SAN FRANCISCO – Graeme McDowell and Jim Furyk won the battle of par Saturday at the U.S. Open.

Tiger Woods lost a lot more than that.

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Graeme McDowell reacts after missing a birdie putt on the 14th hole Saturday during the third round of the U.S. Open. McDowell played the back nine 3-under par and moved into a tie with Jim Furyk atop the leaderboard at 1 under. The Associated Press

McDowell showed the kind of fight that won him a U.S. Open two years ago down the coast at Pebble Beach. He scratched out pars and finished with a 4-foot birdie putt that gave him a 2-under 68 and a share of the lead going into the final round at The Olympic Club.

“Probably for the first time this week, I actually enjoyed the round of golf,” McDowell said.

Furyk, also bidding for another trophy from golf’s toughest test, outclassed Woods in the final pairing with key bunker saves and an 8-foot birdie putt on the 17th for a 70, making him the only player who has yet to have a round over par.

They were at 1-under 139, the only survivors against par.

“Obviously, I like being up front in the position I’m in,” Furyk said. “The golf course will take its effect on a bunch of people. And the guys that go out there and deal with the conditions and the situations the best those are the guys that have some success and have an opportunity to win the last few holes.”

Woods sure didn’t look like one of those guys in the third round. Wearing a key lime shirt, he turned in a lemon.

He fell out of the lead with two bogeys in the first three holes, couldn’t make a birdie on the stretch of holes where players can make up ground, and ended with a sloppy bogey on the 18th for a 75. Only eight players had a higher score.

It matched Woods’ worst score when he had least a share of the lead after any round of a major. He also closed with a 75 in 2009 at the PGA Championship when he lost a two-shot lead to Y.E. Yang.

“I’m just going to have to shoot a good round tomorrow, and post early and see what happens,” Woods said.

All was not lost for Woods. In a U.S. Open that has lived up to its reputation this week, it was difficult for anyone to get too far ahead.

McDowell and Furyk were two shots ahead of Fredrik Jacobson, who had a 68. In the group another shot behind were Lee Westwood, whose Saturday-best 67 gave him another shot at his first major, and two-time U.S. Open champion Ernie Els, who holed a long pitch for eagle on the 17th that carried him to a 68.

“Experience helps around here,” Els said. “For some reason, I’m patient again this week and that’s been kind of my virtue in major championship golf, the ability to be patient and wait it out. And I think you’re going to have to do that tomorrow.”

Thirteen players were separated by four shots, a list that includes 17-year-old Beau Hossler, who followed bogeys with birdies for a 70.

Woods, who has never won a major from behind, was five shots back. His round ended with a shot from the middle of the 18th fairway that hung up in the right collar of rough, and a stubbed chip that took a hard turn to the left some 10 feet away.

When he two-putted for his sixth bogey, his day got a little worse. Climbing the hill toward the fabled clubhouse at Olympic, a photographer brushed past him and Woods banged his hand into the camera. He shook it several times, but later said he was fine.

“It was just a tough day on the greens, and most of the day I just kept getting that half-number, right in between clubs all day,” said Woods, who was either well long or short on his approach shots.

Furyk and McDowell played together in the opening two rounds. Today, much more is at stake.

But this was not shaping up as a two-man race.

“Looking at the leaderboard, you’ve got to look down as far as the guys at 3 or 4 (over) as having a realistic chance of winning this tournament,” McDowell said.

That includes some regular contenders, such as Westwood, Els, and even two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen, who was five shots behind. And it features newcomers to this stage like Nicolas Colsaerts, a big hitter from Belgium — and even a high school kid.

For every bogey Hossler made, he answered with a birdie on the next hole.

His only big blunder came on the 11th, when he was too aggressive with a downhill putt and missed his par putt from 6 feet. Two holes later, he hit a heavy chip from the hazard that rolled back down a slope for another bogey. The kid just wouldn’t go away, though, and suddenly he is dreaming big.

Hossler wanted to make the cut. Then he wanted to be the low amateur. Now?

“My goal now is to win the tournament,” he said.

Woods wasn’t alone in making mistakes. David Toms, tied for the second-round lead with Furyk and Woods at 1 under, played the rugged first six holes in 5 over and fell six shots behind with a 76.

Westwood finished in style with a 40-foot birdie putt on the 18th.

“I think I’ve probably been in contention in major championships more than anybody else over the last three or four years,” Westwood said. “So I’m looking forward to tomorrow and hopefully go out and have some fun and see what happens.”

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