US Open success beckons five-time runner-up Phil Mickelson

Tiger Woods of the United States reacts on the 18th green during Round Three of the 113th U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club on June 15, 2013 in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. (Getty Images)

Change it did, but it was for the worse, as the short game tormented the tiring genius, who hasn’t won a major since the 2008 US Open. Woods, who normally mounted his challenge on Saturday before pouncing on Sunday, was a picture of misery at the Merion Golf Club. He made seven bogies, even missing a couple of par putts from inside three feet.

Woods eventually settled for a disappointing 76 that left him ten strokes off the pace. “I didn’t make anything today,” admitted Woods. “I just couldn’t get a feel for them, some putts were slow, some were fast and I had a tough time getting my speed right.”

Just as his playing partner Tiger, Rory McIlroy opened with a birdie but then fell apart in a heap. Rory made bogeys on the four of the next five holes to sink his hopes in the Merion rough. The Irishman had a tame 75 to slip 9 strokes back of the leader.

“If you’re not on your game a hundred percent, you get on the wrong side of the greens and it’s just frightening because I didn’t feel like I played too badly,” said McIlroy who made only 8 birdies but suffered 16 bogeys this week. “I missed a few shots here and there, and I was trying on every shot out there and I was trying to get myself back into it, but it’s tough.”

He is only 20, but Korean-born American amateur Michael Kim from the University of California, is mixing it up with the big men around him to douse himself in an experience of historic proportions. When Kim birdied the 15^th hole, he was tapping on the heels of the leader and it seemed possible that he might emulate Jim Simons.

In the 1971 edition of the US Open, also at the Merion Club, Simons lead the board going into Sunday. It was a hundred years ago that Francis Ouimet recorded the first of seven instances when an amateur won the US Open. Bobby Jones did it an incredible four times, but no amateur has won it since 1933, when Johnny Goodman did so in Illinois.

As Kim looked up at the scorecard, the weight of history started to sink in and the young man wilted under the burden. A sequence of bogey, double and bogey followed to leave the top collegiate golfer lamenting his nerves for slipping five strokes off the pace.

“Nerves got the best of me (through) the last few holes,” confessed Kim, “I kind of went through that what if situation in my head. What if I won or what if I did this. I tried to snap back out of it, but I hit an awful tee shot on the next hole.”

Sunday is father’s day and Mickelson’s birthday and the five-time runner-up will have an opportunity to finally win his first US Open title. “It’s got the makings to be something special,” Mickelson said. “But I still have to go out and perform, and play some of my best golf.”

“It’s a hard challenge, but it’s a lot of fun,” Mickelson added. “Every shot requires such great focus because a penalty can bite you quickly. I can’t wait to get back and playing. I feel good ball-striking, I feel good on the greens. I think it’s going to take an under-par round tomorrow.”

You cannot argue with his experience, but history isn’t in Mickelson’s favour. In each of the four earlier editions of the Open at Merion the 54-hole leader failed to make it stick. Expect a cracking finale, which in all likelihood might only get decided at the difficult 17^th and 18^th holes.

Select Scores:

-1: Mickelson (US) Level: Mahan (US), Schwartzel (SA), Stricker (US)+1: Rose (Eng), Donald (Eng), Horschel (US)+2: Day (Aus)