U.S. OPEN : Trio Staggers Into a Playoff : Golf: Roberts, Els and Montgomerie all squander chances, are tied after 72 holes. Els benefits from official’s mistake.

Is this the U.S. Open that nobody wants?

Well, time has run out, and somebody, either Loren Roberts, Ernie Els or Colin Montgomerie, is going to win his first major golf title at Oakmont Country Club an extra day after the 94th U.S. Open championship stumbled into a rare three-way playoff.

The trio is also together on one more thing. They all know it already should have been over.

--Roberts, who followed his 64 on Saturday with a 70, could have won if he had made a 4 1/2-foot putt for par on the 18th hole.

“I can kick myself,” Roberts said.

--Els, who shot a 73, could have won if he had known what the score was, played it safe and kept his drive at the 18th hole on the fairway instead of underneath some trees.

“I just tried to smash the living stuffings out of it,” Els said.

--Montgomerie, who shot a 70, could have won if he had not bogeyed Nos. 11, 12, 13 and 15 coming in.

“You have to accept there are going to be more mistakes than birdies at that stage,” Montgomerie said.

So there you have it. After 72 holes, Roberts, Els and Montgomerie are at 279, five under par. The last time there was a three-way playoff at the U.S. Open was in 1963, when Julius Boros defeated Jacky Cupit and Arnold Palmer.

At least this playoff has got some history going for it. What happened in the last round Sunday also will go down in history, certainly not for its brilliance, though.

From the very first hole, there were enough mistakes and bad shots to fill the nearby Allegheny River. Els got the error derby off to a roaring start on the first hole when he hit his drive far left and was erroneously awarded a drop by a USGA rules official.

A forklift camera position for ABC-TV was in Els’ path to the hole. According to USGA rules, a drop is awarded only if the obstruction cannot be moved.

Trey Holland of the USGA ruled Els was entitled to a drop because the forklift could not be moved.

“I made a mistake,” Holland said.

Els wound up with a bogey at No. 1, but he might have made double bogey or worse, which would have altered the outcome.

Els also was a awarded a drop, this one correctly, when he hit his drive on No. 17 under a grandstand at the green. Allowed to advance the ball about 10 yards from his lie, Els parred the hole.

By then, it was clear that the U.S. Open would be a three-man race. One by one, the other contenders dropped out, most notably Hale Irwin, whose plummet was dramatic.

Irwin shot 78, falling from a tie for third into a tie for 18th, eight shots behind the leaders.

Said Irwin: “It was just a disaster day.”

Curtis Strange, Tom Watson and Frank Nobilo fell out of contention on the back nine. Strange shot his fourth consecutive round of 70 and finished fourth, but he could have made a noise if he had been able to avoid consecutive bogeys at Nos. 15 and 16.

Watson began the day tied with Roberts and Montgomerie but shot 74 and finished in a tie for sixth. Nobilo shot 39 on the back nine, 76 for the day and finished in a tie for ninth.

John Cook’s 71 earned him fifth place at 282, two behind Strange. Clark Dennis and Greg Norman tied for sixth with Watson at 283.

With no one making a run at the leaders, the Open looked as if it would be lost by the player making the most mistakes between Els, Roberts and Montgomerie.

This category also was a tie. Roberts, 38, from Memphis, found himself even with Els when the 24-year-old South African bogeyed No. 11. Roberts took the lead by himself when he birdied No. 13.

Roberts was still even with Els when his second shot on No. 18, an eight-iron, hit a downward slope on the green and rolled into the fringe. He chipped to 4 1/2 feet, left with a putt he needed to make for par.

He missed. The bogey put him one shot back of Els, who had finished No. 17.

“It was a terrible putt,” Roberts said. “I’m not going to lie to you. I had trouble getting the putter back. But I have had that same situation before, been able to make them.

“Quite honestly, after 76 the first round, I wouldn’t have given a shot at being where I am today and I am not going to look back and say, ‘What if?’ because I could have very easily been down the road.”

Montgomerie, 30, should have been on a plane back to Scotland after his bogey explosion on the back nine, but he calmed himself and birdied No. 17 to get within one shot of the leaders.

He hit a three-iron off the tee, a sand wedge to 12 feet and sank the putt. Montgomerie didn’t know how big that birdie would be.

It probably would have been minor if Els had opened his eyes.

Els did not check the leader board before he got to the 18th tee. He did not see that Roberts had bogeyed the hole. He did not see that he had a one-shot lead. He did not realize that a par on the last hole would win.

What he did do was pull out his driver, ignore a more accurate iron and blast the ball far left, nearly to the 15th green, which is located adjacent to the fairway.

Els had made his final mistake.

“I never looked at the scoreboard,” he said. “If I (had), I think I would have gone with a two-iron or a three-wood, (but) I thought I had to make a birdie and I wanted to hit it as far as I could.”

From there, Els looked at the scoreboard and decided to play it safe. He chipped out onto the fairway, but the ball landed in a divot.

