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Lee Westwood

It's not all over yet, but South African Retief Goosen has taken another giant stride towards ending European hopes of a first win in the US Open since 1970.

And in doing this with a stunning 3rd-round 69 at Pinehurst on Saturday - it was one of only two sub-par rounds posted on treacherous Pinehurst all day - it swept the 36-year-old South African into a three-stroke lead on three under par and may well have extinguished Tiger Woods' hopes of a first-ever Grand Slam.

The icey-cool world number five, whose closest challengers, Jason Gore and Olin Browne, are ranked 818th and 300th respectively, is firmly on track for a third win in the championship in five years.

It would also make him only the third player to make a successful defence of the title since the Second World War.

Ben Hogan did it in 1951 and Curtis Strange in 1989.

England's Lee Westwood and Swede Peter Hedblom are the leading Europeans in seventh place, but Goosen's three fightback birdies on Saturday in the last five holes immediately after a bogey and double bogey had drawn him back into the field, meant they will tee off tomorrow six shots behind on a course where making up any shots is going to be a mammoth task.

Aggression on this harrowing course is highly dangerous and invariably leads to bogies and double bogeys.

Woods, winner of the Masters in a play-off in April with Goosen joint third, is alongside Westwood and Hedblom.

"I don't know why I am suddenly doing well in this particular event," said Goosen, who missed the cut at Pinehurst in 1999 after a second round 82.

"It's all about saving pars and making the right putts. It's a grind and it's just who makes the least mistakes."

Woods, around in 72, said: "You just go out there and grind away and try to make a bunch of pars.

"Hopefully you can sprinkle in a couple of birdies here and there, but the pins are in really tough spots.

"Maybe over par can still win this championship," Woods added, speaking before Goosen's last two birdies.

While Goosen looks set to cement his place in the history books Gore, Browne and Peter Jacobsen could rewrite them.

Gore would be easily the lowest-ranked player to win a major since the ranking system came in in the mid-1980s, 46-year-old Browne would be the oldest winner of the title and 51-year-old Jacobsen, seven behind after a hole-in-one at the ninth en route to a 69, would be the oldest winner of any major.

ALL THE 3RD ROUND SCORES

(USA unless stated, par 70):
(x) denotes amateur

-3 207 Retief Goosen (RSA) 68 70 69

E 210 Jason Gore 71 67 72, Olin Browne 67 71 72

+1 211 Michael Campbell (Nzl) 71 69 71, Mark Hensby (Aus) 71 68 72

+2 212 David Toms 70 72 70

+3 213 Peter Hedblom (Swe) 77 66 70, Tiger Woods 70 71 72, Lee Westwood 68 72 73, KJ Choi (Kor) 69 70 74

+4 214 Peter Jacobsen 72 73 69, Arron Oberholser 76 67 71, Steve Allen (Aus) 72 69 73, Vijay Singh (Fij) 70 70 74

+5 215 Tim Clark (RSA) 76 69 70, Corey Pavin 73 72 70, Nick Price (Zim) 72 71 72, Adam Scott (Aus) 70 71 74, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 71 69 75

+6 216 Kenny Perry 75 70 71, Paul Claxton 72 72 72, Luke Donald (Gbr) 69 73 74, Keiichiro Fukabori (Jpn) 74 67 75, Jim Furyk 71 70 75

+7 217 John Cook 71 76 70, Justin Leonard 76 71 70, Davis Love 77 70 70, Tim Herron 74 73 70, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 72 74 71, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 71 74 72, Ted Purdy 73 71 73, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 71 73 73, Steve Jones 69 74 74

+8 218 Bernhard Langer (Ger) 74 73 71, Bill Glasson 74 73 71, Phil Mickelson 69 77 72, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 77 68 73, Charles Howell 77 68 73, Bob Estes 70 73 75

+9 219 Paul McGinley (Irl) 76 72 71, Ernie Els (RSA) 71 76 72, Colin Montgomerie (Gbr) 72 75 72, John Mallinger 74 72 73, Rob Rashell 74 72 73, Peter Lonard (Aus) 71 74 74, Fred Couples 71 74 74

+10 220 Graeme McDowell (Gbr) 74 74 72, Chad Campbell 77 71 72, Tom Pernice 74 73 73, Stewart Cink 73 74 73, Ian Poulter (Gbr) 77 69 74, Nick Dougherty (Gbr) 72 74 74, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 71 74 75, Fred Funk 73 71 76, Brandt Jobe 68 73 79

+11 221 (x) Matt Every 75 73 73, Thomas Levet (Fra) 75 73 73, Jonathan Lomas (Gbr) 72 74 75, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 72 71 78, Steve Flesch 72 71 78, tommy Armour 70 72 79

+12 222 JP Hayes 77 71 74, Lee Janzen 74 74 74, DJ Brigman 74 73 75, Jeff Maggert 72 75 75, Mike Weir (Can) 75 72 75, JJ Henry 73 73 76, Rory Sabbatini (RSA) 72 74 76, Stephen Ames (Can) 71 75 76, Michael Allen 73 72 77, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 74 71 77, Richard Green (Aus) 72 72 78, Steve Elkington (Aus) 74 69 79

+13 223 Omar Uresti 75 73 75, (x) Ryan Moore 75 73 75, Craig Barlow 76 71 76, John Daly 74 72 77

+14 224 JL Lewis 75 73 76

+15 225 Jerry Kelly 76 71 78, Bob Tway 71 75 79

+16 226 Frank Lickliter 75 73 78, Chris Nallen 76 72 78