Latest news and notes from Saturday at the U.S. Open

UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. (AP) — The latest from the U.S. Open (all times PDT):

2:50 P.M.: Think playing in one of the final groups at the U.S. Open is pressure?

Try doing it with your future father-in-law watching.

Hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky was following Dustin Johnson as he teed off for the third round at Chambers Bay on Saturday. Johnson is engaged to The Great One's daughter, Paulina, and the two of them have a baby boy, Tatum.

Johnson was the first-round co-leader before stumbling a bit on Friday. He was still 4 under for the championship, one shot off the lead, as he prepared to tee off Saturday.

2:25 P.M.: Henrik Stenson expressed his displeasure with the bumpy greens at the U.S. Open on Friday, likening them to "putting on broccoli."

On Saturday, Rory McIlroy went with another suggestion from the salad bar.

"I don't think they're as green as broccoli," he said after missing a number of putts but still shooting even-par 70 in his third round. "I think they're more like cauliflower."

McIlroy was diplomatic, though, saying that "they are what they are. Everyone has to putt on them. It's all mental. ... But it is disappointing that they're not in better shape."

2:10 P.M.: Jason Day began his third round at the U.S. Open with a massive, sympathetic crowd following him around Chambers Bay, one day after collapsing because of vertigo.

There was doubt whether he would be able to play this weekend after falling on the ninth hole Friday, his final hole of the round. Day finished his round and signed his scorecard before he was treated by medical personnel at his on-site motorhome. He has dealt with vertigo for the past year.

He drove his opening tee shot right down the middle Saturday. He hit a solid approach into the green and two-putted for par.

Day began the day 2 under, three behind the leaders.

1:55 P.M.: USGA Executive Director Mike Davis is coming to the defense of Chambers Bay, saying "it wouldn't be a U.S. Open if there wasn't a little muttering."

Players, fans and pundits alike have ripped everything from the condition of the greens to the design of the course this week. But Davis, who was consulted throughout the design of the course, said Saturday the putting surfaces are "better than they look."

He says the mixture of fine fescue and poa annua grasses leave them looking splotchy, and that the poa annua tends to get bumpy later in the day.

Still, Davis insists, "a lot of it is your eye telling you it doesn't look like it's going to be smooth."

1:45 P.M.: Nobody is finding Chambers Bay easier than Louis Oosthuizen right now.

The South African shot 77 in the opening round of the U.S. Open, struggling around with playing partners Tiger Woods and Rickie Fowler. But he bounced back with a 4-under 66 on Friday and had birdies on three of his first six holes in Saturday's third round.

Then, he nearly aced the par-3 ninth, his approach shot hitting the flagstick.

As just about everybody else backs up on the firm, fast course, Oosthuizen has quietly played his last 25 holes in 9 under to climb into contention.

12:40 P.M.: There has been plenty of grumbling from players about the bumpiness of the greens at the U.S. Open, but that is often the case whenever the tournament comes to the West Course.

Former USGA Executive Director David Fay, now an analyst on Fox, pointed out that greens were often a topic of conversation when the U.S. Open went to Pebble Beach or Torrey Pines.

Fay says he remembers "Tiger Woods was very upset about the condition of the greens at Pebble Beach. The reality of it is this, it is a game played on natural surfaces."

Sergio Garcia remained critical of the green conditions after finishing his third round Saturday, saying: "To me it's like playing the NBA finals on a court that has holes and slopes and no backboard. It just doesn't feel right."

12:15 P.M.: Jordan Spieth arrived at Chambers Bay more than three hours before his U.S. Open tee time.

Spieth was on the practice green in anticipation of his third round before lunch, with more than a dozen groups still to tee off before him.

Phil Mickelson and others tend to show up early for their rounds at major championships, but most players will arrive at the course about 90 minutes before their tee time.

Spieth won the Masters earlier this year. The co-leader with Patrick Reed, he's trying to become the first player since Tiger Woods to win the year's first two majors.

12:00 P.M.: Jason Day will try to play the third round of the U.S. Open on Friday after collapsing with a case of vertigo on his final hole of the second round.

Day was walking to his ball in a greenside bunker when he toppled over. He was still shaky as he finished the hole and received treatment from medical staffers at his on-site motorhome.

Day was 2 under for the championship, three shots off the lead. He tees off with Kevin Kisner at 1:55 p.m. local time.

Day has had trouble with vertigo in the past. The condition forced him to withdraw from the World Golf Championship event at Firestone last year and from the Byron Nelson last month.

11:35 A.M.: Sergio Garcia is not exactly feeling chummy with some of the fans at Chambers Bay.

Playing early Saturday after barely making the cut, the fiery Spaniard has been pestered most of the way around the course in the third round of the U.S. Open.

At the par-4 fourth, where he left his approach shot well short of the green, a fan sarcastically shouted to him, "Hey, nice shot!" Garcia shouted back across the fairway in less than decorous language.

When he made it to the back nine, another fan shouted to him that "chicken dinner is at my house." It was a reference to the derogatory "fried chicken" remark Garcia made about Tiger Woods a couple years ago during the European Tour awards dinner.

11:15 A.M..: Those with early tee times at the U.S. Open have taken advantage of easier conditions at Chambers Bay, the greens more receptive and the wind blowing a little more gently.

So far, nobody is taking advantage of it in the third round.

That could be scary for those starting late. The course was already starting to bake as noon approached, and some tricky hole locations have made for difficult scoring.

Phil Mickelson is still hoping that he can go low enough to put himself in contention for his first U.S. Open title. He was at 3 over heading into the weekend, eight off the lead.

10:25 A.M.: Morgan Hoffman nearly holed out for double eagle in the U.S. Open and didn't even know it.

The eighth hole at Chambers Bay is so far up the hillside on the far side of the property that the gallery can't get there. It creates an eerie quiet for a major championship.

So when Hoffman hit a long iron into the lumpy green in the third round Saturday, he thought it might be good. Only when he hiked the 270-odd yards to the green did he realize his ball had stopped a couple inches from the hole.

Hoffman was off to a rocky start with bogeys on four of his first five holes, but the tap-in eagle lifted his spirits. He even acknowledged the crowd.

Even though out there it was merely imaginary.

9:45 A.M.: Unpleasant. Terrible. A tragedy.

These were the words used to describe the U.S. Open by someone who isn't even playing.

Gary Player used an appearance on Golf Channel to deliver a rant on Chambers Bay and the U.S. Open. He called it the most unpleasant tournament he's ever seen in his life and took a shot at the architect, Robert Trent Jones Jr. "The man who designed this golf course had to have had one leg shorter than the other," he said.

Player later referred to the course as terrible.

As for the tragedy?

He rambled so much it was hard to keep track, though it appeared he was talking about the maximum length of 7,900 yards and how much water it requires. Actually, USGA Executive Director Mike Davis says fescue doesn't need as much water as other grasses.

8:00 A.M.: Nick Hardy began the third round of the U.S. Open on Saturday about 10 hours after finishing his second, and one has to wonder if he got any sleep at all.

He was probably busy receiving "thank-you" text messages.

Hardy made bogey as the sun was setting over Chambers Bay, and that moved the cut line from 4 over to 5 over and allowed a slew of others to play the weekend. Among them: Sergio Garcia, Colin Montgomerie, Ian Poulter, Jimmy Walker and Camilo Villegas.

Hardy was first on the course Saturday, playing with Bryson Dechambeau as a marker.

Masters champion Jordan Spieth is tied with Patrick Reed for the lead at 5 under. They will go off at 2:50 p.m. local time. Dustin Johnson and Branden Grace are a shot back.