PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — With echoes of the cheers from Tiger Woods’s back-nine charge still swelling over Pebble Beach Golf Links, Dustin Johnson grabbed the lead, kept his composure and birdied the final two holes at dusk to take a three-stroke lead over the overnight leader Graeme McDowell and a five-stroke lead over Woods into the final round of the 110th United States Open.
Johnson, the winner of the last two AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Ams, ignored all the commotion from Woods and made some noise of his own, shooting a 66 that matched Woods’s score and overtaking McDowell with birdies at the 17th and 18th holes.
At the golf course where mystical things happen, Johnson relied on a solid combination of power and finesse that has nothing to do with magic and everything to do with work and pure athleticism. He battled with McDowell, who shot even-par 71, head-to-head all day.
At six-under-par 207, Johnson opened a three-stroke lead over McDowell and leads by five strokes over Woods and six strokes over Ernie Els (73) and the Frenchman Gregory Havret, who stormed into contention with a 69.
Johnson, 25, is in an unfamiliar position, leading a major championship, at a very familiar place. Asked about the special link he has to the old links fashioned in 1919, he shrugged and smiled enigmatically.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Ever since the first time I came here, I’ve just loved this place.”
It has mostly loved him in return. He nearly won the first time he played here, finishing in a tie for seventh in his first start three years ago. On a cool day that was alternately bright and cloudy, Johnson showed a near-complete control of his game and his nerves.
He made two big par saves on the back nine. The first followed a deft chip from the high rough beyond the front bunker at the par-three 12th that he finished off with a nasty five-foot slider. The second was at the 16th, where he got up and down from the rough right of the green with aplomb.
His caddie, Bobby Brown, who once read the greens for high-rolling tourists as a Pebble Beach caddie, likes to say that Johnson is nerveless. Asked to describe his boss’ unflappable approach to the game, Brown once said Johnson is a “flat-liner.”
He surely appeared that way on Pebble Beach’s famous 18th hole, pulling a driver and threading the needle between the two trees in the fairway and the high rough that lines the right side. His drive ran into a good lie in the semi-rough, and he launched a 6-iron shot some 220 yards onto the green in a demonstration of the controlled aggression that has gotten him where he is — leading the driving distance category for the week and the greens in regulation stat as well.
“I’m going to stay aggressive and take what the golf course gives me,” Johnson explained.
Phil Mickelson, who began the day two strokes behind, tried to take what the golf course would not give him. He struggled with his game in a two-over-par round of 73 that could have been worse, and is seven strokes back. The Japanese teenage sensation Ryo Ishikawa also struggled a bit in the wind, and is nine strokes back at three-over-par 216 after a 75.
“I think I fought hard today and didn’t play well,” said Mickelson. “If you struck it well you could make some birdies. I didn’t strike the ball as well as I did the day before, so I had to fight pretty hard to make some ridiculous up and downs for par.”
Perhaps his most outrageous up and down for par came after his try for a heroic drive down the left side of the 18th wound up on in a bed of seaweed in the midst of a rock cluster down on the beach. After a drop, Mickelson hit 242-yard 2-iron shot on to the green and two-putted for par.
Woods sent a very loud message to the leaders and followers alike, playing by far his best golf since returning to the game at the Masters in a round that featured a blistering 30 on the back nine topped off by consecutive birdies at the 16th, 17th and 18th holes. His second shot into the 18th with a 3-wood from 260 yards to within 15 feet of the hole was vintage Woods. The response was raucous and Woods was asked about it.
“It’s been a while,” Woods said, and repeated, “it’s been a while. I hadn’t played good enough for anyone to cheer for anything. So it was nice to actually put it together on the back nine and put myself right back in the championship. And everyone was just so excited and fired up that it was just a great atmosphere for play in front of.”
As he walked toward the green with the late-afternoon sun shining on his face, it was reminiscent of so many walks from so many Opens before. The cheering was loud and not self conscious and Woods was obviously basking in it after struggling through ordinary performances in the run-up to the Open.
Will he be able to come back and get on track for his 15th major championship at the very place he decimated the field a decade a go by 15 strokes. Will he have the old intimidation factor and will it work on Johnson?
“I can’t worry about Tiger,” Johnson said, sounding like the former mayor of Carmel and one of the Pebble Beach stakeholders, Clint Eastwood. “I have to worry about myself.”
That might end up being enough. Johnson began working two months ago with the instructor, Butch Harmon, on shortening his backswing and widening his downswing and on developing a fade – both with his driver off the tee and with his irons from the fairways.
