Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 17, 2012, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE B3 SPORTS U. S. OPEN B3 SUNDAY, JUNE 17, 2012 S AN FRANCISCO - Graeme McDowell and Jim Furyk won the battle of par Saturday at the U. S. Open. Tiger Woods lost a lot more than that. McDowell showed the kind of fight that won him a U. S. Open two years ago down the coast at Pebble Beach. He scratched out pars and finished with a 4- foot birdie putt that gave him a 2- under 68 and a share of the lead going into the final round at The Olympic Club. Furyk, also bidding for another trophy from golf's toughest test, outclassed Woods in the final pairing with key bunker saves and an 8- foot birdie putt on the 17th for a 70, making him the only player who has yet to have a round over par. They were at 1- under 139, the only survivors against par. Woods, wearing a key lime shirt, turned in a lemon. He fell out of the lead with two bogeys in the first three holes, couldn't make a birdie on the stretch of holes that Olympic allows players to make up ground, and ended with a sloppy bogey on the 18th for a 75. There were only eight scores worse in the third round. And it matched Woods' highest score when he had at least a share of the lead after any round of a major. He also closed with a 75 in 2009 at the PGA Championship when he lost a two- shot lead to Y. E. Yang. All is not lost for Woods, not to mention another dozen or so players. In a U. S. Open that is living up to its reputation, it was difficult for anyone to build a big advantage. McDowell and Furyk were two shots ahead of Fredrik Jacobson, who had a 68. In the group another shot behind were Lee Westwood, whose Saturday- best 67 gave him another shot at his first major, and Ernie Els, who holed a long pitch for eagle on the 17th that carried him to a 68. The Big Easy is a two- time U. S. Open champion, with that first title coming 18 years ago. Thirteen players were separated by four shots going into Sunday, a list that includes 17- year- old Beau Hossler, who followed bogeys with birdies for a 70. Woods, who has never won a major from behind, was five shots back. His round ended with a shot from the middle of the 18th fairway that hung up in the right collar of rough, and a stubbed chip that took a hard turn to the left some 10 feet away. When he two- putted for his sixth bogey, his day got a little worse. Climbing the hill toward the fabled clubhouse at Olympic, a photographer brushed past him and Woods banged his hand into the camera. He shook it several times, but later said he was fine. The real hurt came from Olympic. " It was just a tough day on the greens, and most of the day, I just kept getting that half- number, right in between clubs all day," said Woods, who was either well long or short on his approach shots. Furyk, the only player who has not had a round over par this week, and McDowell played together in the opening two rounds. On Sunday, much more is at stake. But this was not shaping up as a two- man race for McDowell and Furyk. " Looking at the leaderboard, you've got to look down as far as the guys at 3 or 4 ( over) as having a realistic chance of winning this tournament," Mc- Dowell said. For every bogey Hossler made, he answered with a birdie on the next hole. His only big blunder came on the 11th, when he was too aggressive with a downhill putt and missed his par putt from 6 feet. Two holes later, he hit a heavy chip from the hazard that rolled back down a slope for another bogey. The kid just wouldn't go away, though, and suddenly he is dreaming big. Hossler wanted to make the cut. Then, he wanted to be the low amateur. Now? " My goal now is to win the tournament," he said. In the 14 majors he has won, Woods was never worse than par in the pivotal third round and had a scoring average of 68.3. There was no way that was going to hold up on a course like Olympic, though Woods was expecting better than what he delivered on this Saturday. He missed the first fairway, came up short of the third green and wound up with three bogeys through six holes. Woods wasn't alone in making mistakes. David Toms, tied for the second- round lead with Furyk and Woods at 1 under, played that rugged six- hole stretch in 5 over and fell six shots behind with a 76. Even with the USGA watering the course Friday night and Saturday morning, Olympic was as relentless as ever. But it wasn't impossible. Westwood showed that, as did Els, who called it as easy as the course played all week. - The Associated Press Final round free- for- all Tiger staggers, Furyk, McDowell lead pack of potential winners By Doug Ferguson " Looking at the leaderboard, you've got to look down as far as the guys at 3 or 4 ( over) as having a realistic chance of winning this tournament' - third round co- leader Graeme McDowell S AN FRANCISCO - The real star of this U. S. Open won't swing a golf club even once this week. Most fans couldn't pick him out of a lineup. No matter how aggravating The Olympic Club plays, he barely has enough hair left to pull any out. He's Mike Davis, who became executive director of the U. S. Golf Association only last year, but has been responsible for setting up the U. S. Open courses for a half- dozen years now. One of his predecessors in both jobs, Sandy Tatum, was asked during one of the toughest Opens ever - the so- called " Massacre at Winged Foot" in 1974 - whether the USGA was trying to embarrass the world's best golfers. " No," Tatum famously replied, " we're trying to identify them." Thanks to Davis' handiwork alongside the Pacific Ocean this week, golf fans are getting to watch plenty of both. Quality There's no question about the quality of the names playing musical chairs on the leaderboard - Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk, Graeme McDowell and Ernie Els, all of whom have won at least one U. S. Open. But whoever winds up on the top by close of light today will probably know exactly why the place has been nicknamed the " graveyard of champions." A year after Rory McIlory posted the lowest U. S. Open score ever - 16- under 268 - while pummeling a Congressional Country Club course already softened by rain, one hand is more than enough to count the number of players under par after three rounds at Olympic's Lake Course. An even better testament to the Davis' balancing act is that while fans thrill watching their heroes sweat over nearly every par, not a single player has labeled the setup unfair. And this from a notoriously whiny group known to complain when the interior of the courtesy cars clash with their outfits or the wrong brand of shampoo turns up in the locker- room. " Most people don't understand, it doesn't matter how you set up a course, if you give them the ability to know when the ball lands that it's going to stop, it's significantly easier. That's what is going to make the U. S. Open this year - without us trying to retaliate - that much harder," Davis said before the players arrived at Olympic. " When it lands, whether it hits the green or it's in the fairway, it's going to roll. You have to think about what happens when it lands." Befuddled That last part of the puzzle befuddled both the No. 1 and 2 players in the world, Luke Donald and McIlroy, who missed the cut and like countless golf fans are probably burrowed into a couch in front of the TV with widening grins on their faces. Just before heading for the airport Friday, Donald was asked how much harder Olympic was than Congressional. " What was Rory after two days?" he asked Told it was 10- under par - though it was actually 9 under - Donald brightened and said, " Probably about 10 shots harder then." Make that 20 shots, since McIlroy was 10 over at the time, but who's counting? Truth be told, more than a few guys. " Last year we were trying to make birdies in the U. S. Open, and here," said Kevin Chappell, " you're trying to just survive." Exactly what makes it that depends on who you talk to, one more testament to Davis' skill and the break he caught when four days of dry, sunny weather and light breezes made the course play just as firm and as fast as he envisioned. " It just goes to show that firm greens scare the life out of professional golfers," Padraig Harrington said. " Off the tee, it's the most demanding," Jordan Spieth said. " You're trying to place a drive out there that's going to carry 275 and land it in a 10- yard space." " It's the reverse cambers," McIlroy said before departing. Right. Whatever those are. - The Associated Press Real star of Open bald guy in suit By Jim Litke Davis does great job setting up course ERIC GAY / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Tiger wore lime- green and turned in a lemon. Jim Furyk ( rear) was steady as she goes on Saturday. BEN MARGOT / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Graeme McDowell scratched out pars and finished with a two- under 68. 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