Lowry leads U.S. Open with big names lurking

GOLF.COM By Doug Ferguson

OAKMONT, Pittsburgh – Irishman Shane Lowry kept his cool after a careless penalty and walked off Oakmont after a marathon Saturday with a two-shot lead in the U.S. Open.
Stalled by rain in the first round, the U.S. Open is nearly back on schedule and poised for a big finish.
Lowry, looking to give Irish golf its 10th major in the last 10 years, came within inches of his sixth birdie of the round on No. 14. He tapped in for par and headed back in when play was suspended by darkness.
He was at 5-under par and had to return Sunday morning to play the final four holes.
Two shots behind was 28-year-old Andrew Landry, in his first U.S. Open and playing like he knows how to cope with the toughest test in golf. Landry hasn't flinched, even after tumbling down the leaderboard in his second round, and playing alongside Dustin Johnson in the third round. He had five holes left.
Right behind was a trio of players who feel overdue to win their first major.

---

U.S. Open: Full-field scores | Live daily blog | Photo gallery

---

That starts with Johnson, who had the 36-hole lead and started out like he wanted to run away from the field when he stuffed his approach to 5 feet below the hole for a birdie. But a chip that came back to his feet on No. 3 and led to double bogey stalled him, and Johnson started dropping shots.
He was at 2 under through 13 holes, still very much a factor as he tries to atone for his gaffe on the 18th hole at Chambers Bay last year in the U.S. Open. Also three shots back were Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia, who between them have played 142 majors without winning.
After two of the longest days, Sunday becomes somewhat of a sprint.
Jason Day began his big run early. The world's No. 1 player opened with a 76 and first had to worry about making the cut. He did, with one shot to spare, and then went on a tear of four birdies in five holes to start his third round. Day posted a 69 in the morning and a 66 in the afternoon and at one point was within in four shots of the lead.
He was at 1-over 211 and left the course six shots behind.
Defending champion Jordan Spieth looked as though he might join him when he ran off three straight birdies. But the 22-year-old Texan fell back with a double bogey on No. 2 (his 11th hole) and had to settle for a 70 and was nine shots behind Lowry.
''Come out tomorrow and try to pull a Johnny Miller,'' Spieth said.
Miller famously closed with a 63 at Oakmont to win the 1973 U.S. Open, which remains the greatest final round by a major champion. But the course was drenched that Sunday, and that won't be the case now.
Even though Oakmont absorbed nearly 3 inches of rain on the opening day and remain soft enough for shots to spin ever so slightly, it was clear the hot sun began to bake it out and it likely will be fierce as usual for the final round.
The leader in the clubhouse when the day ended was Branden Grace, who last year at Chambers Bay was tied for the lead until he hit 3-wood onto the train track and out-of-bounds for a double bogey that cost him. Good news for the South African: A train can be heard from Oakmont, but not hit.
Grace pieced together a 66 to reach 1-under 209, four shots behind Lowry.
Lowry picked up his biggest win last summer a few hours away at Firestone when he won the Bridgestone Invitational. Now he's primed for more Irish success. The run began with Padraig Harrington claiming three majors in 2007 and 2008, and has been carried by the Northern Ireland trio of Rory McIlroy (four majors), Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke.
''We all know that this course can jump up and bite you in a split second,'' Lowry said. ''So year, I'm two ahead with 22 holes left. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. These are the best golfers in the world behind me. I have to go out there and do what I've been doing all week. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. This is exactly where you want to be. I've been beating myself up over the last six months trying to get in this position.
''I'm here now. I might as well enjoy it while I'm here.''
It wasn't so enjoyable earlier in the day when he was lining up a 30-foot birdie putt and nudged the ball with his putter. It moved ever so slightly, enough for Lowry to see, and he turned in disgust to call over an official, then held the putter behind his neck as if he wanted to snap it.
He took the one-shot penalty and then saved his mood with an 8-foot bogey putt.
''To hole that second putt was massive for me and massive for my whole day,'' Lowry said.
Some of the best players weren't around for the afternoon. McIlroy needed a par on the final hole to make the cut and took double bogey. Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler and Justin Rose also missed the cut.

