Open in balance as Barnes falls

Phil Mickelson, England's Ross Fisher and even Tiger Woods were in contention at Bethpage Black.

Phil Mickelson, England's Ross Fisher and even Tiger Woods were in contention at Bethpage Black today as the US Open was blown wide open by a final-round collapse from third-round leader Ricky Barnes.

American Barnes, without a victory in six years as a professional, was doing a good job of extending that streak, his final-round imploding as play resumed at the par-70 Bethpage Black.

England's Fisher began the fifth day of this rain-hit championship five strokes behind overnight co-leader Barnes, who was at seven under par and in thick rough at the second hole when play was suspended last night due to fading light.

Tied for third, Fisher had bogeyed his opening hole in the evening gloom on Long Island to drop to two under but Barnes followed suit to fall into a joint lead with Lucas Glover at seven under.

When play resumed today morning, the first time since 1983 that a US Open had extended into an extra day to complete 72 holes, Barnes managed to find the second green out of the rough to make par.

Fisher, runner-up behind Paul Casey at last month's BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, was ready to go also and he rolled in a three-foot birdie putt at the par-five fourth to get back to three under, four shots behind Barnes, with Glover bogeying the third to slip to six under.

Hunter Mahan had been at three under with a birdie at the fourth ahead of the Englishman but the US Ryder Cup player then bogeyed the par-four fifth and was tied for fourth at two under after five with playing partner Mickelson.

World number two Mickelson, though, bogeyed sixth and fell to one under while former Open champion David Duval, in the wilderness since his 2001 victory at Lytham, was quickly in trouble with a triple bogey at the par-three third, after his tee shot plugged underneath the lip of a greenside bunker.

Duval showed resilience by sinking a birdie at the next hole, the par-five fourth to get back to level par.

Everything changed, though, when Barnes began to slide back to the field. Both he and Glover bogeyed the fifth hole but Barnes would bogey three more in succession to fall to three under after eight as Glover assumed the lead at five over.

Then Glover bogeyed the ninth and was leading at four under after 10 with the tournament wide open.

Fisher had bogeyed the fifth and the seventh to drop to one under but a super iron shot to inside two feet led to a birdie at the ninth and after nine holes he was within two shots of the lead at two under.

Mickelson had also been in trouble, bogeying the sixth and the eighth to fall to level par, but he birdied the ninth as Barnes fell apart and then the four-time runner-up got to two under with a birdie at the 12th.

Fellow American Mahan also got to two under after 12 for a three-way tie for third, two shots behind Glover.

Defending champion Woods got to one under alongside Mike Weir of Canada thanks to consecutive birdies at the 13th and 14th, although his charge was checked by a bogey at the difficult par-four 15th.

At level par he was running out of holes but still in contention with the stuttering leaders heading into the back nine.

The Players champion Henrik Stenson posted a 68 to get to one over alongside fellow Swede Peter Hanson, who had played 14 holes.

Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy had been fashioning the round of the day at three under to get his score to one over but having started at the 10th, he bogeyed the par-four seventh, the most difficult hole on the course, and his 68 left him at two over for the tournament and heading for a top-20 finish on his US Open debut.

Graeme McDowell had also come into the reckoning at level par after seven holes but three bogeys between eight and 12 put paid to his challenge at three over, alongside Oliver Wilson, who had played the 15th.

Ian Poulter was three under for his final round after 14 holes to get to four over but Lee Westwood finished five over for the week following a closing 73.

The bogey at 15 stopped Woods' momentum and he came home in par for a 69 to finish at level par, Soren Hansen of Denmark posting the same score having birdied the last, also to close the week at even.

Fisher sent in a great approach shot at 12 but missed the par putt from inside two feet to fall back to one under.

Then Mickelson moved in the other direction, with his iron approach finishing three feet from the hole to enable him to make the first eagle of the tournament on par-five 13th and move into a share of the lead with Glover at four under.

Fisher swiftly added the second eagle there to bounce back in style at three under, one off the lead with five to play.

Barnes fell further away, recording bogeys at the 11th and the 12th, which was his sixth in the last seven holes but then rejoined Mahan in a tie for fourth at two under with a bogey at the 13th with Weir at one under.

Woods and Duval were together at level par, the former world number one having played 13 holes in the same group as Fisher.

On an ever-changing leaderboard, Mickelson bogeyed the 15th to drop to three under and Fisher followed suit there to fall to two under while Duval shot a rare birdie on the tough uphill hole to get to the same mark.

Then Glover bogeyed 15 and fell into a joint lead with Mickelson at three under who sank a par putt ahead at 16 at exactly the same moment.

Duval then made it a three-way lead with a third birdie in a row at the 16th while Mickelson bogeyed the par-three 17th after finding rough short of the green off the tee and Mahan also bogeyed there to fall out of the reckoning at level par.

At that point Glover managed to score his first birdie of the day, at the 16th, and the 29-year-old was back in front at four under with two to play, one ahead of Duval a group in front with Fisher, Mickelson on 18 and Barnes.