U.S. OPEN : Shinnecock Records 3rd-Round Knockout : Golf: Lehman (67) and Norman (74) are the only players under par at the end of the windy day.

They were in full retreat Saturday at big, bad, blustery Shinnecock Hills, where the U.S. Open couldn’t have been any tougher if they were playing it in a blender.

It was 18 holes in a wind tunnel, stretched over some of the most difficult real estate in golf, which meant the direction the players were taking probably wasn’t that unusual.

“Everybody was coming backwards,” Phil Mickelson said.

Only three of the 73 golfers broke par, including Tom Lehman, who shares the third-round lead with Greg Norman.

Lehman somehow coaxed a 67 out of Shinnecock and walked off the course with a one-under 209 total, the same as Norman, who came up with a 74 and felt oddly invigorated by the experience.

“Shooting 74 is sometimes the equivalent of shooting 62,” Norman said. “Today was one of those days.

“I actually enjoyed it, believe it or not. It was a day that really tested your character.”

Certainly it tested your moorings. Everything that wasn’t tied down got blown away.

Shinnecock’s third-round scores took off as if they were pumped full of helium. If they were any higher, they would have needed a flight pattern.

No one flew higher than Tom Kite, who shot a 12-over-par 82 that included two triple bogeys and a double bogey on the 18th when he called a two-stroke penalty on himself.

Tom Watson and Ben Crenshaw, playing in the same twosome, shot 77 and 79, respectively.

Nick Faldo shot 79. Jim McGovern followed up his second-round 69 with an 81.

From two shots off the lead, Jumbo Ozaki dropped seven shots in six holes on his way to an 80.

Fuzzy Zoeller shot 76 and considered himself fortunate.

“I’m just lucky I didn’t break any bones,” he said.

There was a compound fracture of the scoreboard.

More scores were in the 80s than in the 60s. Only Lehman, Gary Hallberg and Ian Woosnam bettered par, and Hallberg needed an ace at the 182-yard seventh hole to get his 69.

After 54 holes, only four shots separate the first 11 players. Bob Tway and Mickelson are at 210, one behind Norman and Lehman, the only players under par for 54 holes.

There is a five-way tie at 212 with Woosnam, Corey Pavin, Steve Stricker, Scott Verplank and Nick Price.

Davis Love III and Vijay Singh are four shots off the lead at 213.

All in all, it was a humbling experience for the best golfers in the world and certainly a change of pace. Usually they’re flying the ball at the flagsticks and trying to figure out how to make birdie.

But at this place, with the wind blowing, the greens as hard and fast as the Long Island Expressway and the rough tall enough to bale, these same guys are trying to figure out how to avoid a double bogey.

“It’s such a grind out there to make a par,” Mickelson said. “You have to play it picture perfect to keep it at bogey.”

Mickelson was all over the place with seven bogeys, five birdies and six pars. He has played the last three holes at six over par, so Mickelson hopes he can be a little more consistent in his closing round.

He also hopes there will be a little water splashed on the greens, and soon.

“I can’t believe the USGA won’t water these greens,” he said. “It’s going to be a joke to watch these guys play on those greens.”

Lehman played a joke on Shinnecock with his 67. He began the day at two over but quickly turned it around with three birdies on the front.

Lehman rolled in a 10-footer at the third, two-putted from 40 feet for another at the fifth, then got a 30-footer to drop at the sixth.

He played the back in par and brushed away talk that he had pulled something on Shinnecock.

“You can’t tame this course,” Lehman said. “You can just survive more than anything.”

He did better than that. If Norman’s 74 was like a 62, then what was Lehman’s 67?

“He shot 59,” Norman joked.

Tway won the 1986 PGA Championship but has won only three times since. One of them was this year at Hilton Head. He said his only goal today is to play as well as he can and try to make the most of the experience.

“When I was playing in ‘86, I had a whole lot more confidence than I do now, but hopefully I can keep playing like this and maybe regain some of it,” Tway said.

“I’m just trying to climb the ladder again.”

Norman will be busy trying not to fall off again. Tway’s victory at the 1986 PGA came at Norman’s expense. Tway holed a bunker shot at 18 to win by a stroke, but Norman had a five-shot lead with nine holes to play and shot 40 on the back nine.

There are other tales. In the Masters in 1986, Norman bogeyed the 18th hole on Sunday and Jack Nicklaus won. In the 1987 Masters, he bogeyed the 18th hole on the last day again to let Larry Mize and Seve Ballesteros get into a playoff that Mize eventually won.

Norman also led the 1986 U.S. Open at Shinnecock after 54 holes, but closed with a 75 and finished in a tie for 12th.

No matter how difficult it may be for Norman to ignore all the ones that got away, it probably can’t be any tougher than what he did Saturday.

“You have got no idea how difficult Shinnecock played today,” he said.

Norman missed 14 greens, but he chipped and putted well enough to keep his losses low. He double bogeyed the par-four 10th when he drove into the left rough, could only blast out a short distance, and the ball rolled back off the green on his approach. He chipped it up and two-putted from 10 feet.

Norman stood over a four-foot putt for a birdie on the 18th, but missed it. Still, he was grateful for where he is at the moment.

“I hit a lot of good shots but ended up looking like I was a 15 handicap,” he said.

And what does Norman look like now?

“I’ve got a chance to win my first U.S. Open,” he said.

Chances are the title will be up for grabs for somebody. It’s in the wind.

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54-Hole Scores

LEADERS

Player Score Greg Norman 68-67-74--209 Tom Lehman 70-72-67--209 Bob Tway 69-69-72--210 Phil Mickelson 68-70-72--210 Ian Woosnam 72-71-69--212 Corey Pavin 72-69-71--212 Steve Stricker 71-70-71--212 Scott Verplank 72-69-71--212 Nick Price 66-73-73--212 Davis Love III 72-68-73--213 Vijay Singh 70-71-72--213

Three tied at 214

OTHERS

Player Score Jumbo Ozaki 69-68-80--217 Curtis Strange 70-72-76--218 Nick Faldo 72-68-79--219 John Daly 71-75-74--220 Tom Watson 70-73-77--220 Ben Crenshaw 72-71-79--222 Tom Kite 70-72-82--224