It’s been said that you don’t win the United States Open, you survive it, and most of the field was in survival mode during treacherous conditions the third round.
Top-ranked Dustin Johnson struggled to a 7-over-par 77 but finished with at least a share of the lead for the third straight day, and enters the final round even with defending champion Brooks Koepka, Daniel Berger and Tony Finau at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y.
“I’m in a good position, in the lead tomorrow,” said Johnson, the 2016 U.S. Open champion, who lipped out a 17-foot birdie putt on the last hole, saw it slide seven feet past the cup and missed the comebacker for a closing bogey. “Today’s round, I didn’t feel like I played badly at all. Seven-over, you know, usually is a terrible score, but with the greens the way they got this afternoon, I mean, they were very, very difficult.
“I had seven or eight putts that easily could have gone in the hole that didn’t. You know, and that’s the difference between shooting 7-over and even par. Even like the putt on the last hole, I hit a really good putt. It was in the hole with breaking to the right, and it kicks left, goes up the hill, and lips out. So, you know, it’s just difficult out there right now.”
Johnson, who had a four-stroke lead entering the round and made his only birdie on the 11th hole, finished 54 holes at 3-over 213, which Koepka equaled with a 72 even though he made bogeys on three of the last six holes.
Finau and Berger, who played in the morning before the wind began to howl and dried out the course, carded 66s that were the low scores of the round.
Berger saw the afternoon carnage coming.
“I think it’s going to be extremely difficult (in the afternoon),” said Berger, who was seven shots behind when he finished and went back to his room to watch the leaders come back to him on TV. “ … Some of these pins are three (yards) off the edges, where you hit one by, three feet past the hole and it’s going 40 yards away from the green. I think to get out there early and play a good round really was to my benefit.”
Two-time major champion Zach Johnson, who is only five shots back in a tie for 16th after a 72, went so far as to say the United States Golf Association, “lost the course.”
UCGA Chief Executive Mike Davis, who is responsible for the course set-up, admitted: “It was a very tough test, but probably too tough this afternoon.”
Third-ranked Justin Rose of England, the 2013 U.S. Open champion, managed a 73 and is one shot back in fifth despite two bogeys on the last three holes, followed another stroke down by Henrik Stenson of Sweden, who held the lead on the back nine before making five birdies on the last nine holes in a 74.
Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand shot 68 while playing early and is three shots behind in a tie for seventh with Patrick Reed, who made a birdie on the 17th hole after three straight bogeys in a 71, and 48-year-old Jim Furyk, the 2003 champion, who had a 72.
Brian Gay shot 70 and is four back in a tie for 10th with Dylan Meyer (71), Tyrrell Hatton (72) of England, Branden Grace (72) of South Africa, Ian Poulter (76) of England and Charley Hoffman (77) of Poway.
Second-ranked Justin Thomas is tied for 16th after a 74, 10th-ranked Hideki Matsuyama of Japan shot 79 and is tied for 54th, and seventh-ranked Rickie Fowler of Murrieta stumbled to an ugly 84 and is tied for 61st.
Phil Mickelson, who went to Shinnecock Hills seeking to complete the Career Grand Slam but said he hoped the USGA would leave the course alone because it is a strong enough test without any help, struggled to an 81 and is tied for 64th—ahead of only two players who made the cut.
Lefty, playing on his 48th birthday, took a two-stroke penalty on the 13th hole when he intentionally hit his ball while it was still moving so it would not roll off the green after he missed an 18-foot par putt. He eventually took a sextuple-bogey 10.
“Look, I don’t mean disrespect to anybody,” said Mickelson, who has finished second in the U.S. Open six times without winning. “I know it’s a two-shot penalty. At that time I just didn’t feel like going back and forth and hitting the same shot over. I took the two-shot penalty and moved on. It’s my understanding of the rules. I’ve had multiple times where I’ve wanted to do that, I just finally did it.”
Lefty sank a five-foot putt for his 10.
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