Golf: Chips down for Monty

COLIN Montgomerie's hopes of winning the US Open, his favourite tournament of the year in which he has three times been so close, ended for another year with a third round of 77 at the Olympic Club.

Montgomerie made no comment afterwards - "not today, thank you" - but he hardly needed to. Following his 74 on Friday, the Scot was at 11 over par, two better than Open champion Justin Leonard, and only one behind such notables as defending champion Ernie Els and Jack Nicklaus but out of contention for the title despite only one man, overnight leader Payne Stewart, boasting an under-par score late in the round. Tom Lehman's 68 got him to the clubhouse at one over and in sight of a challenge for the title which has eluded him in the last three years.

Not a single birdie appeared on Monty's card, the early damage being done with a bogey at the fifth and a double at the sixth when he left his first chip in the rough and took another chip and two putts to get down. Two more bogeys followed on the back nine before he dropped further shots at the last two.

His performance was not Montgomerie's only problem. He was accompanied by two uniformed officers after being heckled on Friday. "That is the only way to cause people to pause before acting like jerks," said the USGA executive director David Fay. "For some reason Colin is a lightning rod for such behaviour."

It has not helped that local newspapers have continued the American media's obsession with Montgomerie, referring to him as "Snidey Whiplash", an unruly cartoon character, and as "golf's basket case". Monty was caused to point his putter at the gallery after he bogeyed the 13th, while at the eighth, when a spectator shouted, "You need to put the driver in your bag", he replied: "You need to be ejected."

It is hard enough at a US Open without such distractions but Lee Westwood ground out a brave level par round to move forward by standing still. He was paired for the third day running with Tiger Woods, whose 71 left him one behind the Englishman at seven over. "I had a number of chances around the turn," Westwood said after he birdied the last with a six-foot putt that had a foot of break. "There is no game plan, it is just how many mistakes you make. I'd have to play very well to win but certainly a top-10 is possible."

Sandy Tatum, a member of the Olympic Club, was once asked during his term as president of the US Golf Association whether it was the intention at the US Open to embarrass the best players in the world. "No," Tatum replied. "We are trying to identify them." America being a country of extremes - everything is either the best or the worst, the biggest or the smallest, the most expensive or the cheapest, the loudest or the even louder - it is appropriate that their national championship should fit the mould. While there are regular US tour events where the scoring is subterranean, the opposite is true of the US Open. The idea is that par should not be a routine occurrence but something that should be earned with back-breaking toil, which explains why those at the top of the world rankings suffering in the lumbar region had early tee times yesterday, and in the case of Davis Love, the USPGA champion was not playing at all.

It should also be added that the non back-sufferers in the top 10 of the world were also playing golf before lunchtime, the man with the longest lie-in being David Duval, the world No 6, who teed off only some 72 minutes before Stewart, who extended his overnight lead of one with an eagle at the first, and Jeff Maggert in the last twosome. It was Duval who, on being ushered to a basement room in the clubhouse to sign his card after an opening 75, said: "Is this where they are going to execute us?"

Duval responded with a 68 the following day and most players say they like the challenge. "One of my biggest problems is that I lose focus at tour events because they all blend together," said Stewart, who at one point led by five after three holes of his second round. "But when I am at the US Open, my focus is pretty sharp."

But even Fay had to admit that they got it wrong with the pin position at 18th on Friday. High on the slope at the back of the green, it brought a four-putt from Lehman and a three-putt from Stewart. The leader had a birdie chance from 10 feet to go three ahead but took his second putt from 20 feet down the hill. "With that pin, that green is bordering on the ridiculous," Stewart said. "It was unfair."

John Daly parred the hole but only after his first putt, up the hill, got within an inch of the cup and then rolled back to three feet. "If they want to make this a game of putt-putt, then let's go to Disney World," Daly said. "I don't know what the USGA are trying to prove. I think it is distasteful on their part. You've got people working for their lives and the job is hard enough, the course is hard enough, without putting a pin there."

Perhaps the most eloquent statement was made by Kirk Triplett, who was going to miss the cut anyway but added a two-stroke penalty to his card by purposely stopping his ball rolling down the slope with his putter. Farcical is the only word to describe it.

US Open leaderboard

(US unless stated)

Early third-round

scores

211

T Lehman 68 75 68

213

S Stricker 73 71 69

214

S Cink 73 68 73

215

J Furyk 74 73 68

216

C Dimarco 71 71 74

F Lickliter 73 71 72

L Westwood (GB) 72 74 70

G Day 73 72 71

J M Olazabal (Sp) 68 77 71

217

J Huston 73 72 72

S Appleby (Aus) 73 74 70

T Bjorn (Den) 72 75 70

T Woods 74 72 71

C Perry 74 71 72

218

E Romero 73 68 73

D Duval 75 68 75

V Singh (Fiji) 73 72 73

P Mickelson 71 73 74

L Roberts 71 76 71

219

F Nobilo 76 67 76

J Daly 69 75 75,

D A Weibring 72 72 75,

J Parnevik (Swe) 69 74 76

S Verplank 74 72 73

P-U Johansson (Swe) 71 75 73

M Reid 76 70 73

B Zabriski 74 71 74

C Martin 74 71 74

220

O Brown 73 70 77

E Els (SA) 75 70 75

S Pate 72 75 73

J Nicklaus 73 74 73

J Sluman 72 74 74

221

S Simpson 72 71 78

T Kite 70 75 76

C Montgomerie (GB) 70 74 77

J Sindelar 71 75 75

P Harrington (Irl) 73 72 76

J Acosta Jnr 73 72 76

222

S McCarron 72 73 77

M Brooks 75 71 76

223

D Clarke (GB) 74 72 77

J Leonard 71 75 77

224

R Walcher 77 70 77

P Azinger 75 72 77

T Herron 75 72 77

T Sipula 75 71 78

M O'Meara 70 76 78

226

F Couples 72 75 79

J Johnson 74 73 79

Second round scores

137

P Stewart 66 71

138

J Maggert 69 69

B Tway 68 70

139

*M Kuchar 70 69

L Porter 72 67

L Janzen 73 66

140

M Carnevale 67 73

141

J Durant 68 73

N Price (Zim) 73 68

B Faxon 73 68

S Cink 73 68

142

E Romero (Arg) 72 70

Missed cut

(selected scores)

148

C Pavin 76 72

H Irwin 80 68

T Watson 73 75

N Faldo (GB) 77 72

S Hoch 74 75

150

S Elkington (Aus) 77 73

151

G Clough (GB) 78 73

I Woosnam (GB) 72 79

F Zoeller 75 76

* denotes amateur