Andy Murray won the Nottingham Open for back-to-back grass-court titles to maintain a perfect Wimbledon build-up.

He will return to the world's top 40 on Monday and will seek more wins at Queen's to amass enough ranking points to be one of 32 seeds at Wimbledon.

Katie Boulter faces fellow Briton Jodie Burrage in the women's final on Sunday.

There is also a chance of British success at the event in the women's doubles, with Heather Watson and Harriet Dart taking on Norway's Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia's Ingrid Neel. That comes after Jacob Fearnley and Johannus Monday won the all-British men's doubles final against Liam Broady and Jonny O'Mara on Saturday.

Before last week it had been seven years since Murray had won a singles title on grass, but the Scot now has two in seven days.

And he has achieved this one without dropping a set.

The former world number one got off to a fast start against Cazaux in a final that had been brought forward because of bad weather forecast for later in the day, going a double break ahead against the 20-year-old world number 181.

The top seed was broken to love by the qualifier while serving for the first set, although then served it out to love at the second time of asking, sealing it with an ace after a series of winners that wrongfooted his opponent.

The Frenchman made it more of a contest in the second set but Murray made the key breakthrough at 4-4 when Cazaux netted twice in succession to hand the Briton a break that left him serving for the match.

A stunning backhand down the line put him two points from victory before Cazaux netted a service return and Murray wrapped up victory on his first match point when the Frenchman hit long.

Murray is enjoying good form at just the right time, with Wimbledon - where he is a two-time champion - beginning on 3 July.

But these Nottingham and Surbiton titles have come at Challenger events - the second tier of men's tennis - and he will face a notable step up in the quality of the field at his next event at Queen's, which starts on Monday.

There he will be unseeded and has been handed a tricky first-round draw against Australian seventh seed and world number 18 Alex de Minaur.

But he can take a lot of confidence into the London event with a winning streak of 10 matches on grass, with just one set dropped, and looking physically fit on the court - the importance of which, four years after hip surgery nearly ended his career, cannot be overstated.

European clubs should not be afraid of a player exodus to Saudi Arabia, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said on Sunday, suggesting the country was making a mistake investing in stars at the end of their careers.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema have been paid record-high contracts to join Saudi Arabian clubs this year, and similar offers were made to Lionel Messi and Luka Modric. They have combined to win every Ballon d'Or awarded since 2008, and all are at least 35.

- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)

More players are expected to follow after four top Saudi Arabian clubs were effectively nationalized this month when taken into majority ownership by the Public Investment Fund sovereign wealth operation chaired by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

Ceferin was asked by Dutch broadcaster NOS if he was afraid of a player exodus, and answered emphatically: "No, no, no."

"I think that it's mainly a mistake for Saudi Arabian football. Why is that a problem for them? Because they should invest in academies, they should bring coaches, and they should develop their own players."

"The system of buying the players that almost ended their career is not the system that develops football," he added. "It was a similar mistake in China when they all brought players who are at the end of their career."

Didier Drogba was the star recruit to the Chinese league in 2012 as clubs there bought Europe-based forwards such as Nicolas Anelka and Frederic Kanoute. However, the Chinese league and men's national team have made little progress internationally in the years since.

"Tell me one player who is top, top age and who starts his career and went to play in Saudi Arabia?" Ceferin asked during the interview on the sideline of the Nations League Finals hosted in the Netherlands.

"But it's not about money only. Players want to win top competitions. And top competition is in Europe," Ceferin said.

The UEFA president was asked if European football had lost some of its top attraction, but Ceferin offered a different perspective.

"We didn't lose them. They still play football. At the end of their career, some players go somewhere to earn some money."

Ceferin said UEFA are looking at rules to impose an overall cap on the budget for salaries and transfers for clubs that qualify to play in European competitions.

"Because we don't want that two or three clubs who have unlimited resources come to a budget of €5 billion or €10bn," he said. "Then our competition is not interesting anymore.

"Practically every club, everyone who I spoke with, agrees with that," Ceferin said. "We are far from any decision; we are just thinking about it."

