Fisher makes early inroads

Ross Fisher kick-started his US Open victory bid with an early birdie to close the gap on leader Ricky Barnes as final-round play resumed at Bethpage Black on Monday.

England’s Fisher began the fifth day of this rain-hit championship five strokes behind overnight co-leader Barnes, who was at seven under par and in thick rough at the second hole when play was suspended on Sunday night due to fading light.

Tied for third, Fisher had bogeyed his opening hole in the evening gloom on Long Island to drop to two under but Barnes followed suit to fall into a joint lead with Lucas Glover at seven under.

When play resumed on Monday morning, the first time since 1983 that a US Open had extended into an extra day to complete 72 holes, Barnes managed to find the second green out of the rough to make par.

Fisher, runner-up behind Paul Casey at last month’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, was ready to go also and he rolled in a three-foot birdie putt at the par-five fourth to get back to three under, four shots behind Barnes, with Glover bogeying the third to slip to six under.

Hunter Mahan had been at three under with a birdie at the fourth ahead of the Englishman but the US Ryder Cup player then bogeyed the par-four fifth and was tied for fourth at two under after five with playing partner Phil Mickelson.

World number two Mickelson, though, bogeyed the sixth and fell to one under alongside Peter Hanson of Sweden, who had made the turn, and American Bubba Watson, after seven.

Former Open champion David Duval, in the wilderness since his 2001 victory at Lytham, began his day alongside Fisher at two under but he was quickly in trouble with a triple bogey at the par-three third, after his tee shot plugged underneath the lip of a greenside bunker.

Duval, though, showed resilience by sinking a birdie at the next hole, the par-five fourth to get back to level par.