The 123rd edition of the major saw Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, seeking to end a nine-year major drought, finish one shot behind the leaders at the Los Angeles Country Club.

Fowler who is yet to win a major, shot a three-putt bogey on the final to join Clark as he made birdie.

Clark, McIlroy and world number one American golfer Scottie Scheffler bettered par, for a combined average of 71.8.

Scheffler shot an eagle on 17 and birdied the last to earn his under-par round.

"I handled all of it really well. I had two back-to-back bogeys [on 11 and 12], which were unfortunate," Clark said.

"But followed it up with birdie, and then birdieing at the end I felt like I handled all the adversity, and I feel like my best round is still out there."

Fowler is optimistic of finally lifting a major trophy after a forgetful 2022 that saw him rank as ow as world number 185.

In round three, the 34-year-old got 12 pars against three birdies and three bogeys.  

Fowler will be hoping to be the first to win the major leading or co-leading  every round since German Martin Kaymer in 2014.

"We have a chance tomorrow," Fowler said.

"I mentioned out there after going through the last few years, I'm not scared to fail.

"I've dealt with that.

"We're just going to go have fun, continue to try to execute, leave it all out there, see where we stand on 18."

"Through three rounds we're in the spot that we want to be in.

"And tomorrow is when the tournament starts."

It is not possible to rule out Fowler's good friend McIlroy.

He is on top in greens in regulation (44 of 54), hitting 31 of 39 fairways, for a share of sixth.

"The golf course definitely got a little bit trickier today," said McIlroy.

"I felt like I played really smart, solid golf.

"[It] sort of felt somewhat stress-free out there, if you can ever call golf at a U.S. Open stress-free. Overall, pretty pleased with how today went, and feel like I’m in a good spot heading into tomorrow."