BROOKLINE, Mass. — Chris Gotterup, the 22-year-old New Jersey native who made the cut Friday in the U.S. Open, his first career major championship, struggled to keep his momentum Saturday in the third round.

Gotterup — who grew up in Little Silver, played his youth golf at Rumson Country Club and then played four years at Rutgers and one year at Oklahoma — shot a 5-over 75 on Saturday and is tied for 49th. He entered the day having played his previous 30 holes in 3-under.

One hole Gotterup has had problems with all week is the 503-yard par-4 15th hole, on which he took a four-putt double bogey Thursday, bogeyed Friday and bogeyed Saturday.

After the second-round bogey, he said he was going to “take care of’’ 15 on Saturday. Now he’ll have to wait until the final round.

This is Gotterup’s third professional tournament. He finished tied for seventh at the Puerto Rico Open, then turned pro and missed the cut last week at the RBC Canadian Open. He’s scheduled to play in the Travelers Championship next week and the John Deere next month.

The weather conditions more difficult on Saturday, with cooler temperatures and more wind, and Denny McCarthy led the way with his early tee time and posted a 2-under 68 and has now moved into a tie for 11th at 1-over.

“I think I blacked out, I don’t even remember anything,’’ McCarthy said jokingly. “No, I played really solid golf. I played really well [Friday] and shot even par. I wouldn’t say I was disappointed, but I felt like I could have shot 2- to 5-under [Friday], and I shot even.

“[That] kind of lit a little fire under me. I came out with the mindset today that I’m going to try to play great and shoot a number that gets me back in the tournament. And, I like playing in hard conditions, so it was a great day for that type of opportunity for me to come out and shoot a decent number and watch the guys in the afternoon have to play this place.’’

McCarthy said he was off to the Red Sox game Saturday night at Fenway Park to take his mind off golf until the final round Sunday.

One of the cool under-the-radar stories on the leaderboard this week has been Hayden Buckley, who began the third round at 4-under, one shot out of the lead. Buckley entered the week having missed the cut in six of his previous seven starts. He shot a third-round 75 to fall to 1-over and tied for 11th.

Buckley met his caddie, Brian Mahoney, through an acquaintance several days before his first Korn Ferry Tour victory, at the LECOM Suncoast Classic last year, at which he was the 10th alternate.

He secured that win with a birdie on the first playoff hole and it came in just his 17th career start. Eventually, Buckley finished seventh on the Korn Ferry Tour’s overall points list for the finals and earned him his PGA Tour card.

Buckley recalled something Mahoney told him after the second round of that victory.

“Look, no matter what happens in the rest of the tournament, I’m coming with you because I believe in you; you’re going to be on the PGA Tour,” Buckley recalled Mahoney telling him. “I had six caddies before him, but I hope he’s my caddy for life.”

The two have become close enough that Mahoney was been invited to be groomsman for Buckley’s wedding later this year.

Buckley entered the second round with some scar tissue from the previous U.S. Open, at Torrey Pines, where he shot 2-under in the first round and was two shots off the lead and missed the cut.

“I think I missed almost every fairway in that second round and just couldn’t play,’’ he recalled.

This is the third time Collin Morikawa has opened a major championship with two rounds under par. His results after the first two: He won the 2020 PGA Championship and he won the 2021 British Open.

But his third round at the U.S. Open was a different story for Morikawa as the second-round leader shot a 77 to fall to 2-over.

Since the Official World Golf Rankings began in 1986, only three times has a player who was ranked No. 1 entering the U.S. Open gone on to win it. Tiger Woods in 2000, Woods in 2002 and Woods in 2008.

Scottie Scheffler, the current world No. 1 and reigning Masters champion, enters the final round at 2-under par, two shots out of the lead.