Tacoma, United States: Phil Mickelson’s US Open winless drought continued at Chambers Bay after his bid for a career Grand Slam skidded to a halt on a murderous row of front nine par-fours on Saturday.
The 45-year-old American had five bogey’s on the front nine en route to a seven-over 77 in the third round of the 115th US Open.
“As bad as my score was, I hit a lot of good shots that ended up as bogeys,” said Mickelson.
Mickelson has finished second a record six times at the US Open and needed to win in Chambers Bay to become the sixth player in history to complete a career Grand Slam.
The crowd favourite finished his round with nine bogeys, two birdies to go with seven pars.
Mickelson needed a good showing Saturday after shooting a second round four-over 74, but his game started heading south early on in the third round and continued to go downhill.
He started the day at three-over but the first sign of trouble came on the second tee box.
Already reeling from two bogeys on his first three holes, Mickelson headed to one of the toughest four-hole stretches of par fours in the history of the US Open, beginning with the 509-yard No. 4.
By the time he made the turn he was at five-over 35 and his chances of claiming his first US Open title had all but vanished.
Mickelson parred No. 1 but followed with three straight bogeys starting with the par-four 399 yard second hole.
His tee shot on No. 2 found the deep rough on the left side of the fairway. He knocked it out but the ball sailed across the fairway into the thick fescue on the right side, coming to a stop on the side of a slope and giving him an awkward downhill stance for his approach to the green.
Mickelson then hit a fine recovery shot to about 10 feet but ended up two-putting for a bogey.
He teed off on the par-three third but his ball landed on the lip off the green and after a slight hesitation it rolled about 40 feet downhill giving him a long chip to the green. His first putt from 10 feet missed just left and he had to settle for another bogey.
He bogeyed two of the holes and parred the other two through the difficult par-four stretch to get him to four over on the day and seven over for the tournament.
