U.S. Open 2014 leaderboard: Phil Mickelson shoots 72, 14 off the lead

With dry conditions and challenging pin placements, Pinehurst No. 2 is playing extremely difficult on Saturday. Phil Mickelson battled his way to a solid round of 2-over 72 and while that was more than three strokes below the scoring average for the day, it didn’t help him make up any ground on the leaderboard.

Mickelson managed only one birdie on the round and ran into trouble late with a pair of late bogeys to drop him to 5-over for the tournament and 14 strokes off Martin Kaymer’s lead. Despite being 2-over on the day, Mickelson’s round was actually one of the better rounds of the third round thus far with many players struggling to stay even close to even par. Mickelson, however, likely needed a better than solid round to play his way into contention.

Everyone is still chasing Martin Kaymer who leads at 9-under. Kaymer ran into some trouble on his second hole with a poor chip leading to just his second bogey of the tournament. With other players struggling, Kaymer continues to lead by six strokes. The course is playing at more than 3-1/2-stokes over par on the round, making 72 and better a good score. Anything in the 60s would be a terrific result. Only four players are currently under par on the round.

Rory McIlroy began the round at 1-under, but has dropped to 3-over. He bogeyed four of his first six holes, catching some tough breaks around the greens. Here is a look at the full leaderboard as the final groups begin to make their way around the course.