Highs and Lows for Hedblom

Saturday’s roller-coaster round award goes to Sweden’s Peter Hedblom, who shot three-under-par 32 on a front nine that included a hole in one on the 238-yard, par-three third hole and an eagle on the par-five fifth.

He followed with four-over 39 on the back nine and finished one-over 71 for the day.

“It was a great [round] at one time and then struggling at the end,” Hedblom said. “To hole-in-one the third and eagle the fifth. It was pretty good.”

Hedblom carded the 40th known ace in U.S. Open history and the first since Peter Jacobsen aced the ninth hole last year at Pinehurst.

Hedblom was as surprised as anyone when his tee shot rolled in on the long par three.

“It’s a hole you take a three and leave as quick as possible,” Hedblom said. “I took a three-iron and I thought maybe I won’t get it all the way up, but I hit it as pure as I can hit it.... It was great. The people were screaming. It was very special. It was very emotional out there.”

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Could this be the year? There are four Europeans in the top 10 entering the final round: Kenneth Ferrie and Ian Poulter of England, Colin Montgomerie of Scotland and Padraig Harrington of Ireland. The last European to win the U.S. Open title was Tony Jacklin in 1970.

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Japan’s Ryuji Imada joined Phil Mickelson as the only two players to shoot under par Saturday. Both shot one-under 69. For the record, Imada is 29 and is playing in his third U.S. Open.

“If someone told me I can shoot 69 today, I’d been dancing,” Imada said.

-- Chris Dufresne

The last time the 54-hole leader at the U.S. Open was over par was 1974, when Tom Watson was three over and led Hale Irwin by one shot -- at Winged Foot.

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Edoardo Molinari, the U.S. Amateur champion from Italy, was in the grandstand at the first tee Saturday after he missed the cut and received a standing ovation after a fan recognized him and pointed him out.

Meanwhile, Tadd Fujikawa, a 15-year-old from Honolulu and the youngest player in U.S. Open history, also showed up as a spectator at Winged Foot after missing the cut and was kept busy signing autographs.

Fujikawa earned the chance to play in the U.S. Amateur, the U.S. Junior and the U.S. Public Links tournaments because he qualified for the U.S. Open.

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-- Thomas Bonk