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Pressure starts to tell on Barnes
RICKY BARNES showed signs of cracking under final-round pressure at Bethpage Black as he lost the outright lead of the US Open.
Barnes had led the field by six shots early in his third round, but ended it with a one-shot lead.
Then, as the players went straight back out to start their final rounds, errant driving saw him give that up, leaving him to go into today's final holes level at seven under par with Lucas Glover and in thick rough on the second hole.
Barnes and Glover both shot level-par 70s in the third round, the former to stay at eight under par for 54 holes, one clear of his rival and five ahead of England's Ross Fisher and American former Open champion David Duval.
Both Fisher and Duval bogeyed their opening holes to fall level with Phil Mickelson and Hunter Mahan at two under but the lead stayed at five shots as play was suspended for the day due to bad light.
After a week of heavy rain and numerous suspensions of play, the US Open now has play on a Monday to complete 72 holes for the first time since 1983.
Barnes had threatened to set more records after shooting the lowest 36-hole total in US Open history, 132, after a 65 on Saturday, holding a six-shot lead at 10 under par at the turn of his third round and was going the right way about emulating 2003 Open champion Ben Curtis in making his maiden professional victory a major success.
But the 28-year-old unravelled over the back nine to fall to eight under, with Glover also shooting a 70 to return the leaderboard to the status quo going into the final day of the tournament.
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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