SCOREBOARD  
THIRD ROUND STILL TO BE COMPLETED

	1		Shane Lowry	-5	14	-3	68	70			138
	2		Andrew Landry	-3	13	E	66	71			137
	T3		Lee Westwood	-2	15	-1	67	72			139
	T3		Sergio Garcia	-2	14	E	68	70			138
	T3		Dustin Johnson	-2	13	+2	67	69			136
	6		Branden Grace	-1	F	-4	73	70	66		209
	7		Scott Piercy	E	13	+2	68	70			138
	T8		Jason Day	+1	F*	-4	76	69	66		211
	T8		Bryson DeChambeau	+1	F	E	71	70	70		211
	T8		Zach Johnson	+1	17	+1	71	69			140
	T8		Daniel Summerhays	+1	14	+2	74	65			139
	T12		Kevin Streelman	+2	F	-1	69	74	69		212
	T12		Kevin Na	+2	F	-1	75	68	69		212
	T12		Jason Dufner	+2	F*	-2	73	71	68		212
	T12		Daniel Berger	+2	F	E	70	72	70		212
	T12		Sung Kang	+2	F	E	70	72	70		212
	T12		Derek Fathauer	+2	F	E	73	69	70		212
	T12		Brendan Steele	+2	F	E	71	71	70		212
	T12		Adam Scott	+2	17	+2	71	69			140
	T12		Gregory Bourdy	+2	14	+4	71	67			138
	T21		Charl Schwartzel	+3	F*	-1	76	68	69		213
	T21		Rafa Cabrera Bello	+3	F*	-1	74	70	69		213
	T21		Yusaku Miyazato	+3	F	+1	73	69	71		213
	T21		Patrick Rodgers	+3	F*	-2	73	72	68		213
	T21		Harris English	+3	F	+2	70	71	72		213
	T21		Louis Oosthuizen	+3	15	+3	75	65			140
	T21		Billy Horschel	+3	16*	-3	72	74			146
	T21		Andy Sullivan	+3	14	+4	71	68			139
	T29		Matt Kuchar	+4	F	+1	71	72	71		214
	T29		Jordan Spieth	+4	F*	E	72	72	70		214
	T29		Graeme McDowell	+4	F	+1	72	71	71		214
	T29		Russell Knox	+4	F	+3	70	71	73		214
	T29		Jim Furyk	+4	14	+5	71	68			139
	T29		Martin Kaymer	+4	13*	-2	73	73			146
	T35		Kevin Kisner	+5	F	+1	73	71	71		215
	T35		Justin Thomas	+5	F	+3	73	69	73		215
	T35		Jason Kokrak	+5	F	+4	71	70	74		215
	T35		Ryan Moore	+5	16*	-1	74	72			146
	T35		Cameron Smith	+5	16*	-1	71	75			146
	T40		Brooks Koepka	+6	F	+2	75	69	72		216
	T40		Rob Oppenheim	+6	F*	+2	72	72	72		216
	T40		Chris Wood	+6	F*	+1	75	70	71		216
	T40		David Lingmerth	+6	F	+5	72	69	75		216
	T40		Charley Hoffman	+6	16*	E	72	74			146
	T40		Angel Cabrera	+6	16*	E	70	76			146
	T46		Byeong Hun An	+7	F*	+3	74	70	73		217
	T46		Bubba Watson	+7	F*	+2	69	76	72		217
	T46		Jon Rahm (a)	+7	F*	+2	76	69	72		217
	T46		Chase Parker	+7	F*	+2	75	70	72		217
	T46		Marc Leishman	+7	17	+7	71	69			140
	T51		Emiliano Grillo	+8	F	+5	73	70	75		218
	T51		Bill Haas	+8	F*	+3	76	69	73		218
	T51		Brandon Harkins	+8	F*	+3	71	74	73		218
	T51		Danny Willett	+8	F*	+3	75	70	73		218
	T51		Lee Slattery	+8	15	+8	72	68			140
	T51		Matteo Manassero	+8	14*	+2	76	70			146
	T51		Romain Wattel	+8	14*	+2	71	75			146
	T51		Danny Lee	+8	14*	+2	69	77			146
	T59		Andrew Johnston	+9	F*	+5	75	69	75		219
	T59		James Hahn	+9	F*	+5	73	71	75		219
	T61		Matt Marshall	+10	F*	+5	72	73	75		220
	T61		Hideto Tanihara	+10	16*	+4	70	76			146
	63		Tim Wilkinson	+11	F*	+5	71	75	75		221
	T64		Matt Fitzpatrick	+12	F	+9	73	70	79		222
	T64		Ethan Tracy	+12	F	+9	73	70	79		222
	T64		Spencer Levin	+12	F*	+7	73	72	77		222
	67		Justin Hicks	+13	F*	+8	73	72	78		223
	MC		Tony Finau	+7			72	75			147
	MC		Gary Stal	+7			71	76			147
	MC		Kevin Tway	+7			74	73			147
	MC		Geoff Ogilvy	+7			71	76			147
	MC		Phil Mickelson	+7			74	73			147
	MC		K.T. Kim	+7			73	74			147
