Notebook, Round 3: U.S. Open

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Dustin Johnson (71-70-66--207) -6

Dustin Johnson, the winner of the 2009 and 2010 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, birdied the final two holes on Saturday to card a 5-under 66 and move to 6-under 207 through three rounds of the 2010 U.S. Open. He will enter the final round with a three-stroke lead over Graeme McDowell (71) and a five-stroke cushion over Tiger Woods (66).

This represents the third time Johnson has led after 54 holes, with all three coming at Pebble Beach:

• 2009 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am -- 54-hole event, declared winner when final round rained out
• 2010 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am -- tied with P. Goydos after 54 holes, 2-over 74 to win by one
• 2010 U.S. Open -- enters final round with three-stroke lead over Graeme McDowell

Since 1936, there have been 10 occasions in the U.S. where a major championship was contested on a course that also hosted a TOUR event that same season, and four times a player has won both events in the same year. Here's a look at how the TOUR winner finished in the major championship each year:

Johnson has now made the cut in 13 of 15 starts in 2010, with five top-25s. In addition to his win at Pebble Beach, he has top-10s at the Northern Trust Open (T3) and the HP Byron Nelson Championship (T7).

Dustin Johnson is the first player since Tiger Woods to come out of college and win in each of his first three years on TOUR.

Graeme McDowell (71-68-71--210) -3

Second-round leader Graeme McDowell bogeyed two of his final three holes to card an even-par 71. He'll enter the final round three strokes behind Dustin Johnson. McDowell is making his fifth start at the U.S. Open, with a T18 finish in 2009 his best showing.

McDowell is making his 19th start in a major championship, with his best finishes at each major as follows: Masters (T17, 2009), U.S. Open (T18, 2009), British Open (T11, 2005) and PGA Championship (T10, 2009). His missed cut at the 2010 Masters snapped a streak of six straight made cuts in majors, including five top-20s.

This week represents McDowell's 64th start on the PGA TOUR, with a runner-up finish at the 2005 Arnold Palmer Invitationa his best outing. In 2010, he has made six previous starts, with a sixth-place effort at the World Golf Championships-CA Championship his best outing.

McDowell is a five-time winner on the European Tour, recently winning the 2010 Celtic Manor Wales Open. His other victories came at the 2002 Volvo Scandinavian Masters, 2004 61st Telecom Italia Open, 2008 Ballantine's Championship and the 2008 Barclays Scottish Open.

Tiger Woods (74-72-6--212) -1

After bogeys on two of his first three holes, Tiger Woods stormed back with eight birdies in the final 15 holes to post a 5-under 66. By comparison, his best round in a U.S. Open was a 6-under 65 during round one of the 2000 U.S. Open, which he eventually won by 15 strokes.

Tiger Woods at the U.S. Open Championship:
• Professional Starts: 13 (1995-2009)
• Top-10s: 7 (T3-1999, W-2000, W-2002, 2-2005, T2-2007, W-2008, T5-2009)

Tiger Woods has never come from behind to win a major when trailing after 54 holes. He either led or shared the lead in all 14 of his major championship victories. Here's a look at his come-from-behind victories on the PGA TOUR:

Tiger Woods recorded an eight-stroke comeback to win the 1998 Johnnie Walker Classic after starting the final round tied for 18th place. He posted a 65 on the final 18 holes and then topped Ernie Els with a birdie on the second playoff hole for the victory.

Tiger Woods had just three birdies through the first 36 holes, the third-lowest total of sub-par scores in his professional career. After Saturday's eight-birdie effort, he pulls closer to his career average of sub-par scores through 54 holes. Here's a look at his career averages of cumulative birdies and eagles as a professional:

Ernie Els (73-68-72--213) E

Ernie Els is making his 71st start in a major championship, with his best finishes at each major as follows: Masters (2nd, 2000, 2004/6 top-10s), U.S. Open (1st, 1994, 1997/7 top-10s), British Open (1st, 2002/12 top-10s) and the PGA Championship (3rd-2007, T3-1995/5 top-10s).

Els is playing in the U.S. Open for the 18th time (15 made cuts), with victories in 1994 and 1997. He has seven top-10s (T7-1993, 1-1994, T5-1996, 1-1997, T2-2000, T5-2003, T9-2004).

Phil Mickelson (75-66-73--214) +1

Mickelson is hoping to become just the 16th player to win the Masters (2004, 2006, 2010) and the U.S. Open in a career. Of that list, Craig Wood (1941), Ben Hogan (1951, 1953), Arnold Palmer (1960), Jack Nicklaus (1972) and Tiger Woods (2002) have performed the feat in the same year.

Of Phil Mickelson's 38 PGA TOUR victories, 16 have been comeback wins. His most recent wins were both come-from-behind victories, trailing by one to Lee Westwood at the 2010 Masters before a final-round 67 led to a three-stroke victory over Westwood and trailing by four to Kenny Perry at the 2009 TOUR Championship before a 65 led to a three-stroke win over Tiger Woods.

Mickelson has five career runner-up finishes at the U.S. Open in 17 previous professional starts (19 total). Players with four runner-up finishes: Bobby Jones, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.

Tom Watson (78-71-70--219) +6

Making his first U.S. Open start this week since 2003 (finished T28), 60-year-old Tom Watson carded a 1-under 70 on Saturday to move to 6-over through three rounds of the U.S. Open (T16).

