2013 U.S. Open: Phil Mickelson takes 54-hole lead at Merion Golf Club

Tiger Woods blamed a balky putter for leading him to his highest-ever third-round score as a professional in a U.S. Open and knocking him out of the hunt for his 15th major championship. He shot a 77 in 1996 as an amateur and missed the cut.

“It is certainly frustrating, because I certainly was feeling like I was playing well this week and I just didn’t make the putts I needed to make,” Woods told reporters after shooting a 6-over 76. “I missed a boatload of putts within 10 feet.”

Phil Mickelson will continue to anchor the field on the final day at the 2013 U.S. Open. The rarest of birdies at No. 17 pushed him into sole possession of the lead at the end of three rounds, and Phil will go to sleep Saturday night with at least a share of the clubhouse lead for the third consecutive day at Merion. He’ll start the final pairing once again Sunday, holding a one-shot lead as the only player in the field under par.

For the first time this week, the USGA will send the field off in twosomes, with all pairings teeing off at No. 1 and playing Merion as it was intended. They opted to send the field off in split tees and in threesomes one more time on Saturday to ensure that they would finish the round and be set for Sunday primetime twosomes. The pace of play was crawling in the third round, with the final group of Mickelson, Luke Donald and Billy Horschel finishing after 8 p.m. ET with the sunlight fading.

Phil Mickelson started out his third round slowly, but three birdies on the final nine holes propelled him back into the lead at the 2013 U.S. Open. Mickelson shot an even-par 70 on Saturday and sits atop the leaderboard at 1-under, good for a one-stroke lead.

As he did in the first two rounds, Mickelson played the toughest stretch of the Merion Golf Club as well as anyone. While other leaders, including Charl Schwartzel and Huter Mahan, limped into the clubhouse, Mickelson played the difficult final stretch from No. 14 to No. 18 at even. He took over sole possession of first place with a birdie at No. 17, just one of five birdies at the 17th on the day. Mickelson’s lone blemish on the final stretch came at No. 18, where his par putt came up a half-rotation short.

It was another Saturday to forget for Tiger Woods, whose struggles on the weekend at majors persisted at Merion with a third-round 76. Tiger’s game has come a long way since the personal scandal of 2009, a consistent deadly climb back to No. 1. He’s made noise at almost every major over the past two years, but his chances have repeatedly fizzled out on the weekend. He put himself in position at all four majors last year, but did not fire a round under par in eight weekend tries. At Olympic last year, he played his way out of the tournament on Saturday and of course at this year’s Masters, Woods was the victim of a rather unfortunate break that ruined his shot at Augusta.

The weekend fade occurred again at Merion and Tiger’s hope at a 15th major were nearly extinguished by the time he made the turn. He scuffled through his first two rounds, missing off the tee and more importantly, around the green. But he hung around Friday night and watched the field struggle just as bad, if not worse, while improving his position 15 spots without ever hitting a shot. That provided promise for Saturday, when Merion would likely present a few more birdie opportunities than the brutal setup of Friday.

Somewhere Dikembe Mutombo is probably doing the “No! No! No!” finger wag at Mickelson. Iron unkind.

• Poor 3rd dooms Tiger | Why do we cheer for Tiger?

After struggling for pars for much of the day, birdies are beginning to drop for the players near the top of the leaderboard. Luke Donald birdied No. 10 to tie for the lead while Phil Mickelson made a run to get back into the red.

Mickelson chose to layup on the 280-yard Par 4 10th, but the decision paid off. He hit an excellent wedge into the green then finished the hole off by making the birdie putt. The birdie was just his second in the last 29 holes. He picked up another stroke on No. 11, sinking his putt for back-to-back birdies. Mickelson is back to even par for the round.

Moving day at Merion? Not so you’d notice.

Tiger Woods’ backward chip shot said it all, judging by the bashing on Twitter that the USGA’s newly launched pace-of-play push received as the third round of the U.S. Open seemed to come to a virtual standstill.

Par continues to be a good score on Saturday at the U.S. Open as players continue to struggle to post anything better than average. Most of the leaders have been able to hover around par, but Tiger Woods is going the wrong direction and has fallen seven strokes off the lead.

Hole No. 10 has been the second-easiest hole this week, but Woods ran into trouble on the short Par 4 on Saturday. He chose to lay up off the tee, but didn’t hit a very good tee shot. His approach shot was also off, leaving 40 feet to go for a potential birdie. Woods’ putt slid by the hole, however, and he missed the comeback, forcing him to settle for a three-putt bogey. Woods is now 3-over on the round through 10 holes and 6-over for the tournament.

