Colin Montgomerie's dreams of US Open glory were in danger of coming to a nightmare end in the third round at Winged Foot today but Irish pair Padraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell are both right in contention.

Montgomerie began the day just one shot off the lead and with high hopes of ending his quest for a major title at the 58th attempt.

Rounds of 69 and 71 for a level par halfway total meant the 42-year-old Scot was in the final group at the US Open for the first time since 1994.

But the eight-time European number one suffered a woeful start to his round on Saturday afternoon, dropping four shots in the opening three holes to slide down the leaderboard.

All of Montgomerie's tee shots on those holes found the rough to the left of the fairway, and on the par three third he was only able to advance the ball into a greenside bunker.

From there he splashed out to six feet but two-putted for a double-bogey five, and with playing partner Steve Stricker opening with three pars, found himself five shots off the pace.

The European challenge for a first US Open title since Tony Jacklin in 1970 was still looking strong however, with McDowell and England's Kenneth Ferrie sharing second.

McDowell birdied the daunting opening hole after a superb approach to six feet, and the picked up another shot on the short par five fifth.

A wild drive down the ninth had cost Harrington a bogey five and dropped the Dubliner back to two over.

Ferrie, who led the field by two after 13 holes of his second round, had birdied the third but bogeyed the next to lie one over.

Earlier in the day Sweden's Peter Hedblom was continuing his love affair with the US Open with some remarkable scoring.

Hedblom finished 11th at Pinehurst last year, carding a course record 66 in the second round on his championship debut after coming through the same qualifying competition at Walton Heath as eventual winner Michael Campbell.

That secured him a place in this year's event and rounds of 72 and 74 saw him make the cut with plenty to spare at six over par.

And that soon became four over when the 36-year-old recorded a hole in one on the par-three third, his three iron from 234 yards bouncing just short of the green and rolling into the cup.

Not content with one eagle Hedblom then holed from 20ft for another on the fifth, and stood four over for the tournament with five holes to play.

Montgomerie dropped another shot on the fourth and, after a birdie on the fifth, yet another on the sixth to drop to five over par.

That was six off the lead now held on his own by Ferrie after Stricker bogeyed the eighth.

Ferrie had eagled the fifth and then scrambled for par on the sixth to remain one under par, and was currently the only player in red figures. Agencies