Notes and Quotes from the U.S. Open
Mediate: Great day, just one little mistake – U.S. Open Championship
SAN DIEGO - Anatomy of a little crash, and probably a fatal one. Namely, that of Rocco Mediate stumbling on two late holes that, if he'd just parred, he'd be tied with Tiger Woods going into the final round of the U.S. Open.“I had a great day,” said Mediate, who had to qualify to get into the field in the first place. And he led through most of the third round Saturday, then wilted down the final stretch and shot a 1-over 72 and settled for third, two behind Woods (70-210) and one behind Lee Westwood (70-211).
“I had one little mistake, on 15, pretty much,” he said. “I caught two crappy lies on 15, and I paid. I made what I would call a pretty good [double bogey] six, unfortunately. But I finished pretty good with the birdie on 17.”
Summary: “It wasn't one of my best days ever in this type of event, for sure.” Mediate has had a fourth place and a tie for sixth in his 12 previous Opens.
THE BIG WD - It turns out that Ian Poulter, the many-hued Englishman with the frosted hair, withdrew from the Open at the 15th hole Friday. He was 7 over for the day and 14 over for the tournament at that point, meaning he left three holes before officially missing the cut. The reports were mixed, between hurt wrist and hurt ego. But some writers were saying that he missed a short putt at the 15th, and then said, “See ya'.”
CARING FOR THE COURSE - USGA officials were babying the greens, watering them to make sure they didn't become too hard in San Diego's prevailing weather - plenty of wind, sun and no rain.
Biggest course changes for the third round: No. 4 tee was moved up 40 yards to offset a tough front-left hole location; No. 12 (465 yards), tee moved up 28 yards.
FROM THE FRINGES
* Camilo Villegas (71-215): “I wish it would have been one better on the last putt on No. 18. But you know what? I battled hard. It's still a grind. It's the U.S. Open.”
* Kevin Streelman (78-223), the first-round co-leader: “I drove it pretty crooked today. We'll move on. The course won today, but that's why we come back tomorrow.”
* Brandt Snedeker (68-217): “I hit a bad shot on the first hole and made a bogey, and I just turned it around. I didn't put myself in any of that heavy round till the last hole, and I made a couple of 20-, 30-footers, and that's what you've got to do around here.”
* Brandt Jobe (69-217): “It was nice to get under par and stay under par. You get it there, and then all of a sudden you look up and you've got another 480-yard par-4 staring right at you with the ocean on the left and hay on the right.”
* Anthony Kim (70-219): “I felt really bad this morning, but this is my job. I've got to go out and do it, and suck it up.”
* Ryuji Imada (70-219), who played with Kim as the first group and did it in 3 hours, 15 minutes, 48 minutes ahead of the pace: “We really didn't try to play fast. I actually took a lot of time on a lot of shots. It's nice to play ready golf.”
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