Johnson falls back into four-way tie

SOUTHAMPTON, June 17 

Dustin Johnson suffered a third round collapse to fall into a four-way tie at the top of the US Open leaderboard with fellow Americans Brooks Koepka, Daniel Berger and Tony Finau at an unforgiving Shinnecock Hills on Saturday.

Overnight leader Johnson carded a 7-over-par 77 but still found himself sharing the lead after conditions grew increasingly brutal for the late starters as Koepka set himself up for a shot at successfully defending his title. Johnson, who started his round on four-under for the tournament, steadied himself after squandering a four-shot advantage on the front nine as the field bunched up like rush hour traffic on the nearby Long Island Expressway.

He negotiated the back nine in 1-over on a day when strong winds and low humidity baked the greens dry and left a couple of them on the verge of being unplayable. Sitting at 3-over 213, Americans Johnson, Koepka (72), Daniel Berger (66) and Tony Finau (66) led Englishman Justin Rose (73) by one stroke. — Reuters