As I left the media tent at The Olympic Club about an hour before Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk stepped to the first tee, the two were alone at the top. It’s a large leaderboard that tracks the scores and quickly updates. When I returned from following Woods and Furyk around the final course, the latter was still at the top, but the former was nowhere to be found.
U.S. Open 2012 Leaderboard Update: Tiger Woods Finishes Dismal Third Round
Tiger Woods managed to fall all the way off the leaderboard after two strong days at The Olympic Club. He was off from the first tee, then stayed off as he found what seemed like every nook, cranny and bunker of the course. His distances were wrong; his tee shots, which had been solid all week, were straying left and right; and he couldn’t make a putt to save his life.
The end result was a third-round 75, five strokes over par for the day. The abysmal round pushed him all the way back to 4-over for the tournament, five shots off the lead. While he generally struggled on Friday on his way to an even-par round, Woods was unable to scramble on Saturday and paid for it dearly.
Now he’s going to have to play catchup, making up a five-shot deficit that feels more like 50 on a tough, unforgiving course.
For all your news and updates in the run up to the 2012 U.S. Open at Olympic, visit SB Nation's dedicated golf hub. Be sure to head over to USOpen.com for even more coverage from the event.
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