US OPEN:IT'S LIKE the old lotto theory. If you're not in, you can't win. Graeme McDowell has his ticket for this one; and, yesterday, as the slog that is the 109th US Open over the Black Course at Bethpage State Park asked ever tougher questions, he found a way to answer them and remain on the fringes of contention heading into the final round. So far, so good.

McDowell, at 29 years of age, has served his apprenticeship. It’s these major challenges that intrigue him, and yesterday – having been kicked in the teeth by a double-bogey in the heavy rain on the 15th on Saturday, having started his third round on the 10th – his response was to weave his way through bunkers and fescue to fire a 69 for 210, level par.

“If you’d told me that I would be level par after 54 holes and be so far behind the leader I wouldn’t have believed you. We didn’t envisage that type of scoring when we started out, that’s not what the USGA are about. I said at the start of the week that I would take level par but now that doesn’t look like it’s going to do too much damage.”

He might have been underplaying his situation, because McDowell’s efforts – sticking with the task at hand – left him hovering just outside a top-10 going into the final round. While Ricky Barnes and Lucas Glover might have been out of reach, if only barely, everyone else was within touching distance.

“Yes, I’m just about in it . . . I have a chance,” conceded McDowell, who restarted his round on the 16th and proceeded to birdie the 18th (from 10 feet), only to bogey the third where he put his approach into a greenside bunker. But he got the shot back on the sixth, pitching to three feet.

With play pushed back yesterday morning, McDowell had a well-deserved lie-in – his caddie Ken Conboy making the call from the course when the restart of the third round was pushed back from 7.30am local time to midday – and he returned to the course determined to stay in the mix, having endured the wrong side of the draw over the opening 36-holes.

To his credit, McDowell stayed in the hunt. “It’s been a long week for everyone, but I am looking forward to going out and trying to post a number in the final round . . . I didn’t like the look of the golf course when I first saw it, but it has got better as the week has gone on. I have driven the ball well and that has been the key. The rest of my game has been solid, and I have been scrambling well.

“I would like to finish top 10 here but I am not looking at the figures at all – I am just going to post as low a number as I can in the last round and see where that leaves me,” said McDowell.

“One of my goals at the start of the year was to get into contention on a Sunday afternoon at Major. It looks like it might be Monday morning if I am going to be in contention here but I am continuing to get my head around these things and continuing to play better and better golf in the bigger tournaments and that’s all I can ask of myself.”

He added: “The USGA have got a great tournament on their hands despite the weather. When all is said and done, we’re going to get a good champion.”

With both Pádraig Harrington and Darren Clarke missing the cut, the only other Irish player to survive into the final round with McDowell was his fellow Ulsterman Rory McIlroy. The 20-year-old from Holywood had a 72 in the third round for 214, four over, which left him with a chance to claim a top-20 finish in his maiden US Open appearance.

McIlroy had returned to the course two over (after bogeys at the 15th and 17th on his front nine of the third round on Saturday) but grabbed birdies at the first and fourth only to incur bogeys at the fifth and sixth to finish with a 72.

“If it wasn’t for two guys, then this would be a great tournament . . . even I would be within seven or eight of the lead,” said McIlroy. “I feel like I have played solid this week, but it has been tough. It’s hard when you are going into most of the par fours from 190-200 yards. I probably need a 66 to finish in the top 10, so hopefully I can shoot a low last round and move up a bit. If I can get off to a fast start then you never know . . . . but it is tough to get any momentum going because you are on and off the golf course. You are not sure when you are playing next, it’s hard to get rhythm going,” said McIlroy.