Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, who began the back-nine of the final round of the 2011 US Open at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, MD with an eight-stroke advantage, needs four birdies in his last six holes to break the major championship record for a tournament under par. The record, of course, is held by Tiger Woods, who combined to shoot 19-under par at the 2000 British Open. McIlroy, currently 16-under par, is on pace to smash the US Open record of 12-under par, which is also held by Woods.
Currently, McIlroy leads Korea's Y.E. Yang, who's 8-under par and sits alone in second place, by eight strokes. Yang began the day eight strokes behind the 52-hole leader, McIlroy, who's almost certain to win his first major title. Australia's Jason Day is at 7-under par and alone in third place. Three others are tied at 6-under par.
McIlroy began his day by birding two of his first four holes to move to 16-under par. At the par-3 10th hole, McIlroy almost made an ace, but tapped-in to move to 17-under. McIlroy made just his fourth bogey of the tournament on No. 12.