Goosen Gunning for Consecutive Titles

2005 US Open golf - Round 3

Defending champion Retief Goosen is on the brink of recording back to back US Open titles after surging to a three shot lead at the end of the third round on the tough Pinehurst No.2 layout.

The South African world no.5 shot a rock solid 69 to make him one of only two players to break par on the day, but midway through his round it all looked to have gone horribly wrong as he dropped three shots to fall out of the lead and back to level par.

He recovered well though picking up birdies on 14 and 15, but the best was yet to come on the finishing hole as he drained a long birdie putt from off the green to take him to three under and leave him as the only player under par for the tournament.

“I really had a good finish to put me back in the tournament,” said Goosen.

“It's nice having the lead going into the final round. If it was 12 shots I would be a little more comfortable. You can lose three shots very quickly around here. It's going to be a hard day tomorrow.”

Little known Americans Olin Browne and Jason Gore sit in second place even with the card at the conclusion of the third round, while Australian Mark Hensby and Kiwi Michael Campbell are next best at one over.

Hensby, the best placed Aussie, had an up and down day shooting a 72 that included four birdies and six bogeys, but even after carding one of the better rounds of the day he was extremely unhappy at the conclusion of his 18 holes.

"I played terrible," Hensby said.

"I don't know what else to say. I played terrible. But I scored all right, and who knows, tomorrow if I can player better, maybe I'll have a chance."

American David Toms sits alone in sixth place at two over, while Tiger Woods lurks dangerously just a shot further back and feels that he is still in contention for his 10th major title.

"I'm one good round away from this championship. You shoot a quality round, it could happen."

Fijian Vijay Singh is all but out of contention at four over, but he is still in better shape than some of his fellow high flyers with Phil Mickelson sitting at eight over and Ernie Els is a shot worse off at nine over.

Outside of Hensby the large Australian contingent did not have much too celebrate after the third day with Steve Allan (+4), Adam Scott (+5), Geoff Olgivy (+7) and Peter Lonard falling out of contention, while the likes of Nick O’Hern, Steve Elkington and Richard Green all had disastrous days with every one of them shooting 78.

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