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Lee Westwood acknowledges the crows - Source: Reuters
Lee Westwood put himself in position to clinch a long-awaited first major title by shooting the exact score he had set for himself before the start of today's third round at the US Open.
The British world No. 3, widely viewed as the best player of his generation yet to win one of golf's blue riband events, fired a sparkling three-under-par 67 on another difficult day for scoring at San Francisco's Olympic Club.
Westwood recovered from consecutive bogeys at the eighth and ninth, covering the back nine in three-under 33 for a two-over total of 212.
"I had a lot of fun out there," said the Englishman said after mixing five birdies with two bogeys on a sun-drenched afternoon at the northern California venue.
"I really enjoyed the day and I finished it off nicely," Westwood said of his 12m birdie putt at the last.
"I had a couple of good chances at 16 and 17 that I didn't birdie, and then I made that bomb at the last that you don't expect.
"I played nice for the first two days without too much reward, but I knew that, at five over par, I was still not out of it. As long as I shot a good score today, then I was going to have a chance come Sunday."
Westwood, who tied for seventh when the US Open was last held at Olympic in 1998, felt he would pick up at least six shots on the field in the third round after firing a 67.
"I think the average score is about 73, 74 again, but that wasn't really the goal going out," he said. "The goal was to actually shoot 67 and give myself a number, and I said, 'bang on'. So I'm pleased with that and I reset a new number for tomorrow."
Westwood has recorded four top-10s at the US Open, including two top-three finishes in the past four years, and believes he can only benefit from his previous close calls at the majors.
"I've probably been in contention for major championships more than anybody else over the last three or four years," said the 39-year-old, who has recorded 13 top-10 finishes in the majors.
"Every time you get yourself in contention, you learn something new. I've been in contention a lot in different kinds of positions - leading, coming from behind.
"So I pick little bits out of all of those, but the main thing is just to go out there and believe that I'm good enough. And I must be, I keep getting myself in contention often enough."
Westwood won his 22nd European Tour title at the Scandinavian Masters last week, but has had to adjust to very different playing conditions for the US Open at the fast-running Olympic Club.
"I played a pretty soft golf course last week and the first hole here, missing it on the short side and getting a big bounce right, that was a bit of an eye opener," Westwood smiled.
"So I snapped into US Open mode quickly after that. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, and hopefully going to go out, have some fun and see what happens."