It is unclear how UEFA can introduce such rules within European Union laws and different tax regimes across its 55 member federations. Salary caps have often been considered in the 15 years since European football officials shaped financial fair play rules to monitor clubs' income and spending.

UEFA under Ceferin's leadership has previously spoken of staging the Champions League final outside Europe, although he said that idea has not gone forward yet.

The next two finals will be in London and Munich.

"We didn't even discuss moving out of Europe let alone be concrete as in Saudi Arabia or somewhere else," Ceferin said. "For the future, I don't give it a big chance that we go out."

LOS ANGELES – Wyndham Clark said it was a “little ridiculous” that the final group of the U.S. Open didn’t tee off until 3:40 p.m. local time Saturday, believing that the impending darkness contributed to two late bogeys in the third round.

Clark and Rickie Fowler, who are tied for the 54-hole lead at 10-under 200, each made a bogey over the final 30 minutes, when the low clouds and fading daylight made picking out a target and reading the greens more difficult. 

“We played twilight golf,” Clark said Saturday.

On the 17th hole, Clark flared his approach shot into the native area, leading to a penalty drop and a 6-foot attempt just to save bogey. 

“I literally couldn’t see it,” Clark said, “and we just played off of feel.”

Fowler, meanwhile, three-putted from 40 feet on the final green, his par attempt from 3 feet, 7 inches catching the right lip and spinning out. 

Afterward, he didn’t blame the miss on the lack of light – “I hit a good putt,” he said – but added that it was surprising that tournament officials pushed the third round so late into the afternoon.

“If it was a Tour event and you were away from the clubhouse,” he said, “you’d be looking around for them to blow the horn.”

On the final green, Clark brushed in a sweeping, left-to-right 6-footer to grab a share of the third-round lead. But while lining up the putt, Clark’s caddie, John Ellis, instructed Clark to hit the putt softly because “we need a tap-in coming in.”   

“I would like to think that they would step in and be like, Hey, we want to make sure it’s in the light and we have time,” Clark said. “Definitely Rickie and I had a little bit of a disadvantage on those last two holes playing in the dark.”

With a clear weather forecast and primetime viewing on the East Coast, USGA officials opted not to send the final group off until 3:40 p.m. That was significantly later than the last time that the U.S. Open was held on the West Coast, in 2021 at Torrey Pines. That year, the final group in the third round went off at 1:35 p.m. local time.

“It’s kind of tough and it’s crazy to think that we’re doing that on the last two holes of a major when we could have teed off two hours earlier,” Clark said. “Hopefully tomorrow we don’t have that issue.”

Indeed, it will be an earlier start for the leaders: Clark and Fowler will tee it up at 2:30 p.m. local time, 70 minutes earlier than on Saturday. That start time should allow the broadcast to conclude at about 7 p.m., leaving time for the trophy presentation and, potentially, a two-hole aggregate playoff.

The final round of the 123rd U.S. Open will be contested Sunday at Los Angeles Country Club in Los Angeles, California. NBC will have coverage, beginning at noon ET, with Peacock showcasing featured groups, featured holes and U.S. Open All Access (click here for streams and times).

Here's a look at tee times and pairings (all times ET; a = amateur):

