A steady Jim Furyk emerged from The Olympic Club's demanding first six holes with a two-stroke lead Sunday in the final round of the US Open golf championship.
Furyk, the 2003 US Open champion, opened with five straight pars, making his first bogey of the day at the sixth to fall to level par for the tournament -- two strokes in front of 2010 winner Graeme McDowell, two-time champion Ernie Els and Americans Webb Simpson, Michael Thompson and John Peterson.
Northern Ireland's McDowell, who won the title two years ago at nearby Pebble Beach, started the day tied for the lead with Furyk on one-under par.
He fell back with bogeys at three, five and six.
South Africa's Els joined him at two-over through eight holes, jumping up the leaderboard with an eagle at the seventh hole, quickly followed by a bogey at the eighth.
It showed just how hard it was to build momentum on Olympic's par-70 Lake Course, where mist rolling in from the Pacific Ocean added a new wrinkle on Sunday.
Sweden's Fredrik Jacobson, who had started the day two shots behind the leaders, was two-over for the day and three off the pace after three bogeys and his first birdie of the day at the seventh..
World No.3 Lee Westwood, who started the day three shots off the lead, lost his ball in a tree at the fifth and dropped back with a double bogey.
Three-time US Open champion Tiger Woods, who defiantly insisted he still had a chance when he finished the third round five shots off the lead, unravelled quickly, dropping four shots in the first three holes to tumble down the leaderboard.
