U.S. Open 2015: Leaderboard, live coverage, results and more from Saturday’s round

Billy Horschel may very well be hearing from the USGA disciplinarians for his behavior on the sixth green at the U.S. Open but in the meantime he has apologized for his outburst in which he appeared to drive his putter angrily into the putting surface.

He did not put a divot in the broccoli patch as it turned out, and he proceeded to take out his frustrations on the ninth green with a less violent serpentine dance move. But it was the ax-like motion on the sixth for which BillyHo sent his regrets to Golf Channel’s Gary Williams.

The U.S. Open is commonly referred to the “toughest test in golf.” The goal of the USGA is try and produce a champion that finishes four rounds at even-par. It varies from year to year and course to course, but this is typically the hardest tournament for scoring all season. Bogeys are everywhere and birdies are few and far between. That’s a dramatic departure from the other majors, which often let course and conditions dictate the kind of championship it will be and have no issue crowning a champion that finished double-digit under-par.

Some prefer the birdies and big leaderboard charges of the PGA Championship, while others like to watch the best in the world get punished on some of the USA’s most scenic and historic venues. We typically know what we’re getting at a U.S. Open, but this year is different.

Jason Day could barely make it off the course under his own power on Friday. A bout of vertigo kicked in late in his round and forced him to drop to a knee multiple times and stagger his way in.

Despite the issues, Day was back out at Chambers Bay on Saturday and he turned in one heck of a round. He’s now at 4-under, tied with Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson and Branden Grace for the lead.

Greg Norman had insight into fellow Australian Jason Day’s vertigo at the U.S. Open, but he seriously struggled to use his words. The Shark was trying to say “otoliths,” the small bone in the ear that helps regulate balance -- but instead it sounded like “ototorotorortor-o-lith.”

Somewhere Greg Norman is still trying to say the word. Poor guy.

Trying to fight the Chambers Bay greens is probably not a winning formula at the U.S. Open. At some point they are going to get the better of you and it will cost you on the scoreboard. J.B. Holmes has a much better idea. He flopped a shot up out of the bunker and let the green do the rest of the work.

Thanks to shots like that, he’s 2-under and in fifth place.

Add Billy Horschel to the growing list of players savaging the condition of the putting surfaces at Chambers Bay. We’d already seen an argument break out on what kind of bumpy vegetable the greens most resembled -- Henrik Stenson taking broccoli and Rory McIlroy countering with cauliflower. Following a 3-over round of 73 on Saturday, Horschel, as many pros have this week, chimed in on Twitter and called the greens the worst he’s ever putted on in his career, and by a good margin.

Prior to that blast, Horschel, presumably in a lighthearted way, implied USGA Executive Director Mike Davis has been BS’ing his way through the week. On the broadcast on FOX early Saturday, Davis dug in and said the greens were rolling just fine. He said they could get a little bumpy in spots, but that the USGA was perfectly comfortable with the course and that this was just your typical U.S. Open agita about the “toughest test in golf.” Davis had also said TV made the color of the greens look worse than they really are. Horschel was not having any of it.

The third round of the 2015 U.S. Open is beginning to wind down with the final group now on the back nine. Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed opened the round tied for the lead, but both are over par on the day. Instead, Dustin Johnson has jumped to the top of the leaderboard. He is currently 5-under and tied for the lead with Branden Grace.

Johnson and Grace -- paired together in the second-to-last pairing -- are both 1-under on their rounds. Johnson has been sporadic, mixing birdies with bogeys to just dip into red numbers on the day. He made a run up the leaderboard coming down the front nine, including a three birdie in five hole stretch to take sole possession of the lead at 6-under. He wasn’t able to keep that streak going long and a bogey on No. 11 dropped him to 5-under and into a tie with Grace. Grace has been a little more stable on the round, carding two birdies and just a single bogey for his 1-under on the day.

A fire broke out near the beautiful Chambers Bay golf course on Saturday. Early indication is that it is a warehouse fire. Let’s hope this wasn’t caused by people smoking weed. Because that would be illegal.

Chambers Bay greens have come under attack from all sides this week, but the latest trend is players outdoing each other to come up with exactly what vegetable the putting surfaces resemble.

Henrik Stenson got the ball rolling (with a lot more accuracy than the Pro V1s on the actual greens at this week’s U.S. Open) by saying playing the greens was like “putting on broccoli.”

Just a day ago, Cole Hammer was walking the fairways of Chambers Bay with some of the best golfers in the world. After finishing up his second round, missing the cut, Hammer is soaking in the atmosphere of the U.S. Open, and experiencing it just like the thousands of other fans watching Saturday’s third round. Hammer, entourage of about a half dozen teenage friends in tow, is following Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed around for Saturday’s third round, and doing it outside the ropes like everyone else.

