Saturday tee times click here http://www.majorschampionships.com/usopen/2012/scoring/tee_times.cfm
Live scoring click here http://www.majorschampionships.com/usopen/2012/scoring/index.cfm
Going into this weekend there are 17 players within 4 shots of the lead, and 28 within 5.
The world's #1 and 2 are out. Luke Donald 79, 72 and Rory McIlroy 77 73 have missed the cut which fell at +8. They are not alone, not nearly.. Bubba, Louis, Dustin, Ryo, Thomas and many other household names are off to their next stop.
Olympic Club has now played to a stroke average of 74.47 over the first 2 days.
Fittingly 3 of golf's most experienced veterans are the only ones under par. Jim Furyk 70 69, David Toms 69 70 and Tiger Woods 69 70 are at -1, 139 and share the lead.
There were no fist pumps for Tiger , just a deep breath and a slow exhale. Jim Furyk walked most of the 7,170 yards at Olympic with his head down. David Toms couldn't think of a single shot he hit without his full attention and it's no coincidence that all of them have been tested in the majors, none more often than Woods, who survived a patch of bogeys early in his round for that 70 that took him another round closer to a 15th major title.
Woods overcame three straight bogeys on the front nine, . Furyk, nine years removed from his U.S. Open title outside Chicago, said he plodded his way around and former PGA Champion Toms kept a steady presence in his round of 70.
And they restored some sanity to the toughest test in golf after a brief, stunning moment when 17-year-old Beau Hossler found himself alone in the lead. He went 11 holes without making a bogey until he got lost in the thick rough and the trees on the brutal front nine of Olympic and had to settle for a 73.
Rory, obviously disappointed said "It wasn't the way I wanted to play," and Luke said " Honestly I was as prepared as I could be, I don't regret the way I prepared, they have a way at the US Open of changing the set up we practice on during Tuesday and Wednesday that makes me throw out all the yardages I'd planned on."
It doesn't take much at this U.S. Open to swallow up even the best players.
Woods had to be close to his best simply to break par."That was not easy," Woods said. "That golf course was some kind of quick. ... You had to stay as patient as possible."
Now many are going to tell you that Tiger has this in the bag, his 15th major is just a formality, and that my friends is simply foolhardy. Yes he has his ball flight under control for the most part, yes he is sticking to his patient game play, yes he s vastly experienced, but I caution you, this Olympic Club will be played in 80 degrees of heat on Saturday which will make it even tougher, and if the USGA decides to tuck a few pins, the winner will need the biggest share of golfing luck to go with their play, and finally Tiger missed a bunch of shots and putts on Friday, despite getting in at 70.
Remember Arnie led by 7 shots going into the back nine in 1966, lost them all to Billy Casper, who then beat him in a playoff. Further don't tell me in this day and age of parity that GMac, Furyk, Toms, Dufner, Kuchar, Mahan, Colsaerts or Schwartzel to name a few, do not need to get your full attention.
McDowell, dropped three shots on his last four holes for a 72. Even so, he is very much in the hunt two shots behind at 141, along with American John Peterson (70), big-hitting Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium (69) and Michael Thompson of the United States, the first-round leader whose 75 was nine shots worse.
Tiger drew level with Furyk on the 13th with a 4-foot birdie putt, and was coming up on a series of holes that allowed players to at least think of making birdie. However as I said he missed a bunch of shots on Friday.In a greenside bunker in two on the par-5 16th, shortened to 609 yards Friday, Woods blasted out weakly and missed a 12-foot putt. With a mid-iron in his hand in the fairway on the par-5 17th, he went over the green and down a deep slope. Despite a superb pitch to 8 feet, he missed the putt.
And with a wedge from the fairway on the 18th, he came up well short and into a bunker, having to settle for par.
Furyk rolled in a 40-foot birdie putt from off the third green in the morning, the highlight of his 69."Plod is a good word," Furyk said. "You take what the course gives you and play the best you can from there."
"Whoever wins this golf tournament is going to be a great champion, somebody that's probably won events before, that can handle the emotions and can handle the adversity in a U.S. Open, and somebody with experience," Toms said. "Strange things can happen, but I would think that you would see a lot of that on the leaderboard come late Sunday."
And a stern test waits on the weekend. Asked for the likely winning score, McDowell deferred to the USGA."They can have whatever they want," McDowell said. "If they want 5 over to win, 10 over to win it ... they can hide these pins away. I would have to imagine around level par."
Before Woods moved to the top of the leaderboard, the cheers,mainly of disbelief ,were for 17 year old amateur Hossler.
The kid in braces, who didn't even win his state high school championship, rolled in a 6-foot birdie putt on the 520-yard first hole, putting him alone in the lead at 2 under.
"Unfortunately," he said, "I kind of lost it coming in."
Hossler dropped a shot on the next hole, though the real trouble came when he pulled his tee shot on the fourth into the hay and made double bogey. Then, he hit into a bunker on the adjacent hole for another bogey, lost another shot on the sixth and only slowed the damage with a chip-in behind the seventh green for birdie. 70 73 +3 T9. Not bad eh !!
The other teenager Andy Zhang, only 14, followed up his brave 79 with 77 to miss the cut and will go back to grade 9 with memories his school mates can only dream of.
Phil Mickelson, remember all the nonsense when his pairing with Tiger was announced, 76 71 +7 and 8 behind Tiger.
Stephen Ames will be around for the weekend 74 73 +7..
Lee Westwood 72 73 is in a big group including Poulter, Kaymer, Manassero at +5. They are not out of it..
Someone today is going to get the right bounces, make a couple of monster putts, and put together an improbable 66 or 65 and with Olympic playing at nearly 5 shots over par, that will put them right in the mix.
Join me later as we watch it all unfold..
Bryan Angus also on twitter@mummmbles and at www.isr1050.com
(notes from AP were used in this blog)
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