U.S. OPEN BLOG: Lucas Glover wins

Updated 10:30 a.m.

Meet Lucas Glover, your new U.S. Open champion.

It wasn't pretty, but Glover turned his round around down the stretch and kept knocking in clutch putts to capture his first major title.

Glover went into hole 16 tied with Mickelson at 3-under, thanks to a bogey on No. 15. But Mickelson bogeyed 15 and 17 to finish at 2-under, while Glover knocked in an extremely clutch birdie at 16 to essentially clinch victory.

Pars at 17 and 18 made it official.

Check back here throughout the day for more U.S. Open coverage.

Updated 9:45 a.m. -- Is this really happening?

Thanks to a goosebump-inducing eagle on the par-5 13th, Phil Mickelson is tied for the lead at 3-under par.

Seriously! Tied for the lead!

Mickelson, who's wife Amy is preparing to begin breast cancer treatments, came to Bethpage as the sentimental favorite, but few expected him to actually contend for this thing.

It would've been enough for Lefty to make the cut, but here he is with a real chance to win his first Open. He bogeyed 15 to put him one back.

Meanwhile, the anonymous qualifiers who have dominated this week's leaderboard -- specifically, Ricky Barnes and Lucas Glover -- are falling apart. The former UA star went into today at minus-8, but a string of bogeys has destroyed his final round. He's 7-over for the day and three off the lead.

Glover finds himself in position to win this thing as he's tied with Mickelson (minus-3), but he's been a little shaky today at 4-over through 15.

David Duval was in the mix going into today's final round, but a devastating triple bogey on No. 6 has hurt his chances. He's since recovered and he's at minus-2 through 15.

Britain's Ross Fisher has remained in the hunt, thanks to a steady final round at plus-1. He's tied with Duval at one back.

What about that Tiger guy? Can he somehow pull off a stunning final-round comeback?

He just finished his round of 69 moments ago, putting him at even par in a three-way tie for seventh. Only Woods could recover from an opening-round 74 and still make everyone nervous on the final day.

duval hole 3 triple bogey

Updated 5 p.m. --Are they ever going to finish this tournament?

Play was suspended due to darkness once again, cutting off most of the third-round action before it could even get started.

Click here to read Doug Ferguson's recap.

Ricky Barnes still sits atop the leaderboard with his record-setting 132, followed by Lucas Glover and Mike Weir. Barnes, a former Arizona golf standout, has greatly benefitted from the weather clearing up each time he teed it up, but getting nasty for many of his competitors.

Barnes has also hit a remarkable 31 of 36 greens in regulation, while most of the field is hitting greens at a 50 percent clip.

Click here to read Jim Litke's column about Barnes' remarkable run through the first two rounds.

Glover put together Saturday's finest round, tallying a bogey-free 64, but left a 20-foot birdie putt on his last hole just short. Had it dropped, he would've fired an all-time major championship record round.

The cut line was set at plus-4, meaning Woods at plus-3 will live to battle the schizophrenic Bethpage black in hopes of making up 11 shots over two rounds. If anyone can do it, it's him.

Fan-favorite Phil Mickelson is still in the mix at 1-under, which is simply a phenomenal feat, considering what must be going through his head right now.

Click here to read about Mickelson's emotional trip to Bethpage.

Third-round action will officially get going at 7:30 a.m., which seems awfully late, given that the sun rises at about 5:30 a.m. this time of year in New York. When time is of the essence, wouldn't it make much more sense to use every ray of sunlight to your advantage? Or do they want this tournament to run through to next weekend?

Sadly, we're going to have to kiss the traditional Father's Day finish goodbye. But this has still been a fascinating, if disjointed, event.

Click here to take The AP's U.S. Open quiz.

Updated 9:10 a.m. -- Is this really the U.S. Open?

Look at some of these scores these players are tossing up there today. The early a.m. Saturday players are taking advantage of a dry, sunny New York morning and attacking the pin.

Ricky Barnes currently leads at 8-under, followed by Lucas Glover at minus-7. Yesterday's leader, Mike Weir, is holding tough at 6-under. The surprising David Duval is still hanging tough at 3-under.

The last time the Open was held at Bethpage black, only one player broke par. I'll give you one guess who it was.