	MC		Scottie Scheffler (a)	+7			69	78			147
	MC		Sebastian Soderberg	+8			75	73			148
	MC		Jamie Donaldson	+8			74	74			148
	MC		Justin Rose	+8			72	76			148
	MC		Justin Suh (a)	+8			75	73			148
	MC		Denny McCarthy	+8			76	72			148
	MC		Aron Price	+8			76	72			148
	MC		Matthew Baldwin	+8			75	73			148
	MC		Robert Streb	+8			76	72			148
	MC		Bernd Wiesberger	+8			76	72			148
	MC		Patrick Reed	+8			74	74			148
	MC		Paul Casey	+8			75	73			148
	MC		Luke Donald	+8			76	72			148
	MC		Rory McIlroy	+8			77	71			148
	MC		Chris Kirk	+8			75	73			148
	MC		Søren Kjeldsen	+9			73	76			149
	MC		William McGirt	+9			75	74			149
	MC		Keegan Bradley	+9			71	78			149
	MC		Lucas Glover	+9			75	74			149
	MC		Sam Burns (a)	+9			74	75			149
	MC		T.J. Howe	+9			76	73			149
	MC		Mikael Lundberg	+9			75	74			149
	MC		Sam Horsfield (a)	+9			76	73			149
	MC		David Toms	+9			80	69			149
	MC		J.B. Holmes	+9			76	73			149
	MC		Kevin Chappell	+9			76	73			149
	MC		Kent Bulle	+10			76	74			150
	MC		Ernie Els	+10			75	75			150
	MC		Retief Goosen	+10			73	77			150
	MC		Aaron Wise	+10			74	76			150
	MC		Nick Hardy (a)	+10			77	73			150
	MC		Kyle Mueller (a)	+10			77	73			150
	MC		Patrick Wilkes-Krier	+10			78	72			150
	MC		Anirban Lahiri	+11			73	78			151
	MC		Brandt Snedeker	+11			80	71			151
	MC		Webb Simpson	+11			77	74			151
	MC		Andy Pope	+11			77	74			151
	MC		Tyler Raber	+11			73	78			151
	MC		Frank Adams III	+11			76	75			151
	MC		Andres Gonzales	+11			76	75			151
	MC		D.J. Trahan	+11			77	74			151
	MC		Yuta Ikeda	+11			75	76			151
	MC		Jimmy Walker	+11			75	76			151
	MC		Rickie Fowler	+11			76	75			151
	MC		Mark Anguiano	+11			77	74			151
	MC		Thitiphun Chuayprakong	+12			73	79			152
	MC		J.J. Henry	+12			77	75			152
	MC		Alex Noren	+12			74	78			152
	MC		Carlos Ortiz	+12			76	76			152
	MC		Hideki Matsuyama	+12			74	78			152
	MC		Christopher Crawford (a)	+12			76	76			152
	MC		Billy Hurley III	+13			78	75			153
	MC		Jaco Van Zyl	+13			75	78			153
	MC		Smylie Kaufman	+13			77	76			153
	MC		Thomas Aiken	+13			79	74			153
	MC		Mike Miller	+13			72	81			153
	MC		Matt Borchert	+13			73	80			153
	MC		Miguel Tabuena	+14			74	80			154
	MC		Kiradech Aphibarnrat	+14			78	76			154
	MC		Wes Short Jr.	+14			78	76			154
	MC		Jeev Milkha Singh	+15			76	79			155
	MC		Max Kieffer	+15			77	78			155
	MC		Derek Bard (a)	+15			77	78			155
	MC		Jim Herman	+15			76	79			155
	MC		Dicky Pride	+15			78	77			155
	MC		Patton Kizzire	+15			77	78			155
	MC		Jason Allred	+15			78	77			155
	MC		Richie Schembechler	+15			79	76			155
	MC		Toru Taniguchi	+16			78	78			156
	MC		Mike Van Sickle	+16			76	80			156
	MC		Tom Hoge	+16			78	78			156
	MC		Steven Bowditch	+17			84	73			157
	MC		Derek Chang	+17			80	77			157
	MC		Jeff Maggert	+18			79	79			158
	MC		Gregor Main	+18			84	74			158
	MC		Charlie Danielson (a)	+19			78	81			159
	MC		Kevin Foley	+20			75	85			160
	MC		Austin Jordan	+21			77	84			161
	MC		Ryan Stachler (a)	+22			78	84			162
	MC		Soren Hansen	+23			79	84			163
	MC		Zach Edmondson	+26			89	77			166
	WD		Henrik Stenson	-1			69				69