Spieth struggles in third round

Jordan Spieth’s first attempt to get out of the bunker on the 18th hole Saturday ended badly. The ball slid back down the sandy slope until it came to a rest near his footprints.

It was a fitting end to a frustrating day for Spieth at the U.S. Open.

“It’s been an off-putting week for me,” Spieth said. “Searching for it, but just haven’t quite finished out a major with the speed.”

Spieth shot a 4-under 76 in a third round that ended with a double bogey on the par-5 18th . Spieth was at 4 over for the tournament — 16 shots behind leader Brian Harman.

The fifth-ranked player in the world has had his ups and downs this year.

Spieth missed the cut at The Players Championship and the AT&T Byron Nelson before tying for second after shooting a 65 in the final round at the Colonial.

He said he felt like he was back on the upswing at the Colonial. A week later, at the Memorial, Spieth shot a 66 in the first round before fizzling and tying for 13th.

“And out here I’m just thinking a lot about my stroke, stance, stuff you would rather not be thinking about. You’d rather think about line of pace,” Spieth said Saturday. “But I can’t do that yet because I haven’t figured out the other part.” be six behind teeing off tomorrow, six or maybe even more,” Oosthuizen said. “But it’s all on how you start. You can have a really fast start and just get up the leaderboard, and you never know what can happen.”