Rex Hoggard suggests whether he thinks Scottie Scheffler could still win the US Open ahead of the final round at Oakmont

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Heading into day three at the US Open, one of the big questions seemed to be whether Scottie Scheffler would make the kind of charge which would bring him back into the tournament.

It has almost become a hallmark of Scottie Scheffler‘s recent run that he will take charge of a tournament during the latter stages of Saturday’s round. Few will forget just how impressive the conclusion to his third round at the PGA Championship was last month.

Scheffler ended up making the cut at the US Open fairly comfortably, having put himself at four over par after two rounds at Oakmont.

And had the leaders been told before the third round that Scheffler would end the day in a tie for 11th, they may have assumed that the charge was underway.

Scottie Scheffler’s hopes of US Open victory assessed after the third round at Oakmont

However, the 28-year-old is still waiting to break 70 for the first time this week. Scheffler shot an even par round to remain at four over par.

That leaves him eight shots back of his good friend Sam Burns. Interestingly, Adam Scott is the only major champion ahead of Scheffler with 18 holes to play in Pennsylvania.

Nevertheless, speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, Rex Hoggard admitted that he cannot see Scheffler managing to make up the ground to win a fourth major title.

“I will say of the people on the leaderboard, and Scottie’s eight shots back, and I’m sure you have a stat for this, I’m not willing to go that far. I’m simply not willing to go that far. Johnny Miller was six. I just think it’s not only that Scottie is eight shots back, it’s how many players are between him and the lead, and he has to count on every single one of those players struggling or not playing very good golf,” he said.

The lowest US Open rounds of Scottie Scheffler’s career

History does not appear to be on Scheffler’s side heading into Sunday. There has been just one round of 65 and one round of 66 this week.

Scheffler will probably need to do something he has never done in his career in the final round. He has posted three rounds of 67 in the US Open over the years. He has never shot 66 or better in the major.

You would imagine that three under par is not going to be good enough, unless the conditions are on the limit of being unplayable.

So Scheffler is probably going to need one of the all-time great rounds if he is going to put himself back in contention.

Having said that, Scheffler will tee off a little over an hour before the final group. That could be significant if he could make a couple of very early birdies.