Tiger Woods surrendered his overnight lead to fellow American Rocco Mediate after dropping three shots in the first two holes of the US Open final round on Sunday. The world number one, seeking his 14th major title, double-bogeyed the par-four first after pulling his tee shot well left of the cart path and then struck trees with his second and third shots. From the left rough, he punched out to just short of the green, chipped up to three feet and sank the putt to fall back to one under overall. Woods, who had surgery on his left knee two months ago, also faltered on the par-four second after pushing his tee shot into the right rough. The 32-year-old briefly grimaced in pain after his errant drive, struck his approach on to the green and then three-putted for bogey to slide to even par for the tournament. That left him alone in third place, one behind playing partner Lee Westwood of Britain, who bogeyed the opening hole after driving into the right rough, and two adrift of the pacesetting Mediate. Playing one group ahead of Woods, Mediate got up and down from a greenside bunker to save par at the first before holing a five-foot birdie putt at the second to grab the outright lead at two under. He narrowly missed an eight-foot birdie chance at the par-three third. Swede Robert Karlsson, after five holes, and 2006 US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy of Australia, after three, were a further stroke back in a tie for fourth. However, low scoring was possible on a cool, breezy day at Torrey Pines with early starter Heath Slocum of the US having fired a flawless six-under-par 65 to vault up the leaderboard. Slocum, 13 strokes off the pace overnight, birdied three of the last five holes to finish at four-over 288. History strongly favored a Woods victory on the South Course at Torrey Pines, regardless of the stabbing pain he has felt in his left knee over the last three days. A winner of six Buick Invitational titles held at the coastal venue, he has triumphed 13 times out of 13 in majors when holding at least a share of the lead after 54 holes. “It's going to take a ridiculous round by one of us to beat him,” Mediate told reporters after Saturday's second round. “When he has a lead, he's never lost (in majors). But you just never know. It's not over yet and I'm sure he'll tell you the same thing.” – Reuters __
