Francesco Molinari had not been with Jordan Rose's former caddie, Mark Fulcher, all that long.

The Italian was set to appear at Kiawah Island until an untimely back injury did for him.

No dramas on the third hole for these two with a couple of pars - it's playing just slightly over par today so they’ll be happy enough with that as asettler, but there’s a few players in the field making moves right now...

That is something else. Hideki Matsuyama zings his iron shot into six feet and then drains his putt for a birdie on four. Great response.

Nowt doing for Christiaan Bezuidenhout. The South African picks up his second par of the day.

Phil Mickelson is sizzling.

Back-to-back birdies and he's out to seven under par, three clear of the field.

The world number 115 flashes the crowd and the onlooking cameras a toothy smile in celebration.

Louis Oosthuizen could do with his birdie dropping from distance to keep pace, but it doesn't.

Just over a month ago, this was the stage where Hideki Matsuyama started to move through the gears to surge into a four-stroke lead at the end of the third round of the Masters.

But he's just wobbling a bit here. A loose shot off the tee into the waste bunker running down the left of the fairway ends up costing him a shot.

So Phil Mickelson leads by two, but there are plenty stacking up behind him. And he's just stuck his tee shot at three into the sand down the left of the fairway.

Decent lie for the 2005 champion, and an outrageous wedge that lands beyond the flag and spins back to within a putter's length of the hole!

Gary Woodland knows how to win major titles. The 2019 US Open champion has, according to leaderboard stats, just drained a 66 feet birdie putt on the fourth to join the group in joint second, two behind Phil Mickelson.

He's two under for his round, after also picking up a shot on the par-five second.

Ian Poulter struggling today - what about that outfit though?

Thumbs up or thumbs down?

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This for a three-shot lead for Phil Mickelson, but his eagle putt on the par-five second never catches the line. The 50-year-old prods in for birdie to move to clear of the field, but has a little shake of the head.

Louis Oosthuizen can't wipe out that bogey at the first as his birdie putt goes begging.

Rickie Fowler has had a tough time of late but, playing on a special exemption here, produced some much better stuff today and signed for a 69 in the end to move to even par for the tournament.

It included a rare birdie two on the fearsome 17th, but a bogey on 18 prevented it from being even better.

Still, a nice change for Fowler to be at least relevant going into the Sunday of a major.

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Blimey. Ian Poulter is tumbling down the leaderboard at present. Three putts on the par-three eighth has not helped one bit.

And to compound matters he then misses an eight-footer to save par on nine after again getting his bucket and spade out. What a way to finish the front nine. His round is falling apart.

What a shot from Phil Mickelson, sweet as you like, clearing the trees and carrying the sand before kicking on up the green to leave him an eagle putt from inside 15 feet. Brilliant.

My word! Grace from an absolute mile out drains a bomb of a birdie putt - officially 36 feet 10 inches - to join Koepka on four under.

Brooks has almost the identical putt but this one scorches the left edge and he has to settle for par.

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Jordan Spieth signed for a four-under 68 a little earlier.

Here's what he thought about it: "I made a couple of putts but man I struck the ball really well for the first 16 holes. And around holes six to nine I thought I was going to get something going.

"I was proud of the way I hung in there and got myself back to level par to give myself a shot of getting into the top 10 tomorrow."

Depending on how the leaders fare this evening he may go even higher.

Phil Mickelson dropped out of the world's top 100 earlier this year for the first time since 1993.

I don't think he imagined it would precede him then leading on day three of a major and in the hunt to become the older player to win one.... Lefty cracks a tee shot down the second fairway. Could he?

There's a real bounce in the stride of Bryson DeChambeau as he marches down the seventh fairway towards the green. He's just nailed his approach from 215 yards to about 15 feet.

Huge eagle chance coming up for the US Open champion. Has he hit it? No. That always looked like it was going to die away.

Tap-in birdie though and he's just three back.

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Hideki Matsuyama finds the sand on the second but easily splashes out and then gets down the dance floor in two for a regulation par.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout drops back another shot though after missing a tiddler for par. Think we might have jinxed him after talking up his putting earlier.

How tricky is this lie for Phil Mickelson? It's in some thick, lush grass but he hacks out nicely and finds the middle of the green. Easy does it. Lefty takes a good look, zoning in through his aviators, and seems to have the line, but not quite the pace... a few rotations short. Par it is.

Louis Oosthuizen also finds the green from the sand but is some 50 feet from the flag. He rolls it up eight or nine feet short. Tricky par putt to come.

It flirts with the cup and stays up! An opening bogey for the South African and Mickelson has the outright lead.

How did that happen? Paul Casey drops a shot on the second after coming up woefully short with his approach to the putting surface.

Casey, who finished in a tie for second at Harding Park in 2020, then doesn't quite judge the pace of a 15-footer to save par.

Over on the sixth and Bryson DeCheambeau is chuntering to himself again after missing a birdie putt by not giving it enough oomph.

It's another par though and he's heading to the par-five seventh which, with a following wind and at only 580 yards long, is definitely in range in two if he can find the fairway with his tee shot. Which he does.