Watson's approach shot to the par-4 13th hole on Saturday was his 8,000th stroke in a U.S. Open (8,025 total).

Watson's 70 was just his 20th sub-par round in 111 total rounds at the U.S. Open, and the third at Pebble Beach. The others at Pebble were closing rounds of 4-under 68 and 2-under 70 to win his lone U.S. Open title in 1982.

Watson, a native of Kansas City, MO, bettered his career-third-round scoring average at the U.S. Open by more than two strokes with his third-round 70 (72.33).

On Friday, Tom Watson (60) became the second-oldest player to make the cut at the U.S. Open. Sam Snead was 61 when he finished T29 in 1973. Here's a look at the oldest players to make the cut at the U.S. Open:

• 61 Sam Snead (finished T29 in 1973)
• 60 Tom Watson (TBD in 2010)
• 58 Jack Nicklaus (finished T43 in 1998)
• 57 Sam Snead (finished T38 in 1969)
• 57 Dutch Harrison (finished T16 in 1967)
• 57 Jack Nicklaus (finished T52 in 1997

Watson is making his 730th start in a PGA TOUR (597 starts) or Champions Tour (133 starts) event this week. This week represents his 494th made cut on the PGA TOUR.

Watson has made the cut at the U.S. Open 25 times. Only five players have completed 72 holes at the Open more times: Jack Nicklaus (35), Sam Snead (27), Hale Irwin (27), Gene Sarazen (26) and Raymond Floyd (26).

Watson is making his 31st start at the U.S. Open, with top-5 finishes in 1982 (1st), 1983 (2nd), 1987 (2nd), 1980 (T3), 1974 (T5) and 1993 (T5).

Tom Watson, the only player to tee it up in all five U.S. Opens at Pebble Beach, sits 10 strokes better (219) through 36 holes than he did as a 22-year-old in his first appearance at the U.S. Open in 1972 (229). Here's a look at Watson's standing through 54 holes at the five U.S. Opens held at Pebble Beach:

Davis Love III (75-74-68--217) +4

Davis Love III jumped 49 spots from T59 to T10 with a 3-under 68 on Saturday. He is playing in his 21st U.S. Open, with top-10 finishes in 1996 (T2), 1995 (T4), 2005 (T6) and 2001 (T7).

Love carded a 5-under 30 on the front nine Saturday, falling just one stroke shy of the U.S. Open record:
• 29, Neal Lancaster -- fourth round, second nine, Shinnecock Hills GC, 1995
• 29, Neal Lancaster -- second round, second nine, Oakland Hills CC, 1996
• 29, Vijay Singh -- second round, second nine, Olympia Fields CC, 2003

Miscellaneous Notes

The 54-hole leader/co-leader has won 48 times at the U.S. Open, most recently Tiger Woods in 2008.

The third-round leader/co-leader has gone on to win 11 of 24 stroke-play events on the PGA TOUR this season, most recently Jason Day at the HP Byron Nelson Championship.

Third-round leads of the previous four U.S. Opens hosted at Pebble Beach Golf Links:

Here's a look at which countries outside of the United States have won the most U.S. Opens:

14 -- Scotland, most recently Tommy Armour (1927)
8 -- England, most recently Tony Jacklin (1970)
5 -- South Africa, most recently Retief Goosen (2004)
2 -- Australia, most recently Geoff Ogilvy (2006)
1 -- New Zealand, Michael Campbell (2005)
1 -- Argentina, Angel Cabrera (2007)

Amateur leaderboard through three rounds:

T16. Russell Henley 73-74-72--219
T30. Scott Langley 75-69-77--221

Five of the 10 Nationwide Tour members participating at this year's U.S. Open made the cut:
• Bobby Gates 75-74-71--220 T23
• Jason Gore 76-73-74--223 T49
• Craig Barlow 73-75-77--225 T64
• Kent Jones 73-76-78--227 T73
• Jim Herman 76-73-81--230 81

Champions Tour member's leaderboard:
• Tom Watson 78-71-70--219 T16
• Fred Funk 74-72-77--223 T49

There were no bogey-free rounds for the third-consecutive day.

Thongchai Jaidee (74) made a hole-in-one on the par-3 fifth hole from 181 yards. It is the seventh ace in a U.S. Open hosted at Pebble Beach and the 41st overall. Prior to Jaidee, the last hole-in-one was posted by Peter Hedblom at Winged Foot in 2006 (No. 3, R3). Here's a list of aces at Pebble Beach during the Open:
• 1972 Jerry McGee, 180-yard fifth, third round
• Bobby Mitchell, 180-yard fifth, fourth round
• 1982 Bill Brodell, 180-yard fifth, second round
• Johnny Miller, 205-yard 12th, second round
• Tom Weiskopf, 120-yard seventh, fourth round
• 2000 Todd Fischer, 106-yard seventh, second round
• 2010 Thongchai Jaidee, 181-yard fifth, third round

Pebble Beach Golf Links played as the toughest course on the PGA TOUR in 2000, the last time it hosted the U.S. Open. That year, it played to a 75.359 average.

The par-3 seventh hole played at 99 yards on Saturday, the shortest hole in U.S. Open history (post World War II). The hole played to an average of 3.072 during the third round.

The par-5 14th hole played the toughest on Saturday, yielding a 5.578 average. The par-5 sixth hole was the easiest for the third straight day, averaging 4.662.