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Reuters
SOUTHAMPTON (New York)
Dustin Johnson three-putted the final hole to fall into a four-way tie for the lead with fellow Americans Brooks Koepka, Daniel Berger and Tony Finau after the third round at the U.S. Open on Saturday.
Johnson carded a seven-over-par 77 but still found himself sharing the lead after surviving brutal conditions as Koepka set himself up for a shot at successfully defending his title.
Johnson steadied himself after squandering a four-shot advantage on the front nine at Shinnecock Hills as the field bunched up like rush hour traffic on the Long Island Expressway.
The 2016 champion negotiated the back nine in one-over on a day when strong winds and low humidity baked the greens dry and left some on the verge of being unplayable.
Americans Johnson, Koepka (72), Daniel Berger (66) and Tony Finau (66) led Englishman Justin Rose (73) by one stroke, and Swede Henrik Stenson (74) by two.
Koepka oozed confidence about his chances of becoming the first since Curtis Strange in 1988-89 to win consecutive titles."There's nobody more confident,"he told reporters."I feel you've got to take it (the title) from me to be honest."
Berger and Finau beat the worst of the conditions, finishing before the leaders had even teed off. Few could have predicted at the start of the day that Berger and Finau would find themselves in the final pairing on Sunday.
"As the day went on it continued to get more tough,"said two-times PGA Tour winner Berger, who noticed the course starting to become more difficult on about the 12th hole.
"It started to get a lot firmer and faster,"he said."The speed of the greens picked up. It's going to be tough (for the leaders)."
Little did he realise how true that would be.
Finau soon matched Berger's 66."I feel my game is made for championship golf,"said the extremely long-hitting Finau, who believes he is developing a complete, all-round game.
"Today I needed something special to happen to have an outside chance. Whether I do or not I'm happy with the day."
Saturday showed that no lead is safe at the toughest test in golf.
Nothing was likely to create more discussion than Phil Mickelson hitting a moving ball on the 13th green.
The astonishing moment occurred after the five-times major champion missed the hole with a short downhill putt, and his ball kept trickling and trickling down the slope.
He trotted after it and when the ball was about 15 feet beyond the hole, and still trickling, he hit it back towards the cup.
Mickelson said he knew the action would bring a two-shot penalty, and that he had hit the ball to prevent it from rolling off the green.
He finished the day, his 48th birthday, with an 81, 11-over par.
