Battle for survival as pressure takes toll

MAJOR championship pressure can reduce even the strongest men to quivering wrecks.

Just ask American Dustin Johnson, who frittered away a three-shot overnight lead with an excruciating early run in last night’s final round of the US Open at Pebble Beach, dropping seven strokes in his first seven holes to leave Graeme McDowell heading down the stretch with a chance to win his first major title.

As NBC pundit and two time major winner Johnny Miller put it: “Open pressure has squeezed the air out of his lungs.”