There was a very Texas feel on the first hole as Jordan Spieth’s parents angled to get a view of their son coming down the first fairway. A few feet away, tucked behind the green in the shadow of the grandstand, Hammer and crew were doing the same. Spieth grew up in Dallas and spent a year at the University of Texas before turning pro; Hammer has committed to Texas and joked that he was looking forward to Austin … in three more years.

The greens at the U.S. Open are very challenging. Fast and firm thanks to dry conditions combined with massive undulations leave some precarious and difficult putts. As a result, there have been more than a few really poor putts. Ben Martin’s attempt on No. 2 on Saturday set the new standard for worst putt.

You know a putt is bad when it completely fools the camera man and they are forced to quickly pan away just to catch the ball speeding away from the hole.

It did not take long to get some separation in the Saturday superstar final pairing. Jordan Spieth, attempting to become the first player to win the first two majors of a season since 2002, bombed in a birdie putt on the second green to jump to 6-under. Pars are great at Chambers Bay on Saturday, so any birdie is gravy -- especially when you pour it in from a mile away on these wildly unpredictable and bumpy greens.

While Spieth was moving up the board, his playing partner, Patrick Reed was making a mess. Reed double bogeyed the hole for a three-shot swing in the final group and a multi-shot lead for Spieth. Dustin Johnson moved into solo second at 4-under.

The morning wave is making its way around the course during the third round of the 2015 U.S. Open, but the real action is getting ready to start with the tee times for the leaders quickly approaching. Jordan Spieth remains tied for the lead at 5-under and is the favorite to win the tournament, according to oddsmakers.

Coming into the round, Bovada pegged Spieth as a 2/1 betting favorite. Dustin Johnson is the second favorite at 4/1 while Patrick Reed -- who was tied with Spieth for the 36-hole lead -- is slotted at 5/1. They are the only three players with better than 12/1 odds. Spieth is the only of the three with a major championship and fresh off his win at the Masters, he’s now playing for back-to-back major championships. That would put him halfway to the career and single-season grand slam. But, before the focus turns to a potential run at history, Spieth will need to turn in another solid round.

Jason Day sported an entourage larger than the leaders and anyone else of note on the U.S. Open driving range as everyone craned their necks to gauge how he feels. On Friday, Day collapsed on the ninth green -- his final hole of the day -- and, after finishing up with a heck of a bogey from the bunker considering the circumstances, was diagnosed with vertigo.

If you didn’t know about his scary moment on Friday, nothing would seem amiss while watching him warm up. He looked like normal, pounding balls effortlessly while playing a right-to-left shape in front of a large crowd of media members. Instead of the usual one uniformed security officer, though, Day had four to keep people away.

Louis Oosthuizen is currently putting together the round of the day on Saturday at the U.S. Open. He was within an inch or two from making it a really great front nine. Oothuizen’s tee shot at the Par 3 ninth hole caught the lip of the cup only to just spin out.

The lip out proved to be costly as Oosthuizen missed the birdie putt and remains even for the tournament. Oosthuizen still has the best round of the day going at 3-under through nine holes. He has, however, missed a couple of short birdie putts that have prevented him from making a serious run up the leaderboard and into contention.

Jason Day, just 24 hours removed from collapsing at the U.S. Open with vertigo, will give it a go in the third round at Chambers Bay. Day’s reps filtered word out Saturday morning that he was not going to withdraw, and those close to him said he was feeling much better after a night of rest following the initial medical attention.

Day went down at the green of his final hole on Friday. Because of the terrain and the many slips and falls we’ve seen this week by fans, players and caddies, the initial thought was Day had just wiped out on the sidehill going down to the green. But he’s dealt with vertigo for several years now, and he’s had bout with it in recent weeks.

No matter how the 2015 U.S. Open went off, there were always going to be critics of this new venue, Chambers Bay. It was a complete departure from the typical U.S. Open course, and it was working with little margin for error trying to break into a rota full of American classics with decades of tradition and reverence.

But there have been some setup and conditioning problems all week, particularly with the fescue greens playing excessively bumpy and unpredictable. The players have danced around the edges of criticism and been largely diplomatic. There have been a few softened critical comments. The broadcasters at FOX have hardly had anything negative to say.

On Wednesday at Chambers Bay, Tiger Woods talked a good game about his swing changes and the status of his play heading into the U.S. Open. “We’ve implemented a lot of the big stuff already, so now it’s just fine tuning,” Woods said, noting that he’s been through this process multiple times before. He then went out and shot 80-76 and never even sniffed the cut line.

Slamming the trunk on Friday and heading home after shooting 16-over at a major is bad enough for someone of Tiger’s ability. His score left him looking up at pretty much the entire field -- only three players shot worse and one was a 15-year-old amateur. But Tiger’s week was worse than just the scorecard.

