By Larry Fine ARDMORE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Nineteen-year-old amateur Michael Kim looked at the scoreboard at Merion's 15th green on Saturday and smiled at the sight of his name listed two strokes from the lead in the third round of the U.S. Open. South Korea-born Kim, a University of California, Berkeley student and winner of the Jack Nicklaus award as top U.S. college golfer, said it was the company he was keeping on the big scoreboard that made for the special moment.

Steve Stricker would become the oldest champion in US Open history and the second-oldest in major golf history if he can pull off his first major title on Sunday at the US Open. The 46-year-old American fired a par 70 in Saturday's third round at Merion to stand on level par 210, sharing second with Hunter Mahan and Charl Schwartzel but only one stroke behind four-time major winner Phil Mickelson.

Five-time US Open runner-up Phil Mickelson has a golden chance to finally capture the major title that has heartbreakingly eluded him in Sunday's final round at challenging Merion. On his 43rd birthday and Father's Day, the four-time major champion who skipped practice this week at Merion to fly across the nation and attend his daughter Amanda's middle school graduation could at last win a US Open. "It has got the makings to be something special, but I still have to go out and perform and play some of my best golf," Mickelson said.

Eighty years after the US Open was last won by an amateur, a 19-year-old South Korean-born amateur raised hopes Saturday that the feat might be repeated this weekend at Merion. American Michael Kim, ranked 12th in the world among amateur players and considered among the top US college golfers, birdied four of the first six holes on the back nine to reach third place at level par for the event.