Jim Furyk - leads by three. (Getty Images)

Tiger Woods' grip on his one remaining major is hanging by a thread after a day he will want to forget at Olympia Fields near Chicago.

In the lowest-scoring United States Open in history Woods had his highest score as a professional in the event - a five-over-par 75 that dropped him from three behind to 11 adrift and from fifth place to 24th.

Jim Furyk now leads at 10 under par, breaking the championship record 54-hole total by three when he finished with a 30-foot putt for a 67.

During the round - three times, in fact - Furyk also became just the third player in US Open history to reach 10 under.

Australian Stephen Leaney, a European tour regular, lies second, thanks in part to three closing bogeys from Vijay Singh 24 hours after he shot a major championship record-equalling 63.

Those mistakes sent Singh down into a tie for third with Nick Price on five under.

It started going wrong for Woods when he was put off by an ill-timed whistle from a spectator on his second shot to the long first hole. He dropped his club and stared long and hard in their direction.

"It was frustrating," he said. "It came on my downswing, which made it worse. If it was my backswing I could have stopped."

There were no repeats of that, but Woods had enough problems reading the speed of the green.

"They looked faster, but putted slower and I made nothing," he commented. "Now I need to shoot a great round and get some help from the leaders. But you never know."

What he does know is that none of his eight major victories have come from behind on the last day - let alone 11 shots back.

With his Masters defence a big disappointment too (he was 15th) and no wins since March the inevitable word "slump" was raised.

"I have won three out of seven events this year and you are trying to tell me I am in a slump," he responded, laughing off the suggestion.

Chances of a European success - their first since Tony Jacklin in 1970 - were about as bright as Woods'. Swede Fredrik Jacobson is best placed, but he is joint 15th at one under following a 73.

Darren Clarke and Justin Rose both stand one over alongside Woods, Padraig Harrington is three over, Colin Montgomerie one further back and Brian Davis, like Rose making his debut, seven over.

Clarke did reach three under, but after failing to sustain that and bogeying the last two holes he said: "You can't get it done with 34 putts.

"I didn't play as well as the first two days, but I gave myself more chances - very strange.

"But I didn't make anything and I think tomorrow I will close my eyes and hit it.

"I had my opportunities to be right in the thick of things. I ought to be an awful lot better than I am, but once again I have not taken the chances I have made."

Price threatened to be the story of the day when he birdied five of the first six holes to take over at the top. But he then had four bogeys in six.

Singh and Furyk were joint halfway leaders and Singh struck first with a six-footer on the long first.

But Furyk birdied the fifth to get back on terms with him and then both birdied the 555-yard sixth by getting up and down from greenside bunkers.

Then came Furyk's superlative iron to five feet on the 496-yard par-four ninth, which took him to 10 under for the first time, joining Gil Morgan and Woods as the only three to reach double digits.

Woods went on to win by 15 when he achieved the feat at Pebble Beach three years ago, but Morgan closed 77-81 on the same course in 1992 and was only joint 13th.

Furyk, chasing his first major, then bogeyed the 10th to fall back alongside Singh, but the former Masters and US PGA champion was the one to crumble on the homeward stretch.

First he bogeyed the 12th, then Furyk made a 40-footer on the short 15th. And at the 16th he got up and down from sand while his playing partner three-putted.

Furyk did bogey the 17th by three-putting himself, but Singh was bunkered and took four as well.

Another two-shot swing between them came on the last, Furyk's long putt being followed by Singh's failure to save par from the greenside rough.

Harrington commented: ``I needed to put in a very good one and didn't do that, so I am just playing for my pride tomorrow.

``I was quite happy and felt good about my game, but then I missed some fairways and that killed me.

``Also I have putted very poorly and that is the crux. If you can't make birdies the bogeys really hurt.

``It's just one of those weeks. I was putting great a month ago and terrible this week.''

Colin Montgomerie did not try to hide the truth after failing to make any impact earlier in the day.

``Same as most days - I am just not very good right now,'' was the Scot's verdict on a one-over-par 71, which left him four over for the championship and miles away from being in contention.

``Missing two cuts in a row was not the best preparation to say the least and my objective on the plane over was to play all four rounds. I fulfilled that - just.''

Collated third-round scores (USA unless stated, par 70):

(x) denotes amateurs

200 Jim Furyk 67 66 67

203 Stephen Leaney (Aus) 67 68 68

205 Nick Price (Zim) 71 65 69, Vijay Singh (Fij) 70 63 72

206 Dicky Pride 71 69 66, Ian Leggatt (Can) 68 70 68, Eduardo Romero (Arg) 70 66 70, Jonathan Byrd 69 66 71

207 Mark O'Meara 72 68 67, Mark Calcavecchia 68 72 67, Billy Mayfair 69 71 67

208 Mike Weir (Can) 73 67 68, Ernie Els (Rsa) 69 70 69, Justin Leonard 66 70 72

209 Chad Campbell 70 70 69, David Toms 72 67 70, Tim Petrovic 69 70 70, Tom Byrum 69 69 71, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 69 67 73

210 Jay Williamson 72 69 69, Brett Quigley 65 74 71, Stewart Cink 70 68 72, Robert Damron 69 68 73

211 Scott Verplank 76 67 68, John Rollins 73 70 68, Justin Rose (Gbr) 70 71 70, Hidemichi Tanaka (Jpn) 69 71 71, Darren Stiles 71 68 72, Cliff Kresge 69 70 72, Darren Clarke (Gbr) 70 69 72, Dan Forsman 71 67 73, Tiger Woods 70 66 75

212 Kenny Perry 72 71 69, Steve Lowery 70 72 70, Lee Janzen 72 68 62, Jonathan Kaye 70 70 72, Kirk Triplett 71 68 73, Tom Watson 65 72 75

213 Padraig Harrington (Irl) 69 72 72, Bernhard Langer (Ger) 70 70 73, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 72 68 73

214 Colin Montgomerie (Gbr) 69 74 71, Fred Funk 70 73 71, Chris DiMarco 72 71 71, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 69 74 71, Kevin Sutherland 71 71 72, John Maginnes 72 70 72, Woody Austin 74 64 76, Brandt Jobe 70 68 76

215 Fred Couples 70 72 73, Peter Lonard (Aus) 72 69 74, Loren Roberts 69 72 74, Phil Mickelson 70 70 75, Alex Cejka (Ger) 73 66 76

216 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 71 72 73, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 75 68 73, Olin Browne 72 70 74

217 Brian Davis (Gbr) 71 72 74, Charles Howell 70 73 74, (x) Trip Kuehne 74 67 76

218 Jay Don Blake 66 77 75, Marco Dawson 72 71 75

219 Brian Henninger 76 67 76, Len Mattiace 69 73 77

220 Chris Anderson 72 70 78

221 (x) Ricky Barnes 71 71 79, Ryan Dillon 72 68 81

222 JP Hayes 70 73 79