Mike Report Day Three of The US Open

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 01:52:14

"My third round was a lot like my second round. It was a good one but it probably should have been a little better. I got off to a great start, hitting it close on a number of holes and really getting dialed in with my iron shots. I made a solid birdie on the second hole and had good chances on three and four. Then on six, I made a 40-footer for eagle and thought that might unlock those cups for me. It was a good putt to make - a long sweeping breaker.

Making the turn I obviously felt very good and even the backside I felt fine, even though I was two over. But I had trouble with the putter. It just seemed that when I was missing fairways and greens, my scrambling hasn't been that good. Really on the back nine Saturday, I only missed two shots, but I ended up making bogey as a result of both of them. I'm just not making enough putts to keep my momentum going to get in the heat of things.

All in all, Saturday was still a good round. Two-under par here is good, but I know that I needed something just a little bit better. The course can be had; the greens are soft, the fairways are firm and that's why you can attack this course. On holes like the ninth, which is 500 yards, for example, I'm hitting a 350-yard drive and I have an eight iron in. That's why you're seeing those low numbers.

What's amazing is that my ball-striking is probably better here than it was at Augusta. I've been hitting it really close on a lot of holes but just can't drop enough of the putts. Of course, that goes hand in hand, really When you hit it as close as I did on Saturday, you can fall into a little trap when you're analyzing your game and thinking your putting is going south. This is a U.S. Open course and you're not going to make every putt. That's golf sometimes. I feel like maybe I could be better at reading these putts, though. There are a lot of subtle little breaks in these Willie Park greens and they can be frustrating to read.

So Sunday will be a "go-and-get-'em" day. I'm going to stick with my game plan and hopefully get off to a good start and maybe keep the momentum going. I know I'll need a Johnny Miller type of round (that would be a 63) to get back in, but the way this year has gone, I'm not sure if I'll be satisfied this week unless I do manage to at least have a chance to win this.

One thing that's great to see is Ian Leggatt right up there at four under. I'm just thrilled that there's two of us on the leaderboard. Ian has had a slow start because of his injuries so I think it's really great to have him playing so well. For Canadian golf, it's exciting to have two of us up there.

To be sure, the course is starting to play like a U.S. Open course. The greens are getting firmer and the wind is starting to blow and I think Sunday will be one of those days that we've all come to expect on the U.S. Open. I hope that I can play my best and maybe have a chance to play a part down the stretch.

As always, thanks for your support.
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