Strictly from the point of view of overall scoring, yesterday's third round of the U. S. Open was almost unique compared to previous Opens, or any other majors, for that matter.

    First - There was only one round of better than three under par, a 4-under 67 by Danny Willett over the par-71 Pebble Beach Golf Links. Normally, 'moving day' means just that - players are moving on Saturday. But 99 percent of the moving on this Saturday was 1, or 2, or 3 places, up or down. Willett was the only one in the top 15 - he's tied for ninth - who made a major jump, up 23 spots from 32nd. 

    Second - The scores were so similar for the rest of the upper half of the board, that it looked pretty much the same after the third round as it did after the second. Gary Woodland leads at 11 under after a 69, Justin Rose is second at 10 under after a 68, Brooks Koepka, Chez Reavie and Louis Oosterhuis are third at 7 under after rounds of 70, 70 and 68, respectively, and Rory Mcilroy is sixth at 6 under after a 70. 

    In all, there were five rounds of 68, three of 69, 14 of 70 and 13 of even-par 71. After Willett, the biggest move up the board belonged to Byeong Hun An, whose 68 lifted him from 32nd to 14th. Usually, there are several 66s, or 65s, or 64s, and those players make big moves. Not so this time.

    Tiger Woods was disappointing in his quest to climb up the board. He began with bogeys on two of his first three holes, and added three more bogeys and five birdies to wind up at even par for the day and the 54 holes. He missed a great many birdie putts of five to 10 feet that could have given him a chance for a high finish.  

 

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