Dustin Johnson of the US plays his shot from a bunker on the 16th hole during the second round of the 2017 US Open at Erin Hills in Hartford, Wisconsin. Former U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson shot a 71, though he was still seven shots behind. He'll head home to spend time with his son, River Jones Johnson, who was born Monday. Fowler, the world number nine from California, revelled in benign conditions at Erin Hills Golf Course to reel off seven birdies and 11 pars in a superb 65.
"With where I was hitting it", he said with a smile, "I wasn't in the way".
"Oh gosh, Jimmy, be good", he said to caddie Jimmy Johnson when the ball was in the air, and it was close to flawless. "Part of that is just age, and part I'll give credit to caddy Johnny McLaren, credit to my wife and my little boy".
The stats prove him right.
South Korean Kim Si-woo bogeyed the par-three ninth hole to slip back to five under par, two off the pace, as he completed a round of two-under-par 70. He made two more birdies, including one on the par-3 seventh that put him at 12 under.
However, back-to-back bogeys on the fourth and fifth holes dropped him back to even-par for the day."The course is, I would say, a few shots harder than it was (Thursday)", Stricker said.
At least he'll have plenty of company at the airport.
The top two ranked players in the world, defending champion Dustin Johnson and 2011 US Open victor Rory McIlroy, also failed to make the cut.
"It doesn't matter how long, how whatever the course is", Thomas said about the longest course in major championship history. "But as we all know, this game's all about putting". I think the more rounds I can play, I'm hopefully going to get rid of all that stuff and hopefully strip it down to what you saw the last six holes.
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Portugal were all over the Mexicans in the second half, although persistence paid off after Hector Moreno's 90th minute equalizer. Meanwhile, striker Javier Hernandez will lead the attack for Mexico , with Carlos Vela and Raul Jiménez playing as his support.
Tonight marked the first time since the world rankings were created in 1986 that the top three ranked golfers on the planet missed the cut at a US Open though.
Despite a flurry of late birdies it was not enough to turnaround an erratic round littered with errors and missed opportunities.
In the end, the 50-year-old Stricker marvelled at the way the young, big hitters handled Erin Hills, which at around 7,800 yards was the longest course ever for a U.S. Open. Bogey-free for the day standing on the 18th tee, Fleetwood suddenly went "walkabout" around the final green.
The top of the leaderboard is bunched up, with four players tied for the lead at 7 under, and three more a stroke behind, including Lovemark. He failed to get up-and-down from behind the 17th green, and then he three-putted from 40 feet on the final hole to finish at 8-under 272. Spieth ended up winning by a shot. And instead of leaving Erin Hills fretting about how much better he could've done, he was thankful it wasn't any worse.
He walked to the 18th green to a rousing ovation and left it as the U.S. Open clubhouse leader, though at five under par Steve Stricker eventually finished 11 strokes behind victor Brooks Koepka.
"I obviously needed to nuke it", Thomas said of his three-wood, which he later called his best of the round. "I had to hit it all". I've got four weeks off now.
"It was definitely a lot more like a US Open today than yesterday the greens were a little quicker again", Leishman said. "I guess it's rare you get through a U.S. Open or any major without some kind of a hiccup".
And then, the old McIlroy kicked into gear and finished with a flurry of gained shots as he kept the ball in play off the tee and proved majestic with his mid-irons to set up several birdie chances.
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