Woods, whose knee has been troubling him on his first outing since surgery on it in April, has won all 13 of his majors after heading into the final day with at least a share of the lead.

Should he break that sequence, Westwood would become the first Englishman to win the US Open since Tony Jacklin in 1970 at Hazeltine.

The leaders were braced for tougher conditions than today’s early risers, who themselves struggled to make an impact on the course.

Retief Goosen, who has won the US Open twice, was one of the few to find success.

The South African started his round with consecutive birdies and had his only bogey on the front nine at the sixth. He birdied numbers nine and 10 and was three under through 10 and six over for the tournament.

Heath Slocum and Stewart Cink joined Goosen in red numbers for the day as Slocum played his first 11 holes in three under and Cink was two under through 10.

Jesper Parnevik finished with a four-over 75 to finish at 17 over. The Swede was hardly alone in struggling, with Paul Casey three over for his round with two holes to play for a 15-over total.

Padraig Harrington, who will have to wait until his defence of the Open Championship to try to claim a second major, was two over through 11 and 11 over for the championship.

Harrington started his round with six pars before a bogey at the seventh. He had not made a birdie in his first 10 holes and he had his second bogey of the round at the par-three 11th.

Woods and Westwood were set to tee off in the final group at 9.30pm BST local time.