The four-shot lead Dustin Johnson enjoyed at the U.S. Open heading into Saturday is gone. He carded a 7-over 78 in the third round and fell into a four-way tie for first place.
The U.S. Open has a 4-way tie on top after the field caught Dustin Johnson on Saturday
Shinnecock Hills has pushed every player in the field above par.


Johnson three-putted for bogey on the 18th green, allowing Daniel Berger, Tony Finau, and defending champion Brooks Koepka to tie him for the lead. Finau and Berger both shot incredible 66s on Saturday. Both teed off in the 10 a.m. ET hour, about five hours before Johnson did. Now they’re all even going to the last day of the national championship.
A lot of golfers had a hard time at Shinnecock Hills on Saturday. The course played harder than it has all week, with a field average score of 75.3 on a par-70 track. It was 76.5 on Thursday, the highest average so far, but numbers are supposed to get way lower when a 156-man tournament gets cut down to 69 players. That didn’t happen in the Hamptons, where players fought and lost to the wind, fast greens, and fescue rough all day.
It looked for a while like Johnson’s day would be a nightmare. He needed 41 shots to get through his first nine holes, but his day stabilized some once he made a birdie on the par-3 11th hole. He played the back nine in an even-par 30 shots, regaining the lead toward the end of the round after Henrik Stenson took a turn at No. 1. Still, after an otherwise strong back nine, Johnson’s three-putt at the 18th was a disappointing way to finish.
Given how hard Shinnecock has been, it’s hard to make predictions about Sunday. Johnson looked to be in total control of the championship on Thursday and Friday, but the course humbled him some on Saturday, and he didn’t play his best golf. He remains the world’s most talented player, though, and he has a lead heading into Sunday in a tournament he won two years ago at Oakmont, a course roughly as difficult as this one. If you have to pick one guy to win this tournament, there’s no one better than Johnson.
The biggest story on Saturday had nothing to do with the top of the leaderboard. That was a stir over Phil Mickelson, whose round of 81 included a two-shot penalty for bizarrely putting a moving ball after he missed a bogey try on the 13th green. Once the controversy over Mickelson passes tomorrow, all there’ll be left to think about is who wins.
The leaderboard after Saturday is below, with every player who made the cut:
The U.S. Open leaderboard after Saturday
Position | Player | To Par | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | Daniel Berger | 3 | 76 | 71 | 66 | 213 |
| T1 | Tony Finau | 3 | 75 | 72 | 66 | 213 |
| T1 | Brooks Koepka | 3 | 75 | 66 | 72 | 213 |
| T1 | Dustin Johnson | 3 | 69 | 67 | 77 | 213 |
| 5 | Justin Rose | 4 | 71 | 70 | 73 | 214 |
| 6 | Henrik Stenson | 5 | 71 | 70 | 74 | 215 |
| T7 | Kiradech Aphibarnrat | 6 | 76 | 72 | 68 | 216 |
| T7 | Patrick Reed | 6 | 73 | 72 | 71 | 216 |