11:23 a.m. – Ryo Ishikawa
11:34 a.m. – Patrick Reed, Jacob Solomon
11:45 a.m. – Adam Svensson, Maxwell Moldovan (a)
11:56 a.m. – Ben Carr (a), David Puig
12:07 p.m. – Romain Langasque, Aldrich Potgieter (a)
12:18 p.m. – Abraham Ancer, Adam Hadwin
12:29 p.m. – Ryan Gerard, Mackenzie Hughes
12:40 p.m. – Yuto Katsuragawa, Gordon Sargent (a)
12:51 p.m. – Jordan Smith, Sam Bennett
1:07 p.m. – Nick Hardy, Sebastian Munoz
1:18 p.m. – Charley Hoffman, Sahith Theegala
1:29 p.m. – Andrew Putnam, Austin Eckroat
1:40 p.m. – Kevin Streelman, Sergio Garcia
1:51 p.m. – Sam Stevens, Tommy Fleetwood
2:02 p.m. – Jon Rahm, Dylan Wu
2:13 p.m. – Gary Woodland, Denny McCarthy
2:24 p.m. – Billy Horschel, Patrick Rodgers
2:35 p.m. – Ryan Fox, Brian Harman
2:51 p.m. – Justin Suh, Eric Cole
3:02 p.m. – Sam Burns, Keith Mitchell
3:13 p.m. – Si Woo Kim, Joaquin Niemann
3:24 p.m. – Brooks Koepka, Tyrrell Hatton
3:35 p.m. – Cameron Young, Russell Henley
3:46 p.m. – Shane Lowry, Tony Finau
3:57 p.m. – Collin Morikawa, Matt Fitzpatrick
4:08 p.m. – Padraig Harrington, Patrick Cantlay
4:19 p.m. – Min Woo Lee, Viktor Hovland
4:35 p.m. – Hideki Matsuyama, Cam Smith
4:46 p.m. – Bryson DeChambeau, Tom Kim
4:57 p.m. – Ryutaro Nagano, Xander Schauffele
5:08 p.m. – Dustin Johnson, Harris English
5:19 p.m. – Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy
5:30 p.m. – Rickie Fowler, Wyndham Clark

LOS ANGELES – Even in fading daylight, Wyndham Clark drilled an 8-iron that one-hopped off the flagstick and settled 6 feet away for a birdie that could prove important for a couple of reasons.

The closing birdie gave Clark a share of the 54-hole lead at the U.S. Open, after Rickie Fowler’s three-putt on the final green.

And it denied Rory McIlroy a spot in the final group alongside one of his close friends.

“That was a big deal,” said Clark’s caddie, John Ellis. “That’s where we wanted to be, right? We want to be in that last group and stare down whoever’s leading.”

The birdie on the last green means the final group will run it back again on Sunday, a pair of Oklahoma State products who are vying for their first major title at Los Angeles Country Club.

Fowler may have even helped spark this recent run of stellar play from Clark. They were playing a casual round together at Medalist during the Florida swing this year when Clark began tooling around with Fowler’s putter. “I was like, Oh, gosh, this is really nice,” Clark said. So he texted his club manufacturer and had the same exact putter built for him, using Fowler’s specifications. Clark posted back-to-back top-10s this spring, and then won his first Tour event at Quail Hollow last month. He’s now among the top 35 players in the world.

“Rickie is a class act and a great Cowboy,” Clark said, “and I’m fortunate to have him as a friend.”

But McIlroy is even tighter with Fowler, and they could have been paired together in the final group just as they were in the 2014 Open Championship. McIlroy got the better of his pal that day in capturing his third career major title, and he also bested Fowler head-to-head at the 2021 CJ Cup.

“I would say Rory has got me beat in most of the areas for the most part,” Fowler said with a smile. “I feel like it’s been more him pushing me than me pushing him type of thing, with him having more wins and actually has majors versus me. But to me, I always enjoy having buddies that we can go toe-to-toe with, and we just continue to push each other. I think that’s how I’ve always gotten the best out of myself and also the people around me.”

McIlroy made two birdies in his first three holes Saturday but just one more the rest of the way, leaving him, at 9-under 201, a shot back of the lead. Instead of playing alongside Fowler in the final group, McIlroy will now draw Scottie Scheffler, the world No. 1 who thrust himself into contention with an eagle-birdie finish to cap off a Saturday 68. He’s three shots off the lead.

McIlroy has edged Scheffler each of the last two times they’ve played, head to head: The consolation match of the WGC-Match Play this year (2 and 1), as well as the 2022 Tour Championship, where McIlroy shot 66 to Scheffler’s 73 and claimed his third FedExCup title.

But for all of McIlroy’s myriad accomplishments, he hasn’t won a major in nearly nine years – since he outdueled Fowler that day at Royal Liverpool.

“It’s been such a long time since I’ve done it,” he said Saturday night. “I’m going out there to try to execute a game plan, and I feel like over the last three days I’ve executed that game plan really, really well, and I just need to do that for one more day.”

