Goosen beats par to lead US Open

Retief Goosen produced one of only three sub-par scores on a brutal day to move into the lead at the United States Open.

The South African, winner of the title in Tulsa three years ago, had a one-under 69 at Shinnecock Hills and goes into the final round on five under, two ahead of Masters champion Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els.

Scoring ballooned not so much because of a strengthening wind, but because of the fast-running conditions, some wicked pin placings – and a 189-yard seventh hole which Els described as “unplayable”.

Of the 66 players only one, amateur Chez Reavie, managed a birdie there – and Mickelson and Shigeki Maruyama were both victims.

Mickelson ran up a double bogey five after his eight-foot par attempt tricked on and on at least 10 feet past the hole.

The entire green is set at an angle and of the last 22 players in the third round only three stayed on the putting surface with their tee shots.

Maruyama, playing with Mickelson and sharing top spot with him at the time, was one of them – but he then putted off the green and bogeyed it.

The two had their problems on the last as well. Goosen had missed a three-foot birdie chance, but Mickelson’s miss from the same distance meant he three-putted it for bogey and Maruyama was in sand and then three-putted as well for a double bogey.

Tiger Woods had an happier time there, holing a 106-yard sand-wedge for an eagle two. But he still managed only a 73 and is nine behind in 19th place.

Leading European is Sergio Garcia in ninth place on one over following a 71. He played the last seven holes in three under to get back into the hunt for a first major title – and what would be a third US Tour victory in his last fve starts.

Round of the day came from Goosen's fellow South African Tim Clark - a brilliant 66 that moved him from three over to one under and from 34th into joint sixth.

Els, who will go to world number one if he wins and Woods is outside the top six, was fiercely critical of the United States Golf Association for their setting up of the seventh.

“The majority of the field is going to make four, which is ridiculous,” he said. “I am a fan of Redans (the style of hole), but it has got to play in a certain way. The green has to be a little bit more receptive.

“Where they put the flag you had no chance. They did not set it up the way the hole is designed.”

Goosen managed a par and birdied a 10th hole on which Woods double-bogeyed after spinning a pitch off the raised green and then failing to make it back up with a chip-and-run.

The twice European Tour leading money-winner, who beat Mark Brooks in a play-off three years ago after three-putting the last from 12 feet for a double bogey in the fourth round, bogeyed the 13th and 14th, but came straight back with two more birdies.

Mickelson was sharing the lead with three to play, but failed to get up and down from sand on both the 16th and 17th, first for a par and then for a bogey. But, having been plugged on the 17th, it was his miss on the last that hurt most.

Welshman Phillip Price, level par until he bogeyed the last three holes of his second round, fell back to eight over with a 75, double-bogeying the last.

Lee Westwood’s 73 put him seven over, while Padraig Harrington, loser of a play-off to Garcia last Sunday, had a 76 and fell down to 10 over. Yet he still out-scored his playing partner JJ Henry by 10.

Westwood described the seventh as “a unique hole”, while of the pin placing at the short 17th he commented: “If it is an examination paper then they are asking a question there is no answer to.” He felt he hit a great shot and it kicked off the green.

Harrington did not have a single birdie and has had only three in 54 holes so far.

“It was one of those days – very, very, very peculiar,” said the Dubliner. “It helps to see good things and neither of us could get the ball into the hole all day. Actually I played lovely, but my birdie putts were all downhill.

“I got frustrated when I didn’t birdie the fifth (he has parred the 537-yard hole all three days) and made a couple of silly errors.”

Out in 38, he double-bogeyed the 412-yard 10th and dropped a further shot on the par three 17th after finding sand off the tee.

Collated totals after the third round of the United States Open golf championship at Shinnecock Hills, Long Island, New York

(USA unless stated, par 70):

(x) denotes amateurs

205 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 70 66 69

207 Ernie Els (Rsa) 70 67 70, Phil Mickelson 68 66 73

208 Fred Funk 70 66 72, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 66 68 74

209 Tim Clark (Rsa) 73 70 66, Jeff Maggert 68 67 74

210 Mike Weir (Can) 69 70 71

211 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 72 68 71, Corey Pavin 67 71 73

212 Chris DiMarco 71 71 70, Steve Flesch 68 74 70

213 Charles Howell 75 70 68, Shaun Micheel 71 72 70, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 72 70 71, Lee Janzen 72 70 71, (x) Spencer Levin 69 73 71, Stephen Ames (Can) 74 66 73

214 Dudley Hart 71 73 70, Scott Verplank 71 71 72, Tiger Woods 72 69 73, Tim Herron 75 66 73, Kirk Triplett 71 70 73, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 66 71 77

215 David Toms 73 72 70, Tom Carter 74 71 70, Geoffrey Sisk 72 72 71, Ben Curtis 68 75 72, Chris Riley 72 71 72, Nick Price (Zim) 73 70 72, Bo Van Pelt 69 73 73, David Roesch 68 73 74, Vijay Singh (Fij) 68 70 77

216 (x) Chez Reavie 73 72 71, (x) Bill Haas 72 73 71, Jerry Kelly 76 69 71, Tim Petrovic 69 75 72, Spike McRoy 72 72 72, Robert Allenby (Aus) 70 72 74, Mark Calcavecchia 71 71 74, Jay Haas 66 74 76, Pat Perez 73 67 76

217 Hidemichi Tanaka (Jpn) 70 74 73, Lee Westwood (Gbr) 73 71 73, Skip Kendall 68 75 74, (x) Casey Wittenberg 71 71 75, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 73 68 76

218 Scott Hoch 75 70 73, Alex Cejka (Ger) 75 70 73, Tom Kite 72 71 75, Phillip Price (Gbr) 70 73 75, Craig Parry (Aus) 70 73 75, Zach Johnson 70 73 75, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 69 70 79

219 Joe Ogilvie 70 75 74, Jim Furyk 72 72 75, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 74 69 76, Kris Cox 68 74 77

220 Padraig Harrington (Irl) 73 71 76, KJ Choi (Kor), John Rollins 76 68 76

221 Peter Lonard (Aus) 71 73 77, Billy Mayfair 70 70 81

222 Cliff Kresge 72 73 77, Kevin Stadler 68 72 82

230 JJ Henry 75 69 86