What they said after the third round of the U.S. Open

San Francisco, CA – Most players struggle to fight back from a sextuple-bogey, but Sergio Garcia did his best.

The Spaniard started his third round on the 11th tee, as the championship finally got back on track after Thursday's weather delays. He dropped shots on two of his first four holes to slip to 8-over par.

Garcia then knocked three balls out of bounds on the 15th. That led to a sextuple-bogey 10 on the par-4.

"Funny enough, when I made an eight on Thursday, I hit a lot of bad shots. Funny enough, I only hit one bad shot today and I made 10," Garcia joked. "My first shot was into the wind and it went out of bounds. My second one I thought it was even better and it went out of bounds by five inches. And then the third one wasn't great. And after that, I took a chance and the round came out nicely."

Through three rounds, Garcia stands at 11-over 221. He is 10-over par on the 15th alone.

Maybe he can petition the USGA to skip that hole on Sunday?

- WEBB SIMPSON, talks about what it has been like defending his title at Merion: "It's been tough. It's been exactly what I figured it would be, very challenging, very penal. Pins are maybe a little harder than I thought they would be. But I think score wise, they're dialing it in perfectly."

- TIGER WOODS, thinks Merion is the toughest U.S. Open setup he has ever seen: "Most definitely. Because of the pins, I think. The long holes are playing really long and short holes obviously are short, but the thing is that the pins out there, what they're giving us out there are really tough."

- CHARLEY HOFFMAN, said that with just one player in red figures through three rounds he doesn't think the winner will end there: "Oh, 100 percent. I bogeyed the last three holes without winking an eye, so it can happen real fast."

- PAUL CASEY, reiterated what you always hear about the pins at U.S. Opens: "The pin positions are brutal, as they always are. And 17 caught everybody in my group off guard. It's a pin that would scare you if it was a 100-yard par-3. We have 250 yards to go."

- RICKIE FOWLER, was one of the few players that had played Merion in a competitive event prior to the U.S. Open and it helped him get in contention after three rounds: "It's helped a lot. Just knowing that I've played well here before. I know I've made putts here. The biggest thing this week has just been staying patient, sitting back and letting things happen and I finally was able to do that today."

- STEVE STRICKER, has been spending more time with his family and playing less golf this year, and that has helped him this week: "I really didn't know what to expect coming into this week. Last time I played was Players Championship a month ago, so I really didn't know what to expect. I've been playing well at home, been hitting it well at home, but that's home, it's not out here. But I just figured that I'm in a good place mentally, I feel like I'm doing the right thing by not playing. I'm enjoying my time at home, so it all makes sense in my mind and I guess that's the most important thing. And I'm happy the way I'm striking it. Couple loose shots today that I'm not so happy with, but overall it just justifies what I'm doing and especially when I play well."