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With the honourable exceptions of Ross Fisher and Graeme McDowell, the British and Irish players failed to fire in the third round of the US Open at Bethpage Black.

Fisher's whistle-clean round of 69 was the tee-to-green performance of the championship, yet his exquisite ball striking was squandered as he missed countless holeable birdie chances.

And early in the third round it seemed likely that the key British challenge would come from Lee Westwood, who is seeking to make up for his third-place finish in the US Open at Torrey Pines last year.

Westwood's birdies at the second and fourth holes got him within striking distance of the leaders at four under par, but five subsequent bogeys and a double bogey on the par-3 14th pegged him back to two over par.

One shot better than that was Oliver Wilson, who fired three birdies in his first four holes - admittedly sandwiching a double bogey at the third hole - got him under par.

But bogeys at 10, 12 and 13 dropped him back, with only a late birdie on the 16th giving him an outside chance of making a final round charge.

Ulsterman Graeme McDowell had an excellent third round, however, that left him as the next highest home nations player after Fisher. McDowell's four birdies helped him to a one-under-par 69 to get him back to even par, though he could have been right in the thick of the chasing pack had he not had a disappointing double bogey on the 15th.

Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy was another player who got under par after four holes of his third round, but four unanswered bogeys dropped him back to three over in a performance that is still impressive for a young player in his first US Open.

Finally there was Ian Poulter, who only just made the cut at four over par but started his third round well with a birdie on the third hole to spark hopes of a run over the final 36 holes.

But Poulter's four subsequent bogeys saw him slip back to record a 73 that took him to seven over par and lose him any chance of making an impression on the leaderboard.

Toby Keel / Eurosport