Just what he needed!

After a string of sub-standard approach shots, Rory McIlroy knocks a wedge from 109 yards stiff at the 13th.

He walks up and taps it in. Just what was required after a deeply troubling last 45 minutes.

Twelve holes played, 12 pars registered by Cameron Young. And he's two shots inside the projected cut mark, which is looking likely to be four over par.

His playing partner Brooks Koepka is sweating a bit though. A bogey on the second, his 11th of the day, has nudged him to the outside of the cut mark looking in. Work to do for the two-time champion.

Sam Burns is wayward off the tee on the 13th and that ultimately costs him a shot. He can't attack the flag with his second, despite being under 100 yards away and three putts from 50 feet to drop his first shot of the day.

Determined to stay in touch with older brother Matt at three under, Alex Fitzpatrick has just birdied the ninth to complete an up-and-down front nine. Three birdies, three bogeys, three pars.

He's one over.

Rory McIlroy has a thick tuft of grass behind his ball on 12 and it's enough to keep him from getting his third close to the flag.

And then his par putt lips out on the left! It was carrying too much speed and that's three bogeys in a row.

He's officially entered a mini-crisis.

But Tommy Fleetwood mops up for birdie after a sparkling approach and he moves to one under!

Yet another Scottie Scheffler approach fails to get close to the pin.

That has happened far too often today for the world number one, despite him picking up two birdies.

He will want to add a few more and start climbing the leaderboard.

Instead, it's another par.

What is happening with Rory?

That's three badly overcooked iron shots in a row and he's in trouble off the back of the 12th green.

No such dramas for his playing partners, mind you. Two approaches dispatched straight at the target and good looks at birdie coming up.

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Two-time major champion Xander Schauffele on his fine round of 66: "I played great today. Pretty motivated after last night. Winds are laying down, and being in that easier wave and not taking advantage of it was a big bummer. Pretty pumped to come out and shoot something low.

"It's just a lot of patience and good golf shots, for the most part. I feel like US Opens, the championship itself just wears you out. It's a long way, and you really feel it after.

"Everyone watching at home wants to see guys shooting in the 80s and doing crazy things. I get it. You know, it's once a year you get to see some carnage, and it's at a US Open.

"Try to embrace it as much as you can. On days like today and even last night, you know, take what the course can give you. But Shinnecock is... the USGA have made it very fair. It can be as crazy as they want it to be."

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Oh my word. How has that not dropped. Adrien Dumont de Chassart rolls a long 44-foot putt across the green and sees it break left in the final few feet. It still looks on course to drop in the left edge of the cup but hovers less than an inch from doing so.

The Belgian, who played college golf in the United States and graduated onto the PGA Tour in 2025, has missed his last three cuts but looks in decent shape here.

Good effort with the par putt but that's back-to-back bogeys for Rory McIlroy. He cruised through the front nine but he's slipped back into the pack now and needs to regroup over the last seven holes.

Fine short-game work from Tommy Fleetwood and Ludvig Aberg though and they both make three.

Eleven pars on the spin for Aberg, by the way. Hangin' around.

Max Greyserman had been rattling along nicely at Shinnecock Hills at two under par after eight holes and with a tap-in par on the ninth to remain at three under overall.

But he's tried to take the bit of break out of the putt by hitting it hard into the centre of the cup. He pulled it a smidge and the ball lipped out, racing five, six, seven feet from the hole. And he can't hole the return up the hill. Two shots gone in a flash.

The par-three 11th may only be 154 yards, but it's as tough as any hole out there.

Just ask this three-ball. Three missed greens.

Ludvig Aberg's in the sand, Tommy Fleetwood's in the rough beside the trap and Rory McIlroy's gone long again.

Another poor misjudgement leaves the Northern Irishman in the worst possible spot.

Another Scottie Scheffler tee shot finds a bunker - this time it's a fairway one down the left of the 18th, but he does well to reach the back of the green with his second shot.

His first putt races past the hole - but he tidies up for par... again.

Rory McIlroy is not messing about with the huge slope between his ball and the flag. He overcompensates slightly and pitches up to 27 feet beyond the cup.

The putt never threatens and that's his first bogey of the day. Missed a five-footer to move four under on the ninth and now finds himself two under. First real test of his mindset today.

Tommy Fleetwood takes a bolder approach and his ball just about stays at the top of the hill. He can't make the par putt and that's a bogey for the Englishman too.

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Sam Burns makes it a six-way tie for second on three under par and he's done it on the second hardest hole on the course.

He flicks a short iron into the 11th green and his ball bites and spins back a touch to leave a three-footer for birdie.

It's a fourth birdie of the day for the American.

The fairways at Shinnecock Hills are wide by tour standards but they still need to be hit.

Rory McIlroy is 8/8 today. At the 10th, he sends a low iron screaming down the fairway. It runs forever and ends up 339 yards out there.

But that's a shocker with his wedge from 78 yards. Thinned it. Well over the back, joining Tommy Fleetwood.

Oh dear.

Scottie Scheffler's tee shot finds the bunker. He splashes out neatly and then holes a four-and-a-half-foot putt to save par.

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Well that's a shame.

After Tommy Fleetwood rolls in for a three, Ludvig Aberg and Rory McIlroy fail with their birdie tries from seven and five feet respectively.

The approach shots deserved better.