Everyone who had the Ricky Barnes-Lucas Glover exacta, raise your hands.

And did you remember to include David Duval in your box for the triple?

Didn't think so.

What if they gave a U.S. Open, and a Viking Classic broke out?

It has to be a U.S. Open, because the blazers are tasteful, the troopers are out in force, and Johnny Miller's more ponderous than usual.

But the scores and the conditions are anything but Open-like, and so are the names atop the leaderboard.

The rains of Thursday and Saturday turned spectator walkways into Woodstock-style mudbaths, and left the greens spongy and defenseless. Players threw darts at the flags as though this was a Palm Springs birdiefest rather than a feared Open brute.

It's a miracle that the Open reached its fourth round Sunday evening; a miracle brought about by superintendent Craig Currier and his tireless crew of regulars and volunteers. Squeegee men haven't gotten this much attention since Rudy Giuliani shooed them from the entrance to the Midtown Tunnel.

Considering the conditions, it's surprising that only Bubba Watson managed to go as low as 67 in the third round. The pros seem befuddled by having to putt under conditions we take for granted. The USGA insists the greens are rolling at mid-13 on the Stimpmeter, which doesn't explain all the putts the pros are leaving short, or the ones breaking less than they expected.

Ricky Barnes held a six-shot lead after eight holes of the third round on Sunday, but fortune rarely smiles on young men making a run at their first professional victory in the U.S. Open. (Young men named Jack Nicklaus are a conspicuous exception.) Or, as tweeted by the estimable Dan Jenkins, "Three-jack bogey by Barnes at 12, and the lead's two. It just occurred to him that this is the U.S. Open."

Lucas Glover played alongside Barnes, and the two took opposite routes to their even-par 70s. Glover's looked like an inverted bell curve, bottoming out at the halfway point and climbing back to where he started. Barnes peaked at -11 after an eagle on 4, sat at -10 after nine, then rode four bogeys and two birdies to wind up at -8. He then bogeyed the first hole of his fourth round to drop into a tie with Glover at -7.

Can the nation survive a Barnes-Glover duel for its Open championship? Well, there was once an 18-hole playoff between Lou Graham and John Mahaffey, and the game endured.

Meanwhile, lurking far behind but within choking range are four players at -2, Mike Weir at -1, and Tiger Woods and four others at even. The Official World Golf Rankings for the seven players who are under par: 519 (Barnes), 71 (Glover), 49 (Hunter Mahan), 2 (Phil Mickelson), 882 (David Duval), 29 (Ross Fisher), and 21 (Weir).

Tiger's main hope is that Barnes and Glover pull a repeat of the Goosen-Gore final pairing at Pinehurst in 2005. Those two shot 81-84 to open the door for Michael Campbell, with Woods falling just short.

Mickelson's standing as the sentimental favorite will be challenged by Duval, whose presence on the leaderboard might rightly be looked at as a typographical error. Duval has never stopped trying to make his way back to competence, missing cuts and playing in lesser events, a shell of his relentless golfing self, but infinitely happier personally. His last top ten came in Las Vegas in 2002; his only top 20 finish since then was at the U.S. Open at Winged Foot in 2006, where he tied for 16th. Just being here is a victory for Duval, who came through sectional qualifying to make the Open field (as did Glover and Barnes).

It's hard to say whether the delays and bizarre circumstances of this Open have done Barnes and Glover any favors. One of the hardest things for a young golfer is to face the first shot of the final round in contention for a major title. These two will have to overcome that pressure twice, though at least they won't have to wait all day for the chance. Barnes did not respond well at day's end on Sunday, putting his tee shot on the first hole in the left rough and making bogey, then snap-hooking on #2 and depositing his ball in deep fescue. Will the stoppage of play enable him to regroup? Will he sleep a wink? Will Glover take advantage? Will the leaders be able to ignore the roars in the holes ahead if Woods or Mickelson or Duval make some birdies?

It seems as though this waterlogged show has been running longer than Phantom. The conclusion - perhaps - gets underway Monday at 9. The prediction here? Six under wins it, with Lucas Glover joining a long line of distinguished U.S. Open champions that includes Orville Moody, Jack Fleck, Steve Jones, and Ed Furgol. Future Opens will be played, when possible, in a dome.