SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) — Dustin Johnson at least gets one more round to try to redeem himself in the U.S. Open.
So does the USGA.
The best players in the world were no match for a Shinnecock Hills course that even the USGA conceded got out of hand Saturday. Putts were rolling some 50 feet by the hole and over the green. No one from the final 22 groups could match par. Phil Mickelson intentionally broke a rule on the 13th when he trotted to his ball rolling by the cup and swatted it with his putter as the ball was still moving.
“It was a very tough test, but probably too tough this afternoon,” said Mike Davis, the USGA’s chief executive. “We must slow the courses down tonight, and we will.”
It was too late for one of the wildest Saturday shake-ups at the U.S. Open.
Daniel Berger and Tony Finau, who started the third round 11 shots out of the lead, each shot 4-under 66 before Johnson hit his first shot. Johnson faced greens that made him feel as though he were putting on glass, and it was like that to the very end.
Johnson, who started with a four-shot lead, barely nudged his 17-foot birdie attempt on the 18th hole and watched it roll — and roll — 8 feet by the cup. He missed the par putt coming back and signed for a 77 to fall into a four-way tie for the lead.
“I didn’t feel like I played badly at all,” Johnson said. “Seven over usually is a terrible score, but with the greens the way they got this afternoon, I mean they were very, very difficult. I had seven or eight putts that easily could have gone in the hole that didn’t. And that’s the difference between shooting 7 over and even par.”
At least he still has a chance, and he had plenty more company at the top than at the start of the day.
Johnson joined Berger, Finau and defending champion Brooks Koepka (72) at 3-over 213, the highest 54-hole score to lead the U.S. Open since the fabled “Massacre at Winged Foot” in 1974.
It was the first time since Oakmont in 2007 that no one was under par going into the final day. With wind that was stronger than expected, and a few pin positions that turned the U.S. Open into carnival golf, it was easy to see why.
Davis told Golf Channel he would have liked a mulligan, the same word he used nearly a month ago when discussing the 2004 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills when the seventh green wouldn’t hold shots and had to be lightly sprayed with water between groups.
That didn’t go over well with Ian Poulter after a 76.
“Is that an apology?” he tweeted . “You don’t get mulligan’s in business at this level. how can this team keep doing this without consequences.”
Mickelson brought plenty of attention to the 13th hole, where anything that ran by the cup was headed off the green. Worst yet might have been No. 15, where Piercy had a 30-foot birdie putt that finished rolling 75 feet away off the green. Koepka hit an approach to near the hole, and it moved a few inches to the right, and then a few more feet, and soon it was in a bunker.
“You were seeing shots that were well played and not rewarded,” Davis said.
Berger and Finau, who made the cut with one shot to spare, will play in the final group.
“I barely made the cut. Going into today, I needed something special to happen to even have an outside chance,” Finau said as Johnson and Scott Piercy were making their way down the first fairway in the final group. “Whether I do or not at the end of today, I’m really happy with where I’m at.”
Right behind them will be the last two U.S. Open champions. Koepka made only two birdies in his hard-earned round of 72, leaving him poised to become the first player since Curtis Strange in 1989 to win back-to-back in the U.S. Open.
Only three players broke par, all before the final groups teed off.
“If they’d have shot 4 under this afternoon, it would probably have been the best round of golf anybody’s ever seen,” Koepka said.
Two other major champions — Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson — were right behind, and both had a share of the lead at one point. Both had three straight bogeys. Rose wound up with a 73 and was one shot behind at 214. Stenson had a 74 and was another shot back.
The return to Shinnecock Hills was supposed to make the U.S. Open feel like a traditional test that felt more like survival.
“Be care what you wish for,” Rose said. “We’ve all been asking for a real U.S. Open again. So I guess we got one for sure this week.”
And typical of an old-styled U.S. Open, there were plenty of complaints.
“I’m going to find Mike Davis,” Pat Perez said after signing for a 77. “It’s the U.S. Open. It’s supposed to be hard. When is enough enough? It’s not about hard. There’s no other tournament where you see the guys putt off the greens.”
Not all the statements were verbal.
Mickelson celebrated his 48th birthday by matching his worst score in his 27th U.S. Open with an 81, and he provided the snapshot of a day that was entertaining for reasons the USGA didn’t imagine.
He went from behind the 13th green all the way off the front. His next shot was 18 feet above the hole. His bogey putt slid by, and after a few putts, Mickelson trotted after it and then stuck out his putter and hit the ball back toward the cup to keep it from running off the green. That’s a two-shot penalty, giving him a 10.
