Prior
to Thursday's opening round of the U.S. Open, the odds-on favorites to
take home the title at Bethpage Black were familiar names like Tiger and Phil. But it's relative unknowns Ricky Barnes, the 197th player on the 2009 PGA money list, and Lucas Glover who sat tied for the lead when play was called due to darkness Sunday.
The final round will be completed Monday, weather permitting.
Barnes and Glover are in the final pairing for the fourth round and,
like the rest of the field, began their fourth rounds late Sunday. But
the duo got through just the first hole before the horn blew. Barnes,
who set the 36-hole U.S. Open scoring mark,
lost another stroke with a bogey on No. 1, while Glover's par tied him
for the top spot. Both are at 7-under heading into Monday's action.
Phil Mickelson and David Duval are two of the four golfers tied for third place five strokes back at 2-under.
Tiger Woods, who got through seven holes of his final round before
play was called Sunday night, sits at 1-under for the round — even for
the tournament — and is seven shots off the lead.
Play resumes early Monday. Stay tuned at USOpen.com for further updates.
According to ESPN.com's Jason Sobel,
ESPN will be covering Round 4 from 9-11:30 a.m. ET before coverage
switches over to NBC from 11:30 until it's in the books. If necessary,
an 18-hole playoff would be shown from 1:30-3:30 ET on ESPN, with NBC
once again getting the final say from 3:30 ET to the tournament's
completion.
Barnes, who during his third round Sunday became just the fourth
player in U.S. Open history to reach double digits under par when he
temporarily hit 10-under, had a lead of up to three strokes over
playing partner Glover during the third round on Sunday. But four
bogeys in a nine-hole stretch brought him back to the field, and Glover
crept to within a single stroke after Barnes' bogey at 18. At the
completion of the third round, Barnes stood at minus-8, while Glover
checked in at 7-under.
After starting the third round on the 10th hole in a shotgun start,
Woods chipped in from the rough on the par-3 17th and ended up with a
2-under 68. But his total left him at 1-over for the tournament through
three rounds, nine shots off the pace.
With the tournament schedule affected so profoundly by rain, Newsday's Wallace Matthews suggested that "there are only two types of people, it seems, going to the U.S. Open. Drunks and reporters." Even Woods is hearing it from the unruly, raucous New York-area fans.
"As the rains fell yesterday," writes Yahoo!'s Jay Busbee, "fans heckled Tiger Woods
while he stood under an umbrella to tee off. New York Newsday reported
that one gallery tough guy shouted, 'We're on Long Island, baby, where
men are men! Put that umbrella down!' Woods apparently tried to quiet
down the crowd as other golfers teed off nearby, but certain fans
weren't having any of it. 'Suck it up, you've got your own video game!'
somebody else hollered."
