Staff Reporter.
The Masters champion Rory McIlroy recovered from a nightmare start to his second round to sneak through to the weekend at the US Open as defending champion Bryson DeChambeau suffered a shock early exit.
McIlroy looked in danger of missing the cut after following an opening-round 74 with two double bogeys in his first three holes on Friday at Oakmont Country Club, only to battle back – in tricky scoring conditions – to scramble a two-over 72.
McIlroy remained outside the projected cut until two birdies in his final four holes saw him progress on six over, leaving him nine strokes behind halfway pacesetter Sam Burns on a leaderboard where just three players remain under par.
Burns fired a round-of-the-day 65 to jump to three under and grab a one-shot advantage over overnight leader JJ Spaun, with Viktor Hovland two strokes back in third, while world No 1 Scottie Scheffler sits on four over as he chases back-to-back major victories.
With the way I was hitting it, it was easily a day I could have been going home and I battled pretty hard to stay in there,” he said.
“Around this golf course, I don’t think by any means I’m out of the tournament.”
Three wins in his past four starts had seen Scheffler installed as clear favourite to add the US Open to his growing collection of major titles.
But this tournament cares little for reputation – and the world’s top ranked player has not won it since Tiger Woods in 2008.
Scheffler, who started at three over, holed a 20-foot birdie putt at his first (the 10th). But his day started to unravel with three bogeys in five holes.
He found a bounce-back birdie at the second (his 11th) but smashed his club on the ground in frustration after driving his ball into the huge ‘Church Pews’ bunker down the left of the third fairway.
So often admired for his relaxed composure, it was a further sign all was not