Martin Not Getting Desired Result

He hit what he thought were pretty good drives and missed the fairway. He had buried lies in the rough. He made two double bogeys on the back. He also chipped in once for birdie and managed a four-over 74, yet Casey Martin’s third round was a lot less than what he had hoped for.

Through 54 holes in his first U.S. Open, Martin is at nine-over-par 219.

“I was very frustrated because I hit the ball better than I have the last two days,” he said. “Every time I hit the ball, bad things were happening. It’s exasperating when you hit good shots and get miserable results.

“Some fairways are unfair. It’s so hard to hold them.”

Bright sunshine dried the course and turned both the fairways and the greens into hard-baked surfaces.

Martin said he thought he played much better than his score, but a double bogey on No. 10 and another at No. 17 didn’t help very much.

“They killed me,” he said.

Martin chipped in from 20 feet on No. 13 right after he had bogeyed the 12th, and he said it gave him a much needed boost.

“It lifted my spirits because I was defeated.”

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Jack Nicklaus didn’t like the 18th hole, but not because of the pin placement, which was in the front. His complaint was about the 18th fairway, specifically the sand that fills the divots.

“It’s a minefield,” he said. “You have sand in the divots and if the ball lands in, you don’t know if you have a chip or a bunker shot.”

Nicklaus is 10 over after 54 holes in his 42nd consecutive U.S. Open.

He was asked what score he visualized for Saturday.

“I visualized a 65, but I shot 73.”

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He may be seven over at 217 after his third-round 71, but Tiger Woods isn’t at all down about the way he has played the U.S. Open--or how he played at the Masters, even though he finished tied for eighth there.

“I’ve played so much better mentally than in any of the majors last year,” Woods said. “I’m playing with so much more intelligence. I’m learning my lessons.”

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Jim Furyk was one of the names mentioned as a potential winner here and he mined Olympic for a 68 Saturday, but at five over for 54 holes he doesn’t think his chances are that good today.

“I’m behind the eight-ball,” Furyk said. “The 68 is a real good score, but at five over, I’m not sure I’m in it. I still think par or just under par will win.”

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If you like NBC’s scenic pictures from Olympic, maybe part of the reason is that there have been 10,000 “installed” plantings for the week--flowers in containers and temporary landscaping that will be removed when the U.S. Open is over.

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Nick Faldo’s parting words after missing the cut: “See you in Ireland.”

That’s where Faldo is playing next and it may be a good thing. A change of scenery might help. Faldo’s best finish on the PGA Tour is a tie for 18th at The Players Championship and he is 32 over par in 41 rounds this year.

Faldo has missed the cut in his last three majors.

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Kirk Triplett, who also missed the cut, was assessed a two-shot penalty on the 18th green when he tried to keep his golf ball from rolling too far down the slope by stopping it with his putter.

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Chris Perry, who shot a hole-in-one on the 13th hole Saturday, finished with a 72 and is seven over after 54 holes. He said he was just happy to make the cut . . . he thinks.

“You make the cut and you go, ‘I’ve got to go through two more rounds of this?’ ”