University Place, WA - World No. 1 Rory McIlroy made a big push toward the top of the leaderboard that had him within two shots of the lead at one point during Sunday's final round before struggling down the stretch at the U.S. Open Championship.

The reigning Open Championship and PGA Championship winner carded a 4-under 66 in the final round at Chambers Bay and held the clubhouse lead at even-par 280 when he finished up.

Beginning the day eight shots back of the leaders, McIlroy started his climb up the leaderboard with a 15-foot birdie at the par-4 second. He then ripped off four straight pars from three.

A birdie at the seventh was the start of a big run for McIlroy. He made it two in a row with a 7-foot gain at the par-5 eighth. Following a par on nine, the Ulsterman stuffed his approach to four feet at 10 and sank that for another birdie.

McIlroy knocked in a 5-footer for birdie on 12. Now three shots back of the lead, he made some serious noise by holing a monstrous 72-foot birdie putt on 13. His fifth birdie in seven holes had McIlroy up to minus-2 and within two of the leader Dustin Johnson as he threatened the first-ever 62 in U.S. Open history.

"Yeah, 2-under I thought would've at least made the guys in front of me think a little bit," McIlroy said when asked what number he was trying to hit. "I got to 2-under pretty quickly, obviously, on 13. Played a great front nine.

"(The putt on 13) was a huge putt. Obviously, I wasn't expecting to hole it, just get it down there somewhere close, but thankfully it just dropped right in the middle and that's when I really thought I had a chance to get to 2- under there. With 16 and 18 playing pretty easy today, I thought I had a chance to get to 4-under par from there, and instead of making two birdies on the way in I made two bogeys, which was disappointing."

McIlroy made three pars and two bogeys on 15 and 17 over his final five holes to post a 66 and grab the clubhouse lead at even-par.