Tiger Woods pops a nearly impossible shot off the lip of a bunker on 6.
Tiger Woods pops a nearly impossible shot off the lip of a bunker on 6. tigerwoods.com

The third round of the US Open tees off from Olympic Golf Club in San Francisco Friday at noon ET with Tiger Woods, David Toms and Jim Furyk deadlocked in a three way tie at (-1).

Woods has breathed life into the tournament with his terrific play. He has been strong around the greens and been deadly at using his stinger to hit a tournament leading 75 percent of the fairways.

Furyk and Toms are no strangers to Open pressures however, Furyk is a past champion from 2003 and Toms is playing in his 16th Open Championship, having finished as high as fifth in 2003 and 2007.

2010 Open Champion Graeme McDowell is just two shots off the pace at (+1) and Matt Kuchar, (+3), who has finished top-15 at each of the past two opens are both hanging around near the top of the leaderboard.

The most interesting story of day two could have been 17-year-old Beau Hossler. The Californian high school senior was alone in the lead at (-2) for a few holes on Friday before four bogeys and a double bogey on the second nine derailed his round.

Hossler is (+3) for the tournament, which leaves him within striking distance, but whether or not he can overcome his youth and inexperience remains to be seen.

Top golfers like Rory McIlroy, Bubba Watson and world No. 1 Luke Donald were unable to get a handle on the brutal layout of the Olympic Golf Club and none of them made the cut.

Where to watch:

NBC will have live coverage from 4 p.m. ET to 10 p.m. ET both Saturday and Sunday.

USOpen.com will start live streaming at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday when the first group of the day tees off and continue throughout the day.

There are also live feeds available for free on FirstRowSports.

Prediction: Tiger Woods is in the hunt headed into the weekend at a major tournament. Five years ago, this would have been a foregone conclusion. But Woods looks like he is back at the top of his game and ready to give his admirers more to cheer. Look for him to take this lead the rest of the way.

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