Imagine most golfers dance without moving their feet.

Players continue to struggle to stay in the red and currently only Luke Donald and John Senden are under par at the U.S. Open. Justin Rose, Phil Mickelson and Billy Horschel have also been in the lead at some point on Saturday as the leaderboard continues to fluctuate.

Donald began the day at even par, but was able to pick up a shot with a birdie at No. 4. Donald has held the lead at various points this week, including leading at 4-under at one point on Thursday. After opening his round with two birdies, Senden has been able to remain 2-under on the day with three straight pars.

Tiger Woods is going the wrong way at Merion, making bogey on three of his last four holes to drop to 5-over, six shots back of the U.S. Open lead. Much of the struggle has come up around the green, the part of his game that had carried him to four wins earlier this season. But his chipping and putting have been out of form in his last two appearances at the Memorial and this week at Merion. The biggest example of his poor work around the greens came at No.6 on Saturday, when he thinned a delicate chip shot from the front of the green. The ball immediately fell off the false front -- never good when you’re going backwards on a golf course:

Too cute, Mr. Tiger, too cute.

Conditions at Merion Golf Club are supposed to be more favorable on Saturday, but many of the leaders have yet to take advantage. Phil Mickelson and Billy Horschel bogeyed No. 3, dropping them out of the lead.

Mickelson and Horschel are now tied for second place at even par, with John Senden leading the tournament at 1-under. Senden birdied his first two holes to become one of three players in the red. Mickelson and Horschel have had to scramble a bit early as both found the rough of the Par 5 second hole, taking birdie out of play. They both missed par putts on No. 3, dropping them out of the red.

Sergio Garcia’s week from hell at the U.S. Open took on legendary proportions Saturday when he posted a score of 10 on Merion Golf Club’s dastardly par-4 15th hole.

Garcia knocked three shots out of bounds on the hole ranked fourth-hardest through early play this week, according to PGATour.com’s Brian Wacker. Wacker said the USGA -- which Zach Johnson complained to Golf Channel’s Randall Mell “manipulates golf courses” -- had set up the 397-yard hole so that OOB was more of a possibility.

The third round of the 2013 U.S. Open is in full swing and the entire field is currently on the course at Merion. Tiger Woods found some early success, but is even on the round after dropping a shot at No. 3.

Woods got off to a good start, drilling his opening tee shot into the fairway with a 1-iron. While his approach shot left a 15-foot putt for birdie, it was a tricky putt with a huge break. Woods read the break and speed of the green perfectly, rolling in the birdie putt to move to 2-over for the tournament. He appeared prime for another solid birdie opportunity on No. 2, but his wedge into the green came up well short. He two-putted for par, but couldn’t save par on the 3rd hole. A short tee shot and a poor chip left Woods with a tricky par putt and his attempt just burned the left edge, dropping him back to even on the day.

A really, really good vine from Andrew Dewitt of CBSSports.com:

It’s moving day at the 2013 U.S. Open and while conditions may be more favorable than they were in the first two rounds, Merion continues to be a challenge.

Nearly half the remaining field has teed off and in the early going, players are still struggling to make pars. Sample sizes are small, but of the eight holes that have been played so far, six are playing over par. The course played at more than five strokes over par in the second round and while it should be lower on Saturday, it won’t be a pushover.

It’s the weekend at Merion, and much of the Philadelphia crowd of more than 25,000 is out following one of the early marquee groups -- Rickie Fowler, Robert Karlsson, and Sergio Garcia. The crowd has heckled Sergio each day he’s been out on the East Course, but now that the weekend has arrived, it should get a little more rowdy.

And that rowdiness started early for Sergio, with an extremely loud “Fried Chicken!” yell as he set up to address his first tee shot of the day on No. 11

It seems like just about every year, there are questions about the U.S. Open. Questions may not be the best word for it -- gripes, complaints, snarky comments from the best golfers in the world also fit here. The central question, however, is this: Is [insert U.S. Open course here] playing unfair?

When it comes to the U.S. Open, we know what to expect. With a few exceptions -- Congressional, for instance -- scores will hover around, at or above par. You’re not going to see a barrage of birdies and numbers in the low 60s very often. It just doesn’t happen at the U.S. Open.

The field has finally been cut at the 2013 U.S. Open, and 73 players made it through to the final two rounds at Merion Golf Club. The USGA has been playing catch-up ever since a derecho line of storms moved through the Philadelphia area on Thursday less than two hours into the tournament. That three-plus hour delay forced back-to-back 7:15 a.m. ET restarts and sunup to sundown golf for two days until the 156-man field was eventually able to complete 36 holes right around 10 a.m. Saturday.

