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Oakmont, Pa. • Daniel Summerhays shot 2-over par through 15 holes of his third round Saturday at the U.S. Open and stands six shots behind leader Shane Lowry in his quest for American golf's national championship.

"I feel like I've handled everything pretty well, I've felt more confident and comfortable out there," Summerhays said.

Confidence can go a long way on a course with narrow, fast fairways and long, penalizing rough. Summerhays saw his driving as a major factor to his ability to score on Oakmont's bounding landscape.

"I missed four fairways and made four bogeys, the rough is just tough," Summerhays said. "Once you're in the rough it's really hard to recover. I haven't drawn good lies in the rough, rightfully so, and it's like trying to hack a wedge out.

"I made a couple nice birdies and had a couple other good looks but overall I feel like I've handled myself pretty well," Summerhays said. "I'm really looking forward to [Sunday]."

A lot of that poise comes from a consistent confidence with the putter. On Saturday, Summerhays made a 30 footer on the eighth hole and nearly dropped a putt of about the same distance on the par-4 ninth. Those two holes had been two of the toughest all week.

"I'm rolling it pretty good, I've been really close on a few and I feel like it takes a little bit of luck for it to be the perfect speed, the perfect line," Summerhays said. "Overall I'm happy with my putting and haven't been quite as close on some of the looks that I had [Friday] so that's just making it a little more difficult to get them in."

The reality is, at tied for eighth place and six shots back, Summerhays has a bit of a chance to win a major Sunday.

"I'm looking forward to the opportunity, I have a lot of experience, may not be major championship experience, but I feel like I do have a shot," Summerhays said. "If I can get that putter rolling, I feel like I can hit some good shots in there. I feel like I have all of the shots, it's just putting it all together tomorrow."

Realistically, he's going to have to make a significant move to get ahead of Zach Johnson, Jason Day, Sergio Garcia, and Dustin Johnson — among others — to catch Lowry.

"I feel like I have the game to shoot 5-, 6-under par between the end of this round and maybe get to four or five total for the tournament," Summerhays said.