His third shot, a sand wedge, was to the front of the green and he two-putted from 40 feet for bogey, the second putt from four feet.

“I guess I was fortunate to make five,” Els said.

Neither Els, Montgomerie nor Roberts played the back nine under par. Montgomerie said his good fortune is equally great and so is his outlook, mainly because of Els and Roberts.

“I feel I am sort of one up, really, because they both have had a chance to win and haven’t managed to take it,” he said.

“You have to accept that neither of us has won a major championship before and the pressures are very different from a normal tournament. We have all won tournaments, but this is very different.”

There is little playoff experience among the trio. Els is 0-1 and Montgomerie 0-2 in sudden-death playoffs. Roberts has never been in any kind of playoff.

Now they are in the 31st playoff in U.S. Open history, one that might have been avoided.

Roberts said what happened Sunday kind of goes with the Open territory.

“Well, I think somebody said that Opens aren’t usually won, (you) usually back into them,” he said. “It is just another classic Open.

“I mean I feel as bad as anyone because I backed it up today myself coming in, but at least I got a chance again tomorrow.”

U.S. Open Playoff Results

* 1901--Willie Anderson (85) def. Alex Smith (86), Myopia Hunt Club, Hamilton, Mass.

* 1903--Willie Anderson (82) def. David Brown (84), Baltusrol G.C., Short Hills, N.J.

* 1908--Fred McLeod (77) def. Willie Smith (83), Myopia Hunt Club, Hamilton, Mass.

* 1910--Alex Smith (71) def. John McDermott (75) and Macdonald Smith (77), Philadelphia Cricket Club, Chestnut Hill, Pa.

* 1911--John McDermott (80) def. Mike Brady (82) and George Simpson (85), Chicago G.C., Wheaton, Ill.

* 1913--Francis Ouimet (72) def. Harry Vardon (77) and Edward Ray (78), The Country Club, Brookline, Mass.

* 1919--Walter Hagen (77) def. Mike Brady (78), Brae Burn C.C, West Newton, Mass.

* 1923--Bobby Jones (76) def. Bobby Cruickshank (78), Inwood, C.C., Inwood, N.Y.

* 1925--W. MacFarlane (147) def. Bobby Jones (148), Worcester C.C., Worcester, Mass.

* 1927--Tommy Armour (76) def. Harry Cooper (79), Oakmont C.C., Oakmont, Pa.

* 1928--Johnny Farrell (143) def. Bobby Jones (144), Olympia Fields C.C., Matteson, Ill.

* 1929--Bobby Jones (141) def. Al Espinosa (164), Winged Foot G.C., Mamaroneck, N.Y.

* 1931--Billy Burke (149-148) def. George Von Elm (149-149), Inverness Club, Toledo, Ohio

* 1939--Byron Nelson (68-70) def. Craig Wood (68-73) and Denny Shute (76), Philadelphia C.C., Philadelphia

* 1940--Lawson Little (70) def. Gene Sarazen (73), Canterbury G.C., Cleveland

* 1946--Lloyd Mangrum (72-72) def. Vic Ghezzi (72-73) and Byron Nelson (72-73), Canterbury G.C., Cleveland

* 1947--Lew Worsham (69) def. Sam Snead (70), St. Louis C.C., Clayton, Mo.

* 1950--Ben Hogan (69) def. Lloyd Mangrum (73) and George Fazio (75), Merion G.C., Ardmore, Pa.

* 1955--Jack Fleck (69) def. Ben Hogan (72), Olympic Club, San Francisco

* 1957--Dick Mayer (72) def. Cary Middlecoff (79), Inverness Club, Toledo, Ohio

* 1962--Jack Nicklaus (71) def. Arnold Palmer (74), Oakmont C.C., Oakmont, Pa.

* 1963--Julius Boros (70) def. Jacky Cupit (73) and Arnold Palmer (76), The Country Club, Brookline, Mass.

* 1965--Gary Player (71) def. Kel Nagle (74), Bellerive C.C., St. Louis

* 1966--Billy Casper (69) def. Arnold Palmer (73), Olympic Club, San Francisco

* 1971--Lee Trevino (68) def. Jack Nicklaus (71), Merion G.C., Ardmore, Pa.

* 1975--Lou Graham (71) def. John Mahaffey (73), Medinah G.C., Medinah, Ill.

* 1984--Fuzzy Zoeller (67) def. Greg Norman (75), Winged Foot G.C., Mamaroneck, N.Y.

* 1988--Curtis Strange (71) def. Nick Faldo (75), The Country Club, Brookline, Mass.

* 1990--Hale Irwin (birdie) def. Mike Donald on first hole of sudden-death playoff (both tied at 74 through 18 hole playoff), Medinah C.C., Medinah, Ill.

* 1991--Payne Stewart (75) def. Scott Simpson (77), Hazeltine National GC, Chaska, Minn.

* 1994--Ernie Els, Colin Montgomerie and Loren Roberts, Oakmont C.C., Oakmont, Pa.