When play ended Saturday night, the leader was Shane Lowry at 5- under; behind him in the top five were Andrew Landry at 3-under and Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Dustin Johnson all tied for third at 2-under.
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Landry, the world No.624 remains the biggest surprise packet.
English golfer Lee Westwood is in a three-way tie for third after the third round of the U.S. Open in Oakmont, Pa., was suspe.
He slammed the door at the end – a 10-foot par save on the 16th hole to keep his lead at two shots, a solid par on the 17th as Shane Lowry was self-destructing behind him, and a shot into the 18th that plopped down near the pin and settled 5 feet away for birdie.
Dustin Johnson is also four shots behind Lowry after shooting a 1-over 71. Hey, at least this time he didn’t lose the tournament on the back nine. During the third round in the afternoon he worked his way back to the top after a birdie on seven.
Lowry came back out to finish his third round in the early morning and he started with a birdie at the 15th to a bogey for closest challenger Landry, stretching Lowry’s lead to four shots. “This was one of the best rounds of my career”.
Better still, Landry’s father, Dwain, recalled in an interview with ESPN how tough his 28-year-old son was, beginning as a pint-sized competitor at the hardscrabble golf course near their Texas home.
Lowry looked tentative early, however, dropping shots with a poor approach on No. 2, pulling his tee shot into a bunker on No. 5 for bogey and losing the lead on the ninth with another bogey to go out in 38. “I’m not sure it’s going to be the same story on the first tee this afternoon but I am where I am and I’ve worked hard to get here”. “I feel very good in my game the last few weeks, and I really love the difficulty of this course”.
On the same mark, by contrast, is Johnson, who seems to be in contention at almost every major these days without ever getting the job done.
Oosthuizen said he had also benefited from his memories of last year’s U.S. Open at Chambers Bay where he tied for second after battling back from an opening 77 with scores of 66, 66 and 67.
Just two strokes behind Grace was the ominous figure of Australian world number one Jason Day, who made an explosive start with four birdies in his first five holes on the way to a matching 66 that included an eagle at the par-five fourth, his 13th hole.
South Africa’s Branden Grace, who was tied for the lead with eventual victor Jordan Spieth at Chambers Bay previous year until driving out of bounds on the 16th, had set the clubhouse target on one under after six birdies and two bogeys in a 66. Lowry has to get up early Sunday and finish his round before offering any claim to a final-round lead. That’s all I want to do is try to win the tournament.
“To be honest I would have taken four pars and gone home for a little rest, ” said Lowry, who won the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron previous year, just 115 miles from Oakmont.
“To hole that second putt was massive for me and massive for my whole day”, Lowry said.
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“I’ve been playing well and not getting the results that I deserve”.
