Dustin Johnson holds sole possession of the lead after Andrew Landry’s 1-over-par 71 in Saturday’s second round at the 116th U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club.
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Westwood, who parred his final three holes on Sunday to complete a 69, finished joint second in the Masters in April to extend his unwanted record of most top-three finishes in a major without a victory to nine.
“Shoot anything under par here, you’re definitely moving up a lot”, said Day, the game’s hottest player over the past 12 months with seven tournament wins, including last year’s PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.
“I went double bogey, bogey”, Spieth said. Day has fought his way back into contention following an opening 76, but will need all his renowned fighting qualities come Sunday if he is to challenge for the title.
“To hole that second putt was massive for me and massive for my whole day”, Lowry said.
France’s Bourdy jumped up the leaderboard with an eagle two at the 11th, where he holed out from the fairway.
Lowry first made his mark when he won the Irish Open as an amateur in 2009 – just the third amateur to win on the European Tour.
“I’m giving myself opportunities”, he said.
Shane Lowry’s once-comfortable lead at the U.S. Open is down to two shots. “Just bad timing on a poorly executed shot”.
He certainly did. After the first day, he was tied for 100th at 6-over.
“I played three holes at four over today with a wedge in my hand from the middle of the fairway, and it’s just kind of a bummer”.
Lowry, like the six players close behind him, is making a push for his first-ever major championship.
None of the the top five players atop the leaderboard entering Sunday have a major championship to their name.
“We all know that this course can jump up and bite you in a split-second, ” Lowry said. He dropped a 5-footer for birdie on the opening hole to pull into a tie with Johnson, who has the morning off after grinding through 36 holes on Friday. The world’s seventh-ranked player withdrew Saturday morning for unspecified reasons with two holes left in his round with his score at 9 over for the tournament and 10 over through 16 holes. These are the best golfers in the world behind me. If I can get to 1 under, great.
“It was a really good morning’s work and that was one of the best rounds of my career”.
Since Thursday’s multiple downpours, the course has slowly regained the fire that all expected early in the week.
McIlroy’s departure was probably the most surprising.
Instead, he misread the speed and the putt rolled past the hole taking Day back over-par again. Johnson shot 82 that day, the start of his heartache in the majors.
Johnny Miller shot a final-round 63 to win the 1973 U.S. Open at Oakmont.
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Defending champion Jordan Spieth looked as though he might join Day when he ran off three consecutive birdies early in the third round. For example, Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen (reh-TEEF’ GOO’-sin) and Rickie Fowler. If I had to put money on someone then it would be Bubba Watson.
