Ricky Barnes and Lucas Glover hold a five stroke advantage over the rest of the field in The US Open Championship - with England’s Ross Fisher one of many waiting to pounce when the final round resumes on Monday.
Following the delayed completion of round three at Bethpage Black, the final round eventually got under way at 1745 (2245 BST), with pairs once again starting from the first and tenth tees.
And Barnes, who led by one after the third round, suffered an immediate setback - bogeying the first hole to slip back to seven under alongside Glover.
Fisher, together with playing partner David Duval, also dropped a shot at the first to slip back to two under, but the Englishman remained tied for third and in serious contention for a first Major title.
Also on two under were world number two Phil Mickelson and American Ryder Cup player Hunter Mahan.
Canada’s Mike Weir held seventh spot at one under, while two-time US Open champion Retief Goosen, Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell and Denmark’s Soren Hansen were all a shot further back at level par - alongside defending champion and world number one Tiger Woods.
Rory McIlroy managed to get through ten holes of his final round and picked up two shots to move to two over, the same score as Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, who was one under for his round through nine holes.
Afterwards, McIlroy said: “If I go out tomorrow morning and get four birdies on the last eight holes and post two under par you never know.
“But we'll see what happens. I just need to go out there tomorrow and if I play tomorrow the way I did for the first ten holes I'll have a good chance to get to red figures for the tournament.”
Earlier in the day, Barnes, playing his first full year on the PGA Tour in his seventh year as a professional, held an astonishing six shot advantage after following a birdie at the par four second with an eagle at the par five fourth.
However, a number of bogeys halted the 28 year old's progress and he eventually carded a level par 70 - putting him one clear of Glover at the end of the third round.
Fisher played some sparkling golf in his round of 69 and could count himself unfortunate not to be closer to Barnes and Glover after seeing a host of birdie opportunities slip by.
“If I had putted half decent and had 27 or 28 putts I would be 14 under easily,” he said. “I hit the ball that well.
“Even if I had had 30 putts today I would be ten under. Yesterday I had 34 or 35 and if you shave some of them off then you are looking at a ridiculous number, but that’s golf and you don’t always hole them.”
Mickelson had moved into contention following an entertaining third round that included seven birdies, four bogeys and one double bogey.
Goosen carded a second successive 68 to raise hopes of a third US Open triumph, while big hitting American Bubba Watson posted the best score of the third round - 67 - to move to one under before dropping back to level par on the resumption of play.