Brown, his caddie, described it as, “a cut shot that’s going to win a big tournament on a Sunday.”
Whether it will be this Sunday will depend on how well Johnson controls his nerves and whether Woods has his back.
Johnson, the winner of the last two AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Ams, ignored all the commotion from Woods and made some noise of his own, shooting a 66 that matched Woods’s score and overtaking McDowell with birdies at the 17th and 18th holes.
At the golf course where mystical things happen, Johnson relied on a solid combination of power and finesse that has nothing to do with magic and everything to do with work and pure athleticism. He battled with McDowell, who shot even-par 71, head-to-head all day.
At six-under-par 207, Johnson opened a three-stroke lead over McDowell and leads by five strokes over Woods and six strokes over Ernie Els (73) and the Frenchman Gregory Havret, who stormed into contention with a 69.
Johnson, 25, is in an unfamiliar position, leading a major championship, at a very familiar place. Asked about the special link he has to the old links fashioned in 1919, he shrugged and smiled enigmatically.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Ever since the first time I came here, I’ve just loved this place.”
It has mostly loved him in return. He nearly won the first time he played here, finishing in a tie for seventh in his first start three years ago. On a cool day that was alternately bright and cloudy, Johnson showed a near-complete control of his game and his nerves.
He made two big par saves on the back nine. The first followed a deft chip from the high rough beyond the front bunker at the par-three 12th that he finished off with a nasty five-foot slider. The second was at the 16th, where he got up and down from the rough right of the green with aplomb.
His caddie, Bobby Brown, who once read the greens for high-rolling tourists as a Pebble Beach caddie, likes to say that Johnson is nerveless. Asked to describe his boss’ unflappable approach to the game, Brown once said Johnson is a “flat-liner.”
He surely appeared that way on Pebble Beach’s famous 18th hole, pulling a driver and threading the needle between the two trees in the fairway and the high rough that lines the right side. His drive ran into a good lie in the semi-rough, and he launched a 6-iron shot some 220 yards onto the green in a demonstration of the controlled aggression that has gotten him where he is — leading the driving distance category for the week and the greens in regulation stat as well.
“I’m going to stay aggressive and take what the golf course gives me,” Johnson explained.
Phil Mickelson, who began the day two strokes behind, tried to take what the golf course would not give him. He struggled with his game in a two-over-par round of 73 that could have been worse, and is seven strokes back. The Japanese teenage sensation Ryo Ishikawa also struggled a bit in the wind, and is nine strokes back at three-over-par 216 after a 75.
“I think I fought hard today and didn’t play well,” said Mickelson. “If you struck it well you could make some birdies. I didn’t strike the ball as well as I did the day before, so I had to fight pretty hard to make some ridiculous up and downs for par.”
Perhaps his most outrageous up and down for par came after his try for a heroic drive down the left side of the 18th wound up on in a bed of seaweed in the midst of a rock cluster down on the beach. After a drop, Mickelson hit 242-yard 2-iron shot on to the green and two-putted for par.
Woods sent a very loud message to the leaders and followers alike, playing by far his best golf since returning to the game at the Masters in a round that featured a blistering 30 on the back nine topped off by consecutive birdies at the 16th, 17th and 18th holes. His second shot into the 18th with a 3-wood from 260 yards to within 15 feet of the hole was vintage Woods. The response was raucous and Woods was asked about it.
“It’s been a while,” Woods said, and repeated, “it’s been a while. I hadn’t played good enough for anyone to cheer for anything. So it was nice to actually put it together on the back nine and put myself right back in the championship. And everyone was just so excited and fired up that it was just a great atmosphere for play in front of.”
As he walked toward the green with the late-afternoon sun shining on his face, it was reminiscent of so many walks from so many Opens before. The cheering was loud and not self conscious and Woods was obviously basking in it after struggling through ordinary performances in the run-up to the Open.
Will he be able to come back and get on track for his 15th major championship at the very place he decimated the field a decade a go by 15 strokes. Will he have the old intimidation factor and will it work on Johnson?
“I can’t worry about Tiger,” Johnson said, sounding like the former mayor of Carmel and one of the Pebble Beach stakeholders, Clint Eastwood. “I have to worry about myself.”
That might end up being enough. Johnson began working two months ago with the instructor, Butch Harmon, on shortening his backswing and widening his downswing and on developing a fade – both with his driver off the tee and with his irons from the fairways.
Brown, his caddie, described it as, “a cut shot that’s going to win a big tournament on a Sunday.”
Whether it will be this Sunday will depend on how well Johnson controls his nerves and whether Woods has his back.