And on the final day, he’ll know exactly where he stands. All he needs to do is look back down the fairway at the last group. 

LOS ANGELES – Three rounds into the U.S. Open and the uncertainty is only slightly less than it was on Thursday with nine players within seven shots of the lead on a golf course that’s promising to take far more than it gives.

With an almost limitless well of potential storylines, here’s five to watch Sunday at Los Angeles Country Club:

IT'S BEEN NINE curious years since Rory McIlroy has hoisted a Grand Slam trophy and even though he’s had his chances to break his major slump, Sunday feels like a fait accompli.

After telling the world that his swing was a work in progress and we shouldn’t expect a quick turnaround two weeks ago at the Memorial, he’s back to his ball-striking best. He’s first in the field in strokes gained: tee to green and strokes gained: off the tee and has hit an extremely un-U.S. Open-like 44 of 54 greens in regulation.

But perhaps the most encouraging sign that the Northern Irishman is ready to break back through the major ceiling is a new-found indifference to the distractions that have dominated the last year.

“It's been such a long time since I've done it [won a major]. I'm going out there to try to execute a game plan, and I feel like over the last three days I've executed that game plan really, really well, and I just need to do that for one more day,” he said.

LOS ANGELES COUNTRY Club finally started playing the role of U.S. Open venue late Friday, and as the course continued to become firmer and faster under an unrelenting southern California sun, the test USGA officials had hoped for became a reality.

The scoring average continued to tick up following Thursday’s record assault with Saturday’s average (71.84) more than a half stroke higher than it was on Day 1 and players were bracing for increasingly difficult conditions for the final round.

“The scoring was surprisingly low over the first couple of days, but it doesn't look or feel like any of the other three major championships,” McIlroy said. “The U.S. Open has definitely got its own identity, and I think that identity was pretty strong from the opening tee shot on Thursday.”

A BOGEY AT the last spoiled an otherwise impressive day for Rickie Fowler but he’ll begin the final round with a share of the lead with Wyndham Clark and this is hardly unknown territory.

Before Fowler slipped into an inexplicable slump the last few years, he was a regular on major championship leaderboards, famously posting four consecutive top-5 finishes in all four Grand Slam stops in 2014. The difference this time is likely all that perspective he’s learned over the last few years of struggle.

“This is the best I've felt, let alone in a normal tournament but especially a major, and I would say really ever in my career,” he said.

THE NORTH COURSE'S 15th hole became the shortest in U.S. Open history Saturday at just 81 yards to a front-right pin, but there’s a good chance it’ll become a far more interesting hole for the final round.

According to sources, USGA officials are considering a back-left hole location for the final round, which could create a funnel on the kidney-shaped green for shots to feed to the hole.

The hole has already provided plenty of content this week with Saturday’s tee location creating far more of a challenge than most would have imagined on an 81-yard hole.

“I'm the happiest man alive that I hit that green,” DeChambeau said. “With my wedge game and how fast I can move a golf club, I'm super happy that I was able to control the distance there and get it on the green.”

WE ARE THREE months shy of this year’s Ryder Cup but the interest and lobbying has intensified following last week’s announcement that the PGA Tour has reached a “framework” agreement with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which owns 93 percent of LIV Golf.

Brooks Koepka moved to No. 2 on the U.S. Ryder Cup points list with his victory at last month’s PGA Championship and is likely a lock to qualify for the team and at least two other LIV Golf players are looking to make their own Ryder Cup statements on Sunday.

DeChambeau is tied for ninth following a third-round 68 and Dustin Johnson is alone in sixth place.

“I think [Koepka] is already qualified, he’s already on the team,” DeChambeau said. “If my game continues to improve and I play well in another major and play well in some LIV events I hope [U.S. captain Zach Johnson] considers some of those guys. It’d be nice to consider me.”

The top 6 off the U.S. points list through Aug. 20 automatically qualify for the team and captain Zach Johnson will announce his six picks on Aug. 28. Dustin Johnson is 39th on the U.S. points list followed by DeChambeau at No. 47th.