The Texan coolly sank all three birdie attempts to get to 1 over. He was a grounded club away from perhaps winning a PGA Championship and a 2-iron tee shot out of bounds from possibly winning a British Open, among other missed chances.
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During his second round Saturday morning, Lowry had a 40-foot birdie putt on the 16 hole.
David Lingmerth continued his steady play, firing a second round 1-under 69 to jump 19 spots up the leaderboard to T-15th overall with rounds of 72-69 – 141 (+1).
It was worth taking, for – after a long old day on the course – the 29-year-old Offalyman had claimed a two stroke lead on his nearest pursuer, Texan Andrew Landry, when a double blast on the fog siren indicated that play had been called due to fading light.
Rory McIlroy missed his first Major cut in three years after a breathless comeback crashed off the rails at Oakmont.
Of those failing to make the cut were former world No. 1, Rory McIlroy (+8), Phil Mickelson (+7) and Rickie Fowler (+11) It is Fowler’s third straight missed cut.
The cut line was 6-over par.
Yet it’s McIlroy who was kicking himself most after he blew apart after making a flying start to his bid to undo all the damage of his first round 77. It’s the sixth time in the last five majors that Johnson has had at least a share of the lead after a round.
Right behind was a trio of players who feel overdue to win their first major. It was Westwood’s second eagle of the tournament, matching the number he had made in U.S. Opens from 1997-2015.
The Frenchman, a four-time victor on the European Tour, got as low as 5 under with back-to-back birdies on his inward nine. Green speeds are back up to where the USGA wanted (14½ feet on the Stimpmeter), but birdies are being made, and through three days, the anticipated struggle to salvage par hasn’t dominated the play. It was a complete turnaround for Oosthuizen, who shot a first-round 75. It was apparently Creedence Clearwater Revivle covering Tina Turner (what is more American than CCR at a U.S. Open?).
Amateur Chris Crawford of Bensalem, who played for Drexel, closed his first U.S. Open with a second consecutive 76 and a score of 152. But he dropped four shots on the front nine as he began the second round, then played steadily starting the back nine and closed with a flurry. Shane Lowry, Scott Piercy and Gregory Bourdy are also at 2-under heading into the third round.
Bourdy, a Frenchman with four European Tour victories, looked like he might threaten Johnny Miller’s U.S. Open and Oakmont course record of 63.
He’s a stroke better than Dustin Johnson, who completed his second round a day earlier.
You will have Dustin Johnson – author of some of the most recent major championship disappointments, including his three-putt on the 72nd hole of last year’s U.S. Open at Chambers Bay that cost him a chance to either win or get into a playoff.
McIlroy has failed to survive for the closing stages of majors only five times in 30 appearances, three of that quintet coming in the US Open. “Overall I’m happy with my putting and haven’t been quite as close on some of the looks that I had [Friday] so that’s just making it a little more hard to get them in”.
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The burly, bearded Irishman whose only PGA Tour victory was past year at the Bridgestone Invitational is in a position to win the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club, which is cut in half by I-76, the same highway that is around the corner from Firestone Country Club.