“It’s just a moment of madness,” said Andrew “Beef” Johnston, who played with Mickelson and couldn’t stifle a laugh.
Mickelson apologized if anyone was offended by his act, even after saying he knew the rules for hitting a ball in motion and was happy to take a two-shot penalty instead of playing a crude version of tennis with his ball going back-and-forth, back-and-forth across the green.
“Look, I don’t mean disrespect by anybody,” Mickelson 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. I took the two-shot penalty and moved on. It’s my understanding of the rules. I’ve had multiple times where I’ve wanted to do that, I just finally did it.”
Johnson didn’t have anything that wild — not like the 82 he had at Pebble Beach when he entered the final round with a three-shot lead in the 2010 U.S. Open. This was more of a slow bleed that began with a shot off a sandy path and three putts on the par-3 second hole for his first double bogey of the championship. His lead was gone with a three-putt bogey on the par-3 seventh. He was back in the lead when everyone around him couldn’t hang on.
The scoring average was 75.33, the highest for a third round in the U.S. Open since Pebble Beach in 2000.
Kiradech Aphibarnrat had the only other round under par. He made the cut on the number, was the seventh player to tee off and shot 2-under 68. He goes into the final round just three shots out of the lead.

 

U.S. Open Scores
Saturday
At Shinnecock Hills Golf Club
Southampton, N.Y.
Purse: $12 million
Yardage: 7,445; Par: 70
Third Round
a-denotes amateur
Daniel Berger 76-71-66 — 213
Tony Finau 75-72-66 — 213
Brooks Koepka 75-66-72 — 213
Dustin Johnson 69-67-77 — 213
Justin Rose 71-70-73 — 214
Henrik Stenson 71-70-74 — 215
Kiradech Aphibarnrat 76-72-68 — 216
Patrick Reed 73-72-71 — 216
Jim Furyk 73-71-72 — 216
Brian Gay 73-74-70 — 217
Dylan Meyer 77-69-71 — 217
Tyrrell Hatton 75-70-72 — 217
Branden Grace 76-69-72 — 217
Ian Poulter 69-72-76 — 217
Charley Hoffman 71-69-77 — 217
Gary Woodland 79-69-70 — 218
Webb Simpson 76-71-71 — 218
Zach Johnson 73-73-72 — 218
Xander Schauffele 72-74-72 — 218
Bryson DeChambeau 76-69-73 — 218
Justin Thomas 74-70-74 — 218
Matthew Fitzpatrick 73-70-75 — 218
Francesco Molinari 75-72-72 — 219
Paul Casey 73-73-73 — 219
Ryan Fox 73-72-74 — 219
Russell Knox 73-71-75 — 219
Russell Henley 69-73-77 — 219
Tommy Fleetwood 75-66-78 — 219
Scott Piercy 69-71-79 — 219
Brendan Steele 72-73-75 — 220
Rafa Cabrera Bello 73-71-76 — 220
Charles Howell 71-72-77 — 220
Jhonattan Vegas 76-72-73 — 221
Brandt Snedeker 72-76-73 — 221
Steve Stricker 73-75-73 — 221
a-Matt Parziale 74-73-74 — 221
Haotong Li 79-68-74 — 221
Chris Naegel 73-73-75 — 221
Louis Oosthuizen 74-72-75 — 221
Pat Perez 73-71-77 — 221
Alex Noren 72-72-77 — 221
Marc Leishman 74-69-78 — 221
Bill Haas 76-72-74 — 222
Matthieu Pavon 71-77-74 — 222
a-Luis Gagne 73-74-75 — 222
Peter Uihlein 75-72-75 — 222
Sam Burns 71-76-75 — 222
Patrick Cantlay 75-71-76 — 222
Brian Harman 74-70-78 — 222
Dean Burmester 75-73-75 — 223
Aaron Baddeley 74-72-77 — 223
a-Will Grimmer 73-72-78 — 223
Jason Dufner 70-74-79 — 223
Cameron Wilson 75-73-76 — 224
Hideki Matsuyama 75-70-79 — 224
Jimmy Walker 75-70-79 — 224
Mickey DeMorat 72-72-80 — 224
Kevin Chappell 75-72-78 — 225
Calum Hill 75-69-81 — 225
Tyler Duncan 77-67-81 — 225
Tim Wilkinson 76-72-78 — 226
Ross Fisher 76-71-79 — 226
Rickie Fowler 73-69-84 — 226
Phil Mickelson 77-69-81 — 227
Patrick Rodgers 72-72-83 — 227
Byeong Hun An 71-76-81 — 228
Andrew Johnston 73-73-82 — 228