OAKMONT, Pa. – The crowd came to a standstill but the hum from down below hung in the air.

Adam Scott stood at Oakmont Country Club’s 11th tee, the part of the course that most closely borders the Pennsylvania turnpike and bisects the historic Henry C. Fownes design. The bustling thoroughfare set some 50 feet into the rolling hills of the Allegheny Mountains is a reminder of how quickly life moves. Unrelenting and without consideration for those who hope to suspend it. Cars whizzed by, a few letting out stray honks to remind those above of their presence.

The 44-year-old Australian needs no nudge of the never-ending tick of the clock. Up above, Scott is in a race with life’s most pressure asset, with which he once held so much. He paid little mind as he stuck a tee in the ground and ripped at the ball with a swing that’s seldom changed since this became a check-cashing job back in 2000. Scott looked up to watch the ball holding its line, settling comfortably in the fairway.

For right now, and for however fleeting, Scott is fending off what comes for us all: time.

It arrives fittingly, perhaps, on a property that has immortalized some of the game’s most enduring champions. Jack Nicklaus. Arnold Palmer. Ben Hogan. Sam Snead. All won at Oakmont.

Scott was once hyped to occupy those same conversations, a phenom de jour in the early aughts that was given the unasked-for and burdensome expectation of challenging those greats’ accolades. That conversation, like it does for most, has come and gone. Life is never that easy, nor is it predictable. In all likelihood, Scott’s parting CV, whenever the time comes, will feel underachieving for the talented, graceful golfer who has spanned generations.

Yet his U.S. Open is a reminder that a special few persist longer than expected. And to write them off before they decide it’s time is foolish.

Adam Scott is chasing time and the U.S. Open ... and he’s 18 holes from winning.

“I really haven't been in this kind of position for five or six years, or feeling like I'm that player,” Scott said. “But that's what I'm always working towards. It's not that easy to figure it all out. But if I were to come away with it tomorrow, it would be a hell of a round of golf and an exclamation point on my career.”

There was an urgency to Scott as he walked Oakmont’s rippling fairways, a silent acknowledgement that there may not be as many good chances as this. When his game lines up on the right week at the right course with the leaderboard falling his way. To look up and around and see no other major champions in the top 10 and realize it’s yours to go and take.

Scott was three shots back when he arrived at No. 13, just moments after a disappointing five at the par-5 12th. But the wind was down and the greens were receptive and Scott took advantage of both, flagging an iron on the par 3 and sinking the 6-foot birdie.

The crowd around him seemed to realize the urgency and feat with which Scott was chasing, lifting him with its roars as he strutted off the green. Another roar came at 14 as Scott wedged it to a foot, willing himself closer with another birdie. He escaped the 15th with par, scrambling from the deep greenside bunker, and made it through the long par-3 16th unscathed. His tee ball at the drivable 17th settled into the deepest bunker on the course, though Scott was undeterred, spinning his ball to 14 feet and sinking the putt.

Scott is the only golfer this week with three rounds of par or better. After opening with back-to-back 70s, Scott shot 3-under 67 on Saturday. He’s one back of Sam Burns and in Sunday’s final pairing.

“It would be super fulfilling," Scott said. "Everyone out here has got their journey, you know. Putting ourselves in these positions doesn't just happen by fluke.”

But this form is unexpected. Scott made his last four cuts, but none were better than a tie for 19th. Forever immortalized at Augusta National, Scott missed the cut there this past April for the first time since 2009. He missed the cut at the site of his marquee win, THE PLAYERS Championship, too. His traditionally exemplary irons had abandoned him, outside the top 125 in approach play on TOUR this season. Yet Scott could feel things rounding into form.

“There's probably not been many signs to anyone else but me the last month or six weeks that my game is looking better,” Scott said Saturday. “But I definitely feel more confident than I have been this year.”

In year 26 of pro golf, Scott’s sights are set on a select few tournaments. This, along with The Open Championship, are top of the list. It’s the type of championship that suits Scott on paper and should’ve yielded better results. This year is the first time he will begin the final round of a U.S. Open inside the top 10. His other best position was a tie for 12th here at Oakmont in 2016. His best overall finish was a tie for fourth in 2015, when he began the day seven shots back.

These chances are ephemeral, particularly as Scott ages into golf’s older tier. Forty-four may not be old in the game of life, but we are in an era of golf that’s only getting younger, faster and stronger.

This could be Scott’s last best chance. He knows it. We know it. A man’s quest for greatness and legacy stares him plainly in the face.

There’s no better theater than that for Sunday at the U.S. Open.