Angel Cabrera powered his way atop the leader board through the first two rounds of the U.S. Open. But he sprayed drive after drive into Oakmont's killer rough yesterday, resulting in a tumble that puts him four shots off the lead.

Cabrera was the only player in the field to be at level par going into the third round. But he bogeyed seven holes, as many as he did in the first two rounds combined, to shoot a 76, six strokes better than par.

"I had a bad day with the driver. That was pretty much it," Cabrera said through an interpreter.

The statistics jumped off the sheet the way the rough jumped at the Argentinian golfer. In each of the first two rounds, he hit the fairway 64 percent of the time. Playing in the final group yesterday with Bubba Watson, he hit just 29 percent of the fairways.

He also hit just 11 greens in regulation, his worst showing of the tournament. Once he got to the putting surface, his performance fell off as well. He needed 36 putts in his round, four more than Friday and eight more than Thursday when he was the only player in the field under par.

But it was the driver, above all else, that led to his fall. It started on the first hole, when his tee shot drifted to the right into the intermediate rough, about three feet off the fairway. Although he made par, his accuracy was an issue the rest of the day.

"I missed a couple of fairways just by a little. Then I lost a little bit of confidence," Cabrera said.

Cabrera bogeyed the third hole after finding the rough, but he rebounded with his lone birdie of the day on No. 4, a 609-yard par 5. He was one of only four players to record a birdie there.

He was still leading the tournament when trouble arose again on the sixth hole, which was the eighth toughest hole of the day. Cabrera's tee shot found the lip of a bunker and he hit a good recovery shot. But he missed a short par putt and he didn't see level par again.

Another bogey followed on No. 7, and when Watson drained his birdie putt, a two-shot swing dropped Cabrera out of the lead.

He steadied himself to make the turn in decent shape -- he was leading the field by a shot after Watson took a triple bogey on No. 9 -- before his driving woes undermined his back nine. He missed the fairway on No. 10 en route to a bogey, which dropped him into a tie for the lead. And after a 10-minute wait on No. 12, he found the thick rough and had no other alternative but to chop his way back to the fairway. A bogey there lost him his share of the lead for good.

"I can't blame the wait. It happens sometimes. Everybody else had to wait too," Cabrera said.

He recovered some with four consecutive pars. But on the short par-4 17th hole, he found the thick grass to the left of the green and his chip carried across the width of the putting surface. After a second chip, he two-putted for a 5.

The final tumble came on No. 18. Cabrera drove left into a deep drainage ditch, which is marked as a hazard with red stakes. He was able to chip out without a penalty, but the errant tee shot set up his seventh bogey of the round.

At four shots behind leader Aaron Baddeley, Cabrera is hardly out of contention. But he knows he has to rally, and he'll need help from the players in front of him.

"I just need to have a good round," Cabrera said. "I have to play better. It depends on how well the other players are doing now."