FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — On the longest day of the year, an endless United States Open changed shape in a New York minute Sunday. Ricky Barnes, who had led after 36 holes and 54 holes, became the co-leader on the 55th hole.
Tiger Woods walking up to the 17th green during his third-round 68. He is at even par over all after seven holes in the final round. More Photos »
Lucas Glover is tied with Ricky Barnes at seven under par. More Photos >
And now, after a week of relentless rain put it 24 hours behind schedule, the real Open at Bethpage Black will begin at 9 a.m. on Monday, when the final round is scheduled to conclude. When and how it will end will depend on what happens when the co-leaders Barnes and Lucas Glover, who are tied at seven under par, awaken to the reality of a group of formidable golfers pursuing them.
Barnes, who shot a 70 to move to eight under par after the third round, was relaxed and confident after an afternoon in which he had led by as many as six shots. Then he hooked his drive at No. 1 and made bogey, and hit a hot, low hook off the second tee into the high grass left of the fairway before play was suspended. Barnes, who had said, “I’m prepared to play more holes,” before the fourth round began,was walking with slumped shoulders toward the locker room after hitting only six shots.
That is how quickly things change when the final round of the Open starts. Despite rain-soaked greens that are as soft as down pillows — and about as lumpy — the Bethpage Black Open will become a United States Open, with throat-tightening pressure that can lead to sweaty palms, quick hooks and missed putts.
Barnes’s shaky sequence to start his fourth round almost certainly led other players to conclude their chances had markedly improved. David Duval, the Englishman Ross Fisher, Hunter Mahan and Phil Mickelson are five strokes behind Barnes and Glover, who matched Barnes’s 70 in the third round but like him had not contended in a major championship until this week.
Even Tiger Woods, who at one point Sunday was 13 shots out of the lead, clawed his way back to even par. A birdie at the seventh hole before play was suspended because of darkness put him seven strokes behind the leaders.
Mickelson, in particular, looks dangerous. He played the first and second holes of the final round aggressively, cutting the corner at No. 2 with a huge drive. His body language, and his bearing, exuded confidence, and he spoke like someone who was on a mission.
“I am one good round away,” he said. “I am one good round away.”
Mickelson, who shot a 69 in the third round, had renewed confidence after finishing with a 35-foot putt for birdie. He hit nine fairways in each of his last two rounds, and those he missed did not cause him a lot of trouble.
He has had fewer putts each round, from 31 to 28 to 27. Before the tournament, he said it would be won or lost, for him, on the greens.
Then there is Duval, who is so loose that he is bantering with the galleries. For a man who once hid behind his wraparound sunglasses and wrapped himself in a cocoon of silence, Duval is making eye contact and hitting shots with the same ease.
He has not won a tour event since his British Open victory in 2001, and he has not had a top-10 finish since 2002 at Las Vegas. And he has a chance to win the United States Open because he is hitting 70 percent of his fairways for the week and 66 percent of the greens in regulation.
How has it come to this?
“Well, work and practice,” Duval said. “And just a belief in the path I was on of putting my golf swing, I want to say back together, but not quite. Because I feel like I made it better. I feel like I made it more reliable than it was, and I know why it works the way it works and I know how it works. And I think that’s the difference from 10 years ago.”
Although the conditions were ripe for scoring, the squishing sound of charging footsteps was not often heard. In fact, it was Barnes who charged at the golf course and elicited roars from the large crowds that have begun to embrace him.
Barnes birdied the second hole in the third round to get to nine under par, and reached 11 under with an eagle at the fourth. For perspective, only three other golfers have reached double figures under par at the Open — Gil Morgan in 1992, Woods in 2000 and Jim Furyk in 2002.
When he made the turn at 10 under, Barnes was six strokes ahead of Glover and at least seven ahead of everyone else. And even after he dropped two strokes coming in, he had a swagger that said he was in control and ready to take on the challenges of the golf course and all challengers.
“You know, I’ll take it,” he said of his finish. “I’ll take a lead after 54 holes in any event, let alone the U.S. Open. So I’d like to go in and I’ll get a little rest, I’ll definitely cherish the good things I did. I got off to a really good start and obviously hope to do that later tonight if we get back out. And I’m swinging good.”
That is how quickly things change. About an hour later, Barnes was not swinging well. He was quick driving, and his pitch shot into the first green was fat. Open pressure can do that to a player, like Barnes, who has not won a golf tournament of any kind since the 2001 United States Amateur.
He may rediscover what he had. But the margin for error has shrunk. The Open finally started Sunday, the day it was supposed to finish. Monday should be worth the wait.
