“He’s dominating tee-to-green. We’ve been down this track before with Rory McIlroy. He’s always great when he’s got something to prove.” – Paul McGinley
“We’re learning a lot about Wyndham Clark, where he is in his head and how he feels about his game.” – Paul Azinger
“You hate to finish like that. When a golfer has nightmares, it’s usually about a putt of that length.” – Azinger on Rickie Fowler’s missed par putt on 18th hole
Sunday’s Final Round Coverage – 12-1 p.m. ET on Peacock, 1-10 p.m. ET on NBC/Peacock
NBC Sports Delivers Most-Watched Early Round Coverage Since 2019, Largest Second Round Cable Audience in a Decade
STAMFORD, Conn. – June 17, 2023 – NBC Sports presented third round coverage of the 123rd U.S. Open Championship from The Los Angeles Country Club in Los Angeles, Calif., on NBC and Peacock, capped by Live From the U.S. Open on GOLF Channel.
Sunday’s final round coverage begins exclusively on Peacock at noon ET and moves to NBC and Peacock at 1 p.m. ET.
- Early round coverage averaged a TAD of 1.995 million viewers, on par with viewership of the early rounds in 2019 at Pebble Beach;
- USA Network delivered the most-watched second round cable coverage in a decade, averaging a TAD of 1.759 million viewers;
- For the second straight day, Peacock posted NBC Sports’ most-streamed golf telecast on record.
U.S. Open – Third Round Leaderboard
| Player | Total |
| Rickie Fowler | -10 |
| Wyndham Clark | -10 |
| Rory McIlroy | -9 |
| Scottie Scheffler | -7 |
| Harris English | -6 |
| Dustin Johnson | -5 |
| Xander Schauffele | -5 |
ON RICKIE FOWLER (-10, Co-Leader)
Brandel Chamblee on Live From: “He’s made some nice external improvements in his golf swing, but I think success at the highest level is about internal improvements…tomorrow will be about internal and intestinal fortitude, but he doesn’t drive it like Rory, he doesn’t have the iron play of Scheffler…he doesn’t have any one part of his game that is dominant, so he has to win with how he plays and with patience. He’s got to play this like a game of chess.”
Azinger on the missed short par putt on 18th hole: “That hurts because you have to sleep on that one all night. You hate to finish like that. When a golfer has nightmares, it’s usually about a putt of that length.”
Azinger on long birdie putt on 13th hole: “You just can’t understand how good this putt is unless you’re one of the few people who are able to come back here and see the side of this hill.”
Curt Byrum: “He is swinging the club as well as he has in about three-and-a-half years…he looks in control and he looks confident out there.”
ON WYNDHAM CLARK (-10, Co-Leader)
Hicks on Clark’s near-eagle on 18th hole: “He said, ‘I know you guys watching in primetime on the east coast know Fowler and McIlroy and Scheffler, but my name is Wyndham Clark and I am ready to go.’”
Chamblee on Live From: “So much of these major events are about timing…it doesn’t always happen for the best players in the world, but randomly it will happen for the odd player here or there…the reason we all sort of mentioned him Wednesday night as someone to keep an eye on was this golf course, because he hits it so far, because his iron play has been much improved…at Memorial, he was second in GIR. At the Wells Fargo where he won, he led in strokes gained approach…and you come here with wide fairways? It fits him to a T.”
Azinger on Clark’s birdie on 13th hole after Fowler: “That’s a real answer. We’re learning a lot about Wyndham Clark, where he is in his head and how he feels about his game. You can’t just wish that putt in. He had a lot of integrity and intention on that putt.”
Notah Begay III: “I really like his routine today. He really hasn’t rushed anything and hasn’t it a shot until he’s fully ready. I think that really ensures commitment and execution.”
Azinger following par on the 9th hole: “He’s in complete control of his emotions and his game…nobody has played the back nine better this week.”
Azinger: “Johnny Miller used to say that faders win U.S. Opens. The only guy I see hitting fades right now is Wyndham Clark.”
ON RORY MCILROY (-9, 3rd)
Azinger: “He wants this so desperately. Sometimes, you want it too much.”
Paul McGinley on Live From: “I really like Rory tomorrow. He’s dominating tee-to-green. We’ve been down this track before with Rory. He’s always great when he’s got something to prove, he gets his elbows pointy…adversity drives him to focus, we saw that last year, he hunted down Scottie Scheffler…I just see a little bit of that going on.”
ON SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER (-7, 4th)
Azinger on Scheffler after going eagle-birdie to finish the third round: “He is very much back in it after that finish.”
McGinley on Live From: “If you believe in momentum, Scheffler’s going to be sleeping a lot better tonight.”
Azinger on eagle hole-out on 17th hole: “It’s such a miracle shot. You never think you’re going to be able to do that on 17…there have only been four birdies there all day long.”
Faxon: “You don’t have to worry about your putting when you do that.”
Hicks: “Just when you think he might be out of the picture, he is just forcing himself up the leaderboard with that miracle shot.”
ON XANDER SCHAUFFELE
Azinger: “He’s one of those players that just never gets rattled. He’s proving it again today. If there was ever a time to get rattled, it would have been that first hole.”
John Wood prior to his first fairway bunker shot at the 1st hole: “I’m not even sure if he can get this past Rory’s drive, to be perfectly honest with you. He’s just got to take some sort of a wedge here and make sure he gets it out for a third shot.
Azinger after he left it in the bunker after his first attempt: “What a mistake. What a mistake, oh my goodness…full scramble mode, right out of the gate.”
Wood: “I don’t know if he was trying to make a number…s just a situation where you take a club that you know you can hit out 100 of 100 times and then take one more. There was no reason to even come close to it, even if you hit a 40-yard shot, so what?”
Hicks after he left it in the bunker for a second shot: “You wait all day, and you start like this…”
Wood: “That’s a couple of gut punches to start your day.”
--NBC SPORTS--