Disaster struck Dustin Johnson as he squandered a three-shot lead to blow the final round of the 110th US Open wide open at Pebble Beach yesterday.
Disaster struck Dustin Johnson as he squandered a three-shot lead to blow the final round of the 110th US Open wide open at Pebble Beach yesterday.
American Johnson, 25, did not last long with the pressure of a lead at the majors, leaving Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell and Ernie Els of South Africa tied for the lead at three under on the front nine as the day took a dramatic early turn.
Johnson had gone into the final round with a seemingly unflappable demeanour as he sought to protect his lead at six under par and win his first major.
Rejoining battle with halfway leader McDowell for the second day in a row, having outscored him by five shots in the third round, Johnson walked off the par-four second hole in a tie for the lead at three under after a terrible triple-bogey seven and then lost his ball off the third tee in a nightmare series of events for the World No 29.
Johnson had found the top of a greenside bunker with his second shot on a hole that is normally designated a par-five.
He played left-handed from there and fluffed that third shot, then needed two more to get out of greenside rough before two-putting as Northern Ireland's McDowell parred his first two holes.
There was further trouble for Johnson when he strayed off the next tee, losing his ball in thick rough to the left of the third fairway on the par-four hole and having to return to the tee box after using up his allocated five minutes to find it on the way to a double bogey.
Having been made to wait, McDowell, the leading putter in the tournament so far, had done well to sink a far from easy par putt and the 30-year-old from Portrush went to the fourth having regained the lead at three under as Johnson slipped to one under.
Johnson was all at sea, figuratively and literally at the fourth as his tee shot rolled over the edge of the cliff and after taking a drop he missed his par putt from five feet to fall further behind.
Tiger Woods had launched his bid for a 15th major from five strokes back off the lead having shot a five-under-par 66 on Saturday to reach one under par.
The World No 1, who won the 2000 US Open on its last visit to Pebble Beach by a majors record 15 strokes, was not in the same scintillating form he had been the previous night, though.
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