Mike Davis of the USGA indicated on Friday that the ultimate desire is to send the entire field off No. 1 in twosomes on Sunday. In order to absolutely ensure they have that scenario set for Sunday’s primetime broadcast, the USGA will send Saturday’s groups off in threesomes again on split tees, No. 1 and No. 11, at Merion’s East Course. The start of the third round and those tee times will begin at 12:15 p.m. ET.

It’s a new day at Merion Golf Club, but the scores are just as high as the second round of the 2013 U.S. Open finishes up and the field is cut in half. The top 60 and ties will get through to the final two rounds, and that current projected cut line includes players at 8-over or better. A line of +8 is the first indicator that Merion has put on a true U.S. Open test, and Saturday morning’s restart presented much of the same conditions keeping Billy Horschel and Phil Mickelson’s lead of 1-under very safe.

The delayed cut has created a bit of scheduling indecision for many hovering on the cut line. All the players at 8-over obviously couldn’t pack their bags and get out of town on Friday night, and there are many hanging around and warming up in preparation for a third round that they could have conceivably missed. The 8-over group, such as Brandt Snedeker, should be on the grounds ready to go and awaiting their likely third-round tee times which will be turned around quickly after the second round is complete. So it’s not an ideal Saturday morning situation for the USGA and the players nine shots back of Mickelson and Horschel.

The top of the U.S. Open leaderboard is loaded with notable names, but for most casual golf fans, Billy Horschel is not one of them. While viewers were busy following Phil Mickelson or the group of Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott, Horschel was busy turning in the round of the day on Friday.

Horschel shot a 3-under 67, dropping him to 1-under overall, good enough for a share of the clubhouse lead when play was suspended on Friday. Prior to his second-round performance, Horschel may have been best known as the player planning to wear pants with octopuses -- yes, octopuses -- on Sunday. It’s not unusual for a relatively unknown player to take briefly take the lead at the U.S. Open -- hello, Beau Hossler -- but if you’ve been following the PGA Tour this season, you probably know Horschel is no flash in the pan. The 26-year-old isn’t likely to hit all 18 greens in regulation again like he did on Friday, but he certainly has the game to win at Merion.

The last of the full 156-man field is out on the course for Saturday’s restart of the second round of the U.S. Open, and it appears that no one will be joining Billy Horschel and Phil Mickelson in red numbers. The two co-leaders on Friday night are the only players under par, but there were a handful of golfers, yet to complete their round, within striking distance on Saturday morning.

Unfortunately for those yet to finish, the conditions at Merion most likely mean you’ll be dropping shots as opposed to gaining ground. That was the case for Ian Poulter, who finished Friday as one of just seven players at even-par or better with five more holes to play. Those five holes, however, comprised the brutal finishing stretch at the East Course that has punished players all week and made it more likely that Poulter would fall off the pace as opposed to acquiring a share of the lead.

Tiger Woods shot even-par in his second round at Merion on Friday, which may not sound all that Tiger-esque. But the world’s top-ranked player left the course just six shots back of then-solo leader Phil Mickelson and in contention heading into the weekend despite an obviously painful elbow injury.

Just what was ailing Woods had everyone talking -- everyone, that is, but the injured party himself.

High pressure will settle in across the Ohio Valley and Mid Atlantic today bringing splendid weather for the third round of the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club near Philadelphia. Temperatures will be warming back up into the 80s this afternoon. Sky will be bright and full of sunshine with winds out of the northwest between 5 and 10 mph.

The next weather concern for the U.S. Open will be late in the day Sunday afternoon and evening. The high pressure that brought nice weather Saturday will slide out over the Atlantic allowing the next system to spread showers and storms Sunday afternoon.

Bubba Watson, Adam Scott and Matt Kuchar were able to finish their second rounds on Friday, but they won’t know if they are sticking around for the weekend until after the second round concludes on Saturday. All three are 7-over through two rounds with the cut line currently projected at 8-over.

The top 60 players, plus ties, will make the U.S. Open cut and Watson, Scott and Kuchar are among the group currently tied for 53rd place. When play was suspended on Friday, 68 players were still on the course, leaving enough golf left to play to significantly impact the cut line. Of the 34 players currently at either 7- or 8-over, 15 still have holes to play. If course conditions prove to be easier in the morning, a few of those players could move up on the leaderboard, leaving Watson, Scott, Kuchar and others on the outside looking in.