Give up? Yeah, it was Tiger Woods.

Where is he at today? Flirting with the cut-line.

Woods, who had the poor fortune to play most of his first round in the monsoon, came into today at plus-4. He's even par through his early round, with the cut-line set at 5-over.

How much golf will we get in today? There's no telling. Mother Nature is threatening to rear her head once again, which may put a serious damper (no pun intended) on the USGA's plans to finish round three by tonight. Yesterday's play was suspended due to darkness, forcing much of the field to wrap up round two this morning.

The rains might throw a monkey wrench into one of the great sports traditions, as well. What's better than the final round of the U.S. Open on Father's Day? If things keep going this way, the tourney might stretch into Independence Day.

Updated 2:30 p.m. -- Mike Weir has made Bethpage look like a walk in the park, firing a blistering 64 to take a 2-shot lead over the surprising Peter Hanson in the first round of the U.S. Open.

If not for a disappointing double bogey on the brutal No. 6, Weir would be even further under par. Eight birdies in any U.S. Open round is quite a feat, but doing it in a course that was nearly flooded yesterday is just remarkable.

Weir, who enjoyed his finest season as a pro in 2003 when he won the masters and finished third at the U.S. Open, isn't the longest hitter on tour, but the Canadian lefty keeps his drives in the fairway and doesn't waste many shots.

The most surprising name on the leaderboard has to be David Duval, who sits at 3-under. Duval, who is starting his second round as I'm typing, was the longtime No. 2 player behind Woods before seeing his career nosedive for a couple of years. The comeback trail has been rocky, but if he continues to toss up scores in the 60s, he could get the New York fans really fired up.

Currently, 13 players have posted scores under par.

ESPN will be carrying golf action throughout the evening. If this tempermental Internet connection holds out, I'll have one more blog post updating the evening standings.

Updated 9 a.m. --Drew Weaver and Graeme McDowell took it right to the brutal Bethpage black, each checking in with a 1-under 69 in early action.

The players withstood yesterday's rain delay and they're enjoying a much nicer day this morning. However, there is another strong chance of rain, as the USGA attempts to get in all the golf it possibly can by the end of today.

There's no telling how long it'll take to get through these first two rounds, with much of the field still having a ways to go before wrapping up round one this morning.

One of the players who did finish his opening round early wishes he had it to do over again.

Tiger Woods posted a 4-over 74, shooting a disappointing plus-4 on the last four holes, including an ugly double-bogey on 15.

The wet conditions has made the already-long Bethpage play even longer, throwing off a lot of the players' club selection. However, the slick greens have softened up considerably, allowing players to attack the pin -- as long as they avoid the rough.

Sentimental favorite Phil Mickelson is in the mix, currently 1-under through 12. These galleries absolutely adore Lefty.

In early action, Sean O'Hair and Camillo Villegas find themselves at 2-under.

Kevin Sunderland heads to the clubhouse with a very unorthodox even-par 71. After a brutal 41 on the front nine, Sunderland came back to shoot 30 on his next nine. Thirty!

Updated 7:30 a.m. -- I guess Mother Nature wanted to have her say in what would happen at the U.S. Open this week.

As if Bethpage Black wasn't already tough to navigate, heavy rains have made it impossible to maneuver through some parts of the course unless your caddy happened to pack a kayak.

Players had the option to finish their current hole, but everyone has to vacate the course for an undetermined amount of time.

Thus far, we have four players under par -- and not the foursome you'd expect.

Jeff Brehaut, Johan Edfors, Andrew Parr and Ryan Spears are each 1-under, with Brehaut having already completed 11 holes (starting on the back nine).

Tiger Woods? Well, he double-bogeyed hole No. 5 after a couple of errant shots, but got one of them back on No. 6 with a clutch 20-foot birdie putt.

Many of golf's superstars have yet to tee off or have only a couple of holes under their belts.

During the delay, ESPN will be bringing us highlights of last year's Open. Normally, I'd just roll over and go back to sleep until live action gets going again, but I could watch those Woods-Rocco Mediate highlights all day long. I think it's safe to say that was the most dramatic U.S. Open of this era.

I'll update the blog again once the players hit the course again.