The wind won.
"The USGA got what they wanted today," Payne Stewart said. "The course was showing all its teeth."And a 15-25 mph prairie wind provided the bite.
The 65 men who played the third round of the 91st U.S. Open golf championship were no match for it as Hazeltine National turned into a golfing horror.
Even the tournament leaders, the flamboyant Stewart and the methodical Scott Simpson, were not immune to the impossible demands of what became truly U.S. Open golf.
Simpson, the calm, unflappable former Open champion who seems to play his best under the most difficult conditions, bogeyed two of the last three holes - and was delighted with the finish.
He matched par 72 and was tied for the top at 210 with Stewart, the former PGA title-holder now on a comeback from a lengthy injury absence.
Stewart took a double bogey on the fifth hole and eventually left the course with a huge sigh of relief after completing a 73 on one of the more difficult days this old championship has produced.
"Terrifying" was the word used by Nick Price.
And he was one of only two men able to break par 72 - as opposed to 33 subpar scores in the second round. No one broke 70, the first time in five years that's happened.
Hale Irwin, the 46-year-old defending champion, was the only other to break par.
He had a 70, completed before the winds reached peak strength. As an illustration of the futility and frustration experienced by the rest of the field, Irwin's 2-under-par effort lifted him past 37 players, from a tie for 45th to a tie for eighth.
Irwin was six shots behind at even par 216 but, given these conditions, far from out of the title hunt going into Sunday's final round.
"If the wind continues like this tonight and tomorrow, no one is out of it," Price said, his face clearly showing the signs of strain and stress induced by the demands of the conditions.
"Even if someone has a 5-shot lead, it isn't safe. Not like this," Price said, shaking his head.
"The guy who wins will be the man who makes the least amount of bogeys and double bogeys. Everyone will make bogeys - and worse - and there will be very few birdies."
Stewart and Simpson share a four-stroke advantage and will be paired together Sunday.
They are followed immediately by Price and Scott Hoch at 214. Hoch had a 74 that included a double bogey on the final hole, where he drove into a buried lie in a fairway bunker.
Nolan Henke shot 77 and was still among the leaders at 215. Brian Kamm, with a 73, and Fred Couples, with a 75, were tied with Henke.
Those seven were the only players under par after three rounds, compared with 19 after 36 holes.
Some scores ranged into the ridiculous, including a half-dozen in the 80s.
Corey Pavin, a single stroke off the lead when the day's play began, just missed that figure. The year's leading money-winner had a 79 and fell seven shots back.
Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson each shot 77, and PGA champ Wayne Grady took a 78.
Masters title-holder Ian Woosnam of Wales struggled to a 79 that included a double bogey 6 on the 16th hole, a dogleg, 384-yard par-4 that became the biggest bogey-producer of the day.
No one made birdie on that hole. Of the 65 men who played it, 28 made bogey. There were six double bogeys, three 7s and three 8s.
The wind, along with the golf-ball-gulping rough, the narrow fairways and the wind-dried, crusty greens were the culprits.
"A lot like British Open courses," Price said, "except that British Open courses don't have this much water on them."
But Simpson went back to the wind.
"Playing in the wind, it just accentuates any flaw you have in the swing, any little mistake you make," he said.
An illustration was Stewart's double bogey on the fourth.
The wind got his approach and sent it far, far to the left of the green and under an elevated scoreboard.
Stewart got a free drop from that area, but was in ankle-deep bluegrass.
And then "I made the cardinal mistake in chipping," he said. "I didn't get it to the green."
It took another chop to get it there. Two putts later a double bogey was in the books and Simpson suddenly had the lead.
Simpson's margin went to two with a two-putt birdie on the 11th. He matched a bogey against a birdie on the next two holes, then drifted back into a tie with bogeys on the 16th and 17th.
"I'm real happy to shoot par," he said.
Stewart birdied the 11th after a pitch to 1 foot, but bogeyed two holes later on a three-putt.
He was one of only 25 men to make par on that double-tough 16th, but needed a 35-40 foot putt to do it.