Sarah Stirk and Rich Beem review the big talking points from the second round of the 117th US Open at Erin Hills. He still had his worst score in a U.S. Open. He followed his 71 from yesterday with a 74 on Day 2.
The low scoring suggested the 11-year-old course was a cream puff, hardly the USGA's idea of the ultimate test in golf.
A superb chip to three feet set up the birdie on the 597-yard first hole before he then demolished the short par-four second. You can not play this golf course if you're not in position off the tee, and I wasn't in position.
Garcia carded an eagle, three birdies and three bogeys in a roller coaster round.
Rory McIlroy made the fast start he was looking for at the US Open on Thursday but ended up trundling over the finish line after a back nine collapse.
Day, who won the 2015 PGA Championship up the road at Whistling Straits, had to birdie his last hole Thursday to break 80. "I feel like that's going to help me to get back into contention and hopefully try to win some of these things". -Day after missing the cut.
Instead, Fowler was leapfrogged by one after another, with Paul Casey - who brilliantly recovered from a triple bogey eight on the 14th, his fifth hole, to put together a sequence of five straight birdies from the 17th - the first to reach the clubhouse on the 137 mark.
McIlroy dismissed the notion of being rusty before the tournament, but conceded on his way out of Wisconsin that he hasn't played almost enough.
Scottie Scheffler, who just finished his junior year at Texas, had a 69, while amateur Cameron Champ had a 70 in his US Open debut.
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Koepka had the lead until he turned a birdie chance into a bogey on the par-5 first hole after making the turn.
Erin Hills fought back on Friday and the world's top three players won't be around for the weekend at the U.S. Open.
Casey has recorded triple bogeys before in his long and illustrious 17-year pro career but none where he has fought back to share the lead in a Major.
Casey laid up in the rough on the par-5 14th hole. With a blind shot to the green, he went long into deeper hay, and his first hack at it moved the ball only a few feet.
And then there is Rickie Fowler, also one back. "Even just trying to take my medicine was very, very hard. It was a good eight in the end". That's the lowest differential after 36 holes in the U.S. Open, mainly because until 2012, everyone within 10 shots of the lead made the cut at the U.S. Open.
Day, who also is playing Travelers next week, gathered his wife, Ellie, and son, Dash, and made plans to head home to OH the soonest that they could. But any bad taste in his mouth shouldn't last long because it's been an impressive week for the 29-year-old Valspar Championship victor from Abbotsford, B.C. In Thursday's first round, he tied a U.S. Open record by making six consecutive birdies en route to a four-under 68 and a share of seventh place. 1, 2 and 3 all missed the cut in a major.
Day and McIlroy were left feeling pretty empty, as each had arrived to Wisconsin nearly a week ago with high expectations.
Johnson, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day all missed the cut, marking the first time that has happened to the world's top three ranked players at a major since the rankings began in 1986. Day had no answers.
"I was in the hay too much over the last couple of days", Day told reporters about the knee-high fescue grass lining the fairways at the links-style layout in the Wisconsin countryside. "And just unfortunately, this didn't pan out".
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