Dustin Johnson three-putted the final hole to fall into a four-way tie for the lead with fellow Americans Brooks Koepka, Daniel Berger and Tony Finau after the third round at the U.S. Open on Saturday.
Johnson carded a seven-over-par 77 but still found himself sharing the lead after surviving brutal conditions as Koepka set himself up for a shot at successfully defending his title.
Johnson steadied himself after squandering a four-shot advantage on the front nine at Shinnecock Hills as the field bunched up like rush hour traffic on the Long Island Expressway.
Tough conditions
The 2016 champion negotiated the back nine in one-over on a day when strong winds and low humidity baked the greens dry and left some on the verge of being unplayable.
Johnson, Koepka (72), Daniel Berger (66) and Tony Finau (66) led Englishman Justin Rose (73) by one stroke, and Swede Henrik Stenson (74) by two.
Though Saturday showed that no lead is safe at the toughest test in golf, nothing was likely to create more discussion than Phil Mickelson’s bizarre decision.
Mickelson insisted he meant no disrespect when he opted to putt a moving ball, swallowing a sextuple bogey at the 13th hole.
His bogey putt skated past the cup and was heading down a slope when he trotted after it and batted it back toward the hole with his putter.
He needed eight strokes to get the ball in the hole and with a two-stroke penalty walked off with a sextuple bogey 10.
“Look, I don't mean disrespect to anybody,” he said. “I know it’s a two-shot penalty. At that time, I just didn't feel like going back and forth and hitting the same shot over.
Top scores:
213: Daniel Berger 76-71-66, Tony Finau 75-72-66, Brooks Koepka 75-66-72, Dustin Johnson 69-67-77; 214: Justin Rose 71-70-73; 215: Henrik Stenson 71-70-74.
