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.”

The big-hitting 25-year-old looked almost invincible as he carded a brilliant five under par 66 on Saturday to lead on six under par from McDowell with Tiger Woods the next best man, no fewer than five strokes behind on one under par.

But less than two hours after teeing off, Johnson was five strokes adrift of the unflappable Irishman from Royal Portrush, but still one stroke better than a disappointing Woods.

Johnson’s troubles started at the 502-yard second, where he racked up a triple bogey seven in the blink of an eye.

Tangled up in the hairy fringe of a greenside bunker, he had to turn the club upside down to play left handed but could only hack his third shot a few feet forward into the first cut.

From there he attempt a cut up shot but he scythed straight under the ball, moving it no more than a foot.

His fifth finished four feet from the hole but he rammed it through the break and eventually holed out for a morale-sapping triple bogey seven.

If he is a student of the game, he will have been aware how much Jack Nicklaus relished the pressure of majors.

“To be out there in the middle of something like that is fun,” Nicklaus said. “You’re inspired, you’re eager, you’re excited. You almost want to break into a dead run when you hit a good shot.”

Johnson looked anything but excited or inspired.

As Open champion Stewart Cink explained earlier in the week: “You know, half the players here don’t want the responsibility coming down the stretch with a lead at a major.”

McDowell made a sterling start with six pars and a birdie at the fifth in his first seven holes leaving him two strokes clear of Ernie Els on four under par.

Els was the first to crack, dropping a shot at the par-four ninth and then racking up a double bogey six at the 10th, where he was forced to take a penalty drop after driving over the cliff.

McDowell showed his mettle when he bunkered his approach to the eighth but splashed out to eight feet and holed the putt to move three strokes adrift of the unheralded Frenchman Gregory Havret, who made the turn in one under par with birdies at the first and sixth and a bogey at the eighth.

As for Tiger Woods, the world No 1 failed to repeat the fireworks of his Saturday 66, playing the front nine in an un-Tiger like three over par 38 to trail McDowell by six shots.

He started with a three putt bogey at the first, dropped another shot at the fourth, made six at the par-five sixth after driving into the hazard and followed a long range birdie at the seventh with a bogey at the next.

Pádraig Harrington had no doubt before the start that McDowell had the talent to win his first major. But talent is not always enough.

“He performed under pressure at the Ryder Cup in 2008 and he is going to have to perform again this weekend,” Harrington said.

However, the Dubliner endured yet another disappointing day as he closed with two over par 73 to finish on inside the top 30 on nine over par.

He birdied the eighth, 10th and 18th but bogeys at the second, ninth, 11th, 16th and 17th were not what he was looking for.

He also confessed before the start that his recent knee operation might have led to a flaw in his swing earlier in the week.

He opened with two 73s and then kissed his title hopes behind when he posted a disappointing 74 on Saturday.

Gareth Maybin closed with a four over par 75 to finish his first US Open on 16 over par.

* Martin Wiegele became only the second Austrian to win a European Tour event with a two-shot victory at the Saint-Omer Open. A winner on home soil two weeks ago on the Challenge Tour, he shot a three under 68 to finish with a seven under total 277.

First day leader Colm Moriarty of Ireland completed the final day with one over par of 72, finishing seven shots off the winner on level par and in a six-way tie for 11th place.