MAMARONECK (New York), June 18: Phil Mickelson made a pair of birdies during a charging finish on the back nine at stingy Winged Foot to tie Briton Kenneth Ferrie for the lead after three rounds of the US Open.

While other contenders struggled to match par, birdies at the 14th and 16th holes enabled Masters champion Mickelson to post a one-under-par 69 for a two-over 212 total. The American was five shots from the lead when he made the turn.

Ferrie, a 27-year-old Englishman, played an admirably steady round as he protected a one-shot lead he took on the strength of a tap-in eagle at the 515-yard, par-five fifth.

A bogey at the last, where Ferrie's five-foot par putt failed to fall, dropped the Briton back to two over par for the tournament and 71 for the day.

Australian Geoff Ogilvy shot a two-over-par 72 to stand one stroke off the pace at 213, two shots better than Britons Colin Montgomerie (75) and Ian Poulter (70), Vijay Singh of Fiji (70) and American Steve Stricker (76), the overnight leader.

At six over par, four shots off the pace, were former Masters champion Mike Weir of Canada (71), who double-bogeyed the ninth and 18th holes, 2003 US Open winner Jim Furyk (74), who bogeyed the 16th and 17th holes, and Irishman Padraig Harrington (74), who triple-bogeyed the 18th after mis-hitting a ball out of the rough.

U.S. journeyman Stricker began the day at one under par with a one-shot lead over Montgomerie, the eight-time European number one who is still in search of his first major.

Montgomerie faded fast, losing five strokes to par over the first four holes, going bogey, bogey, double-bogey and bogey as his usually reliable tee shots deserted him.

Stricker started with four successive pars and then birdied the fifth to reach two under par, but unravelled soon after, posting five bogeys and a double-bogey the rest of the way.

Leading third round scores:

212 – Kenneth Ferrie (Britain) 71, 70, 71; Phil Mickelson (US) 70, 73, 69.

213 – Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 71, 70, 72.

215 – Steve Stricker (US) 70, 69, 76; Vijay Singh (Fiji) 71, 74, 70; Ian Poulter (Britain) 74, 71, 70; Colin Montgomerie (Britain) 69, 71, 75.

216 – Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 73, 69, 74; Mike Weir (Canada) 71, 74, 71; Jim Furyk (US) 70, 72, 74.

217 – Arron Oberholser (US) 75, 68, 74; Peter Hedblom (Sweden) 72, 74, 71; Luke Donald (Britain) 78, 69, 70; Bart Bryant (US) 72, 72, 73; Trevor Immelman (South Africa) 76, 72, 70.

218 – Graeme McDowell (Britain) 71, 72, 75; Ryuji Imada (Japan) 76, 73, 69; Adam Scott (Australia) 72, 76, 70; Fred Couples (US) 73, 74, 71.

219 – Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 70, 75, 74; Nick O'Hern (Australia) 75, 70, 74; Fred Funk (US) 71, 75, 73; Jeff Sluman (US) 74, 73, 72; Steve Jones (US) 74, 74, 71; Craig Barlow (US) 72, 75, 72; Robert Allenby (Australia) 73, 74, 72; Chad Collins (US) 76, 71, 72; Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 75, 71, 73; Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 72, 74, 73; Philip Archer (Britain) 72, 72, 75; Scott Hend (Australia) 72, 72, 75.

220 – David Duval (US) 77, 68, 75; Bo Van Pelt (US) 72, 75, 73; Woody Austin (US) 72, 76, 72; Ted Purdy (US) 78, 71, 71; Kent Jones (US) 73, 74, 73.

221 – Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain) 75, 72, 73; Jason Dufner (US) 72, 71, 78; Ernie Els (South Africa) 74, 73, 74; Angel Cabrera (Argentina) 74, 73, 74; Charles Howell III (US) 77, 71, 73; Lee Williams (US) 75, 73, 73; Tom Pernice Jr (US) 79, 70, 72; Paul Casey (Britain) 77, 72, 72; Jay Haas (US) 75, 72, 74.

222 – Sean O'Hair (US) 76, 72, 74; John Holmes (US) 74, 73, 75; David Howell (Britain) 70, 78, 74; Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) 74, 72, 76.

223 – Rod Pampling (Australia) 73, 75, 75; Ben Crane (US) 77, 72, 74; John Cook (US) 71, 78, 74; Tommy Armour III (US) 79, 70, 74; Stewart Cink (US) 75, 71, 77.

224 – Charley Hoffman (US) 76, 70, 78; Skip Kendall (US) 73, 75, 76; Darren Clarke (Britain) 73, 72, 79.

225 – Camilo Villegas (Colombia) 74, 72, 79.

226 – Jeev Milkha Singh (India) 73, 76, 77; Ben Curtis (US) 78, 71, 77; Stephen Gangluff (US) 76, 73, 77.

227 – Kenny Perry (US) 77, 71, 79.

228 – Tim Herron (US) 73, 76, 79.—Reuters