| T7 | Jim Furyk | 6 | 73 | 71 | 72 | 216 |
| T10 | Brian Gay | 7 | 73 | 74 | 70 | 217 |
| T10 | Dylan Meyer | 7 | 77 | 69 | 71 | 217 |
| T10 | Tyrrell Hatton | 7 | 75 | 70 | 72 | 217 |
| T10 | Branden Grace | 7 | 76 | 69 | 72 | 217 |
| T10 | Ian Poulter | 7 | 69 | 72 | 76 | 217 |
| T10 | Charley Hoffman | 7 | 71 | 69 | 77 | 217 |
| T16 | Gary Woodland | 8 | 79 | 69 | 70 | 218 |
| T16 | Webb Simpson | 8 | 76 | 71 | 71 | 218 |
| T16 | Zach Johnson | 8 | 73 | 73 | 72 | 218 |
| T16 | Xander Schauffele | 8 | 72 | 74 | 72 | 218 |
| T16 | Bryson DeChambeau | 8 | 76 | 69 | 73 | 218 |
| T16 | Justin Thomas | 8 | 74 | 70 | 74 | 218 |
| T16 | Matthew Fitzpatrick | 8 | 73 | 70 | 75 | 218 |
| T23 | Francesco Molinari | 9 | 75 | 72 | 72 | 219 |
| T23 | Paul Casey | 9 | 73 | 73 | 73 | 219 |
| T23 | Ryan Fox | 9 | 73 | 72 | 74 | 219 |
| T23 | Russell Knox | 9 | 73 | 71 | 75 | 219 |
| T23 | Russell Henley | 9 | 69 | 73 | 77 | 219 |
| T23 | Tommy Fleetwood | 9 | 75 | 66 | 78 | 219 |
| T23 | Scott Piercy | 9 | 69 | 71 | 79 | 219 |
| T30 | Brendan Steele | 10 | 72 | 73 | 75 | 220 |
| T30 | Charles Howell III | 10 | 71 | 72 | 77 | 220 |
| T30 | Rafael Cabrera Bello | 10 | 73 | 71 | 76 | 220 |
| T33 | Jhonattan Vegas | 11 | 76 | 72 | 73 | 221 |
| T33 | Brandt Snedeker | 11 | 72 | 76 | 73 | 221 |
| T33 | Steve Stricker | 11 | 73 | 75 | 73 | 221 |
| T33 | Matt Parziale | 11 | 74 | 73 | 74 | 221 |
| T33 | Li Haotong | 11 | 79 | 68 | 74 | 221 |
| T33 | Chris Naegel | 11 | 73 | 73 | 75 | 221 |
| T33 | Louis Oosthuizen | 11 | 74 | 72 | 75 | 221 |
| T33 | Pat Perez | 11 | 73 | 71 | 77 | 221 |
| T33 | Alexander Noren | 11 | 72 | 72 | 77 | 221 |
| T33 | Marc Leishman | 11 | 74 | 69 | 78 | 221 |
| T43 | Bill Haas | 12 | 76 | 72 | 74 | 222 |
| T43 | Matthieu Pavon | 12 | 71 | 77 | 74 | 222 |
| T43 | Luis Gagne | 12 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 222 |
| T43 | Peter Uihlein | 12 | 75 | 72 | 75 | 222 |
| T43 | Sam Burns | 12 | 71 | 76 | 75 | 222 |
| T43 | Patrick Cantlay | 12 | 75 | 71 | 76 | 222 |
| T43 | Brian Harman | 12 | 74 | 70 | 78 | 222 |
| T50 | Dean Burmester | 13 | 75 | 73 | 75 | 223 |
| T50 | Aaron Baddeley | 13 | 74 | 72 | 77 | 223 |
| T50 | Will Grimmer | 13 | 73 | 72 | 78 | 223 |
| T50 | Jason Dufner | 13 | 70 | 74 | 79 | 223 |
| T54 | Cameron Wilson | 14 | 75 | 73 | 76 | 224 |
| T54 | Hideki Matsuyama | 14 | 75 | 70 | 79 | 224 |
| T54 | Jimmy Walker | 14 | 75 | 70 | 79 | 224 |
| T54 | Mickey DeMorat | 14 | 72 | 72 | 80 | 224 |
| T58 | Kevin Chappell | 15 | 75 | 72 | 78 | 225 |
| T58 | Calum Hill | 15 | 75 | 69 | 81 | 225 |
| T58 | Tyler Duncan | 15 | 77 | 67 | 81 | 225 |
| T61 | Tim Wilkinson | 16 | 76 | 72 | 78 | 226 |
| T61 | Ross Fisher | 16 | 76 | 71 | 79 | 226 |
| T61 | Rickie Fowler | 16 | 73 | 69 | 84 | 226 |
| T64 | Phil Mickelson | 17 | 77 | 69 | 81 | 227 |
| T64 | Patrick Rodgers | 17 | 72 | 72 | 83 | 227 |
| T66 | Byeong Hun An | 18 | 71 | 76 | 81 | 228 |
| T66 | Andrew Johnston | 18 | 73 | 73 | 82 | 228 |












