win US Open
3pts each-way 4-1 general

Hideki Matsuyama top Japanese
3pts 21-20 bet365

Rickie Fowler to win 10.30pm twoball
2pts 21-20 Coral, Ladbrokes

Patrick Rodgers to win 7.24pm twoball
2pts 20-21 bet365

Story so far

Major maidens Wyndham Clark and Rickie Fowler are tied for the lead in the US Open at Los Angeles Country Club with 18 holes to play.

Clark and Fowler, who played alongside each other in the final twoball of round three, will be bringing up the rear again on Sunday. It is a pleasing pairing for both, given they are friends who graduated from Oklahoma State University, and they have reached ten under par through 54 holes.

Clark, who made his PGA Tour breakthrough in the Wells Fargo Championship last month at the age of 29, is a best-price 3-1 to become a Major champion at LACC. Fowler, four years older than Clark, is slightly shorter in the betting at 11-4.

Favouritism, though, is in the hands of Rory McIlroy, who is only one shot off the lead. McIlroy is seeking to win his first Major since the 2014 US PGA Championship. World number one Scottie Scheffler is alone in fourth place, three shots off the pace.

Viewers in the UK and Ireland have been dealing with some extremely late nights this week. The final twoball of Clark and Fowler is scheduled to tee off at 10.30pm UK and Ireland time, so the tournament will finish approximately 2.30am unless it goes to a playoff (two-hole aggregate, with sudden death if tied). A sunny, calm final day is forecast.

Leaderboard
-10 Wyndham Clark, Rickie Fowler
-9 Rory McIlroy
-7 Scottie Scheffler
-6 Harris English
-5 Dustin Johnson, Xander Schauffele
-4 Ryutaro Nagano
-3 Tom Kim, Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Smith
-2 Hideki Matsuyama, Viktor Hovland, Min Woo Lee

Best prices
9-4 R McIlroy, 11-4 R Fowler, 3 W Clark, 4 S Scheffler, 33 X Schauffele, 40 D Johnson, H English, 125 bar

US Open final-round preview

Scottie Scheffler teed off on the 17th hole of round three trailing by seven shots, bubbling over with frustration, knowing he had precious little margin for error if he wanted to stay in contention for Sunday's LACC shootout.

What followed transformed Scheffler's role in this tournament and has put the world number one in an excellent frame of mind for the denouement. Last year's Masters champion looks the best bet for LACC glory with 18 holes to play.

Scheffler hit a perfect approach at the 17th for a spectacular eagle two, then followed up by rolling in a long birdie putt at the 18th, swaggering to the clubhouse having got right back into the thick of things. A second Major title is well within reach from just three shots behind two inevitably nervous leaders.

Scheffler, who has carded rounds of 67, 68 and 68 over the first three days, has been producing some incredible tee-to-green golf this season. His ball-striking has been at a level from which Tiger Woods in his pomp would take pride. Poor putting has been what has stopped Scheffler dominating, but this week there have been encouraging signs on the greens, and everything seems in place for a strong finish to the US Open.

Scheffler switched putters at the start of the week – to a slightly different model – and over three rounds at LACC he has been the 21st best putter in the field. Scheffler is gaining 0.75 strokes on the field with his putter, which is a huge improvement from recent tournaments.

Scheffler looks primed to finish the US Open in style and can win his third title of the year, following the Phoenix Open and Players Championship successes. Wyndham Clark, Rickie Fowler and Rory McIlroy are the only players ahead of him – and all seem likely to be awash with tension down the stretch.

Clark has never contended for a Major. His best Major finish is a tie for 75th place in the 2021 US PGA. He had missed the cut in his previous two US Opens. Clark is in the form of his life and is riding the crest of his Quail Hollow wave, but he blew a winning chance in the Corales Puntacana Championship at the end of March and has a long history of being awful under pressure. Recent signs are positive, but the hype machine appears out of control.

Fowler is enjoying a consistent campaign and has been relentlessly churning out top-20 finishes. Having been in the thick of things in Majors before, and with the Players Championship title on his CV, Fowler is much preferred to Clark at this stage. It has been more than four years since Fowler lifted a trophy, though, and to end that silverware drought in the US Open would be an incredible achievement. He signed off on Saturday by missing a short par putt at the 18th and Fowler fans are probably in for a rollercoaster Sunday of birdies and bogeys.

McIlroy has looked in serious and determined mood all week, an undercurrent of anger seemingly fuelling his success, but it is almost nine years since he last won a Major title. It is difficult to get enthused about a best-price 9-4 having witnessed two abysmal Sunday efforts in the Memorial Tournament and the Canadian Open in the last fortnight.

Scheffler will play alongside McIlroy in the penultimate twoball and can add to the pressure on the Northern Irishman by churning out greens in regulation. Scheffler's last-gasp Saturday heroics have put him in an ideal spot to turn the screw on Clark, Fowler and McIlroy.

With each-way terms of a fifth the odds the first three, Scheffler needs only to advance one position to secure the place element of an outright investment, which would mean a small loss from a winless top-three at 4-1.

Ryutaro Nagano is enjoying a miraculous week – the world number 522 is in eighth place – but he looks a hugely vulnerable favourite in the top Japanese market. Former Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama is only two shots behind Nagano and should arguably be favourite with 18 holes to play on a US Open Sunday. Matsuyama has improved in each round this week.

Fowler's experience should tell against Clark in the final twoball – odds-against Fowler looks a bargain – while Patrick Rodgers can succeed at a shade of odds-on in his 7.24pm contest against Billy Horschel.

Rodgers, a former college star in California who has a solid US Open record, can be expected to finish with a flourish. Horschel, a Floridian who has been working on swing changes and performing abysmally of late, seems far less certain to deliver a strong final round.

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