SOUTHAMPTON : Wyndham Clark clung to a two-stroke lead after nine holes in Saturday's third round of the US Open with top-ranked Scottie Scheffler making a charge at windy Shinnecock.

Clark, the 2023 US Open champion, opened with a three-putt bogey, tapped in for birdie at the par-five fifth but stumbled again to bogey eight after finding a greenside bunker with his approach.

Fellow American Sam Stevens, in only his eighth major start, was second on four-under at the turn.

Stevens, never a PGA Tour winner, sank a seven-foot birdie putt at the first hole and answered a bogey at the third with a 10-foot birdie putt at the fifth.

Scheffler, who would complete a career Grand Slam with a victory Sunday on his 30th birthday, birdied four of his first seven holes on the back nine, including three in a row at 14, 15 and 16, to grab a share of third with fellow American Xander Schauffele and South Korean Tom Kim.

Scheffler had opened with back-to-back bogeys, sliding to two-over.

But the American birdied the 10th from just inside eight feet, then reeled off three straight birdies -- holing a 65-foot birdie chip at 14, sinking a 12-foot birdie putt at 15 and making a tap-in birdie at the par-five 16th.

Second-ranked Rory McIlroy, who won his sixth major at April's Masters, was on two-over.

The six-time major winner from Northern Ireland answered a bogey at the third with three consecutive birdies -- sinking a three-foot birdie putt at the par-five fifth, holing out from the fairway from 66 feet for birdie at six and rolling in a putt from just inside 17 feet.

But McIlroy made bogeys on four of the first six holes on the back nine to stumble back.