(Updates mid-round)
By Steve Keating
PEBBLE BEACH, CA., June 16 (Reuters) - A rock-steady Gary Woodland refused to crack under an all-out assault from Brooks Koepka at the U.S. Open on Sunday, increasing his lead to two shots with nine holes to play.
Woodland, coming to grips with holding the 54-hole lead in a major championship for the first time, began the final round with a wafer-thin one-shot lead and would not back down in the face of mounting pressure as he produced a clinical front nine.
With birdies at two and three followed by a run of pars, Woodland had opened up a three-shot cushion until gaving a shot back with his first bogey of the day at 10 to stay two in front of twice defending champion Koepka and 2013 winner Justin Rose.
The leaders teed off knowing there were low scores to be had after Swede Marcus Kinhult turned in a five-under 66.
A dialled-in Koepka, who started four back, wasted no time in ideal scoring conditions, collecting birdies on four of his opening five holes to leapfrog Rose and get within two of the lead.
Attacking every flag, Koepka finally paid for his aggressive play when his tee shot at eight ended up in knee-high grass, resulting in his first bogey in 36 holes.
The only player among the contenders not making a move was Rose, who began the day at 10-under and through nine remained there.
Rose, one back at the start of play, quickly erased that deficit with a birdie at the first to grab a share of top spot but immediately followed up with bogey at the second.
Rory McIlroy began the day five back and quickly found himself scrambling after his tee shot on two landed in the deep fescue ringing a fairway bunker.
Unable to get a clean shot, he chunked it into the bunker taking a double-bogey to turn a five-stroke deficit into seven.
The Northern Irishman spent the rest of his outward nine trying to dig himself out that hole but still ended up going one-over into the turn even with the help of back-to-back birdies at six and seven.
Despite being 10 back, Woods still gave himself a chance at a 16th major but that slim hope disappeared quickly when he bogeyed four of his opening five holes.
Woods hit back with six birdies, including one at the 18th, for a two-under round, his lowest final round at a U.S. Open in a decade. He finished at two-under 282. (Editing by Christian Radnedge / Ian Ransom)
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