The back nine bit him again on Saturday as MJ Daffue struggled to an eight-over-par 78 to tumble down the US Open leaderboard into a share of 49th on seven-over for the tournament.
He managed just a single birdie on that back nine at the Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, to go with the one on the front nine, but a triple-bogey, a double-bogey and three bogeys hurt his chances when taken in conjunction with just two bogeys on the front nine.
In the end, there were no purple patches during his round as there were in his first two rounds to keep him in the mix in his first major championship. But there is work to be done in the final round, and he will do it with relish as his excellent showing draws to a close – as does anonymity in tournament play going forward. And a good final round will just accentuate that for him.
His triple-bogey came when he hit his approach to the par-four 10th from the second cut of rough off the fairway into thick rough short of the green. He was only able to hack it just three metres, and left it in the thick stuff. He then hacked it nearly seven metres past the hole for four, hit his fifth to just over three feet, and then two-putted from there. It was a poor hole which certainly seemed to prey on his mind, as he made bogey-bogey-double-bogey immediately after that, and his ound was down the tubes.
But, in the end, much of what has happened for him this week was summed up by the way he made birdie on the 622-yard par-five 14th, and then three pars on his final four holes on the way home. The US Open has done as much damage to many other players before, and will do so again – to many players who have more experience than Daffue.