The 2015 U.S. Open is ready to head for the weekend with 36 holes complete and 36 still left to play. Several big names took an early exit, including Tiger Woods, Rickie Fowler and defending U.S. Open champion Martin Kaymer. The remaining 75-player field is plenty talented, however, headlined by co-leader Jordan Spieth. He will tee off in the final pairing on Saturday.

Spieth’s rise up the PGA Tour ranks has been a rapid one. Just 21 years old, he’s already proven he can win a major championship and is ranked as the No. 2 player in the world. While several of the players near the top of the leaderboard have championship caliber game, they already lack Spieth’s major championship pedigree, despite being more experienced players. Whether that becomes a factor remains to be seen, but we know Spieth is capable of holding it together during the highest stakes. We aren’t sure if Patrick Reed (also 5-under) or Dustin Johnson (4-under) can do the same. Johnson has been in contention in majors before, but has fallen off the pace with various issues during the weekend.

UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. -- There should be nothing noteworthy or noticeable about the 195th-ranked player in the world missing the cut and shooting 16-over par at the U.S. Open, but Tiger Woods is the biggest circus act in sports right now.

The 14-time major winner came to the Pacific Northwest for a truncated two-day stay at the U.S. Open. That was still plenty of time to take in the full Tiger experience. There were awful shots, career worsts, embarrassing moments, and an overflowing and polarized crowd lining the fairway. It should not be fun for anyone, but it’s still gripping.

FOX made its golf major championship debut on Thursday with the start of the 2015 U.S. Open. Coverage improved some on Friday with the second round as the kinks started to get worked out. Now, FOX will be fully in the spotlight with the tournament heading to the weekend.

During the first two rounds, FOX and FOX Sports 1 split the television coverage with the majority of the broadcast airing on the secondary network. That will change on Saturday with the entire eight-hour broadcast being shown live of FOX. The coverage will remain the same with Joe Buck serving as the main host and Greg Norman handling the main analyst responsibilities. The shift will open the broadcast to more viewers, especially those who don’t have a cable package with FOX Sports 1.

It was an eventful first two days at Chambers Bay with plenty of action at the 2015 U.S. Open. The field has been cut from 156 to 75 and now the attention turns to who can actually walk away with the trophy. Fresh off his win at the Masters, Jordan Spieth is tied at the top of the leaderboard as he plays for major championship No. 2. He’ll play in the final group on Sunday and be joined by a familiar foe in Patrick Reed.

Spieth and Reed are two of the best young players on the PGA Tour. They’ve teamed up at times -- including the Ryder Cup -- while also going head-to-head at others. They have twice battled directly for a tournament, with Reed winning one playoff and Spieth taking the other. The U.S. Open might come down to a similar head-to-head battle, but that will have to wait for Sunday. For now, Spieth and Reed will continue to try to out duel a difficult golf course and remain in contention heading into Sunday.

Weather improves Saturday for the 2015 PGA U.S. Open at Chambers Bay. Storm system that brought showers and wind on Friday pushes to the north. Dry northwest wind will will be between 5 to 10 mph and temperatures will be pleasant in the middle to upper 70s both Saturday and Sunday.

SATURDAY - THIRD ROUND WEATHER FORECAST

Fair weather with mostly sunny skies are expected Saturday. Temperatures will be pleasant in the lower to middle 70s for Chambers Bay. Winds will be out of the north-northwest between 5 to 10 mph.

Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth are just 24 and 21 years old respectively, but they already have one of the best budding rivalries on the PGA Tour. The rivalry could hit a new level this weekend with Spieth and Reed dueling for the U.S. Open title. They share the 36-hole lead and will go head-to-head on Saturday, paired in the final group together.

The two reportedly maintain a friendly relationship off the course and have teamed well in international competitions before -- including a memorable run as Ryder Cup rookies -- but there is no question they are two of the brightest young stars on Tour. Spieth already has one major championship on his resume, while Reed is aiming for his first ever top 10 in a major. Head-to-head battles between the two are also becoming more of the norm. Reed topped Spieth in a playoff at the 2013 Wyndham Championship. Spieth got even earlier this year, outlasting Reed in a playoff at the Valspar Championship in what was arguably the most-exciting finish of the year.

The top 60 players plus ties make the cut at the U.S. Open. The “plus ties” aspect is a major factor as typically more than 60 players make the cut while groups of tied players dangle on the edge of the cut line. On Friday at the U.S. Open, the fate of 15 players hinged on 19-year-old amateur Nick Hardy, one of the final players on the course.

A freshman at the University of Illinois, Hardy played well on Thursday to position himself to make the cut at Chambers Bay and he appeared in good shape to do so easily well into his second round. Then, he started to stumble down the stretch. Playing in one of the final two groups, Hardy entered No. 9 -- his 18th hole -- at 4-over, right on the cut line. At that time there were 60 players at 4-over or better, while 15, including Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Webb Simpson, sat on the outside looking in at 5-over.