“With the insane schedule I’ve had the past couple of weeks, I thought having a day off would help me a little bit”, the Osceola native said. “I mean, these greens are tough”.
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SHORT MEMORY: Johnson has the lead and he has the advantage of sleeping in Saturday and only having to put in his regular 18 holes.
“Last Monday (for U.S. Open sectionals)”, Bodine said.
Landry was the hero of the first two days after he jumped out to 4-under.
Johnson was at 4-under 136, two shots ahead of anyone else who completed the second round in the rain-delayed U.S. Open.
Then, Landry left the course for the day.
The 28-year-old qualifier only had to hit one shot when he returned in the morning to make a 10-foot birdie putt for a 66 and the lead.
Landry’s opening round was the lowest ever in a US Open played at Oakmont, eclipsing the 67s shot by American Ben Hogan in 1953 and South African Gary Player in 1973.
”Just making putts”, Landry said when asked what had been the key to his impressive start in his first US Open. “You’re in a U.S. Open, they don’t give you a chance to even hit a few [warm-up] balls”, he grumbled.
Dustin Johnson, who lost to Spieth previous year when he three-putted the final hole, didn’t begin play in the rain-delayed tournament until Friday morning. Others will play catch-up Saturday.
Play was halted three times by storms on Thursday before eventually being suspended. Even though it’s Friday and he won’t play again until Saturday morning, he realizes there’s a long way to go.
Elsewhere on the course, Romain Wattel of France blasted out of the bunker for eagle on the par-4 17th and Japan’s Yusaku Miyazato holed out from the fairway on the hard par-4, 472-yard 18th. Scott Piercy has 36 holes of 2 under, with 68-70 to his credit. Felt like I rolled the putter really nicely too.
It looks like little known Andrew Landry is going to hold on to his first-round lead in the U.S. Open.
Three players were grouped at one under – Daniel Summerhays, who carded an impressive 65 late Friday, plus England’s Andy Sullivan and U.S. veteran Jim Furyk, who both signed for 68s. Kokrak played the U.S. Amateur and the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont and has acquired the kind of course knowledge that has come in handy this week.
Johnson made his only bogey when he found a deep bunker left of the first fairway, a rare miss off the tee. With Oakmont expected to tough up as the course continues to dry out, Day has a chance to stick around for the rest of the weekend. The top 60 and ties make the cut to play the final two rounds. But by the end of the day, after carding a 69 on his second 18-hole trip around Oakmont, Johnson had played 36 holes to Landrys one putt yet the two shared the perch at 4 under atop the leaderboard.
Johnson’s playing partner Garcia started his second round with a bogey-five on the par-four 10th but a birdie on the 17th saw him get back to two under par.
“I’m in pretty good shape, so the physical part’s no problem”, said Johnson after completing 36 holes in a day.
“I’m so exhausted that I don’t really know what’s going on”. One of the most interesting things about the chaos is that the golfers who teed off Thursday morning finished, on average, two shots higher than their counterparts by the time both halves of the field completed Round 1.
Jason Day (+5) needed a 1-under 69 Saturday morning just to extend his time at Oakmont.
The most prominent names to miss the cut were Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy. The No. 2 player, Jordan Spieth, was 2 over (72) and No. 3 Rory McIlroy was gasping for air at 7 over (77).
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Because many think Oakmont is going to start showing its teeth.
