But at 5-over 149, he'll have the weekend off, too.
"It's been the best preparation going into a major", Day told reporters.
"Unfortunately with where I was hitting it", Day said, "I wasn't in the way". He made four birdies over the last six holes to salvage a 71, but he still missed the cut for the second straight year.
The course wasn't easy for the top-three ranked players in the world as Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, and Jason Day head home after missing the cut.
"Not every day you enjoy a round of golf with an eight on the card, but I'm a pretty happy man", Casey said after his one-under round.
On a day with scoring more hard, Hadwin found his game to be a little off early in the round but he was able to grind out pars with great putting.
"Just to see their games and how they play, I've grown up watching them". He won't play again until the British Open. After another week off, he will play the WGC-Bridgestone and PGA Championship. His errant driving, for one; two triple bogeys he encountered on Thursday, the first time that has happened as a pro; and failing to scramble well when he missed greens.
"I showed up for the last six holes, anyway", said McIlroy, who won at Congressional in 2011 with a record 16-under-par total, but is now a combined 55 over par for his other eight US Open appearances.
Now he's on in the hunt at the 117th U.S. Open. He loved Erin Hills, a course with wide fairways between the knee-high fescue that he figured would allow him to attack. He stumbled to a 6-over 42 over his final nine on Day 1. McIlroy came to life when it was far too late. He smoothed that out on Friday, and had better results. "Hopefully I've got a lot of the bad stuff out of my system yesterday and some parts today". Thanks to four birdies in his last six holes, he managed a 1-under 71.
Johnson also missed the cut at the Memorial, so this was the first time since 2013 (Pebble Beach, Riviera) that he has missed the cut in consecutive events. "I just struggled on the greens".
Kohli calm ahead of final
Blessed with mercurial players and outright match winners, the Indian team will be expected to go for the kill in the match. They have displayed some supreme performances apart from the fiasco in Group stage against Sri Lanka .
McIlroy meanwhile said a new putter being used for the tournament was not the problem.
"Even though it's very disappointing to not be here on the weekend, I think these last two rounds will serve me well going into the summer", added the 28-year-old, who has added the Scottish Open to his schedule in between the Irish Open and Open Championship. "I guess it's rare you get through a US Open or any major without some kind of a hiccup". Everything was in good shape.
As for scoring drama - well, this was one time he may have wished he didn't know where he stood.
Amateur Scottie Scheffler is playing with the poise of a veteran at the U.S. Open.
The links-style layout, the longest course to stage a U.S. Open, had the most sub-par scores in a first round at the championship, while the one-over-par cut matched the record low previously set in 1990 at Medinah.
Still to be determined was who made it to the weekend, and where the cut would fall. He never expected to be making those plans on a Friday.
He is making his third start at the U.S. Open, with missed cuts in both previous starts in 2012 (77-72) and 2015 (69-79). This week, he didn't have it.
He finished 27th two years ago and earned a big $64,000 pay day. "But at least I'll get to sit in air con [conditioning] and watch the guys tear it up on the weekend".
Paul Casey, Brooks Koepka, Brian Harman and Tommy Fleetwood share the 36-hole lead at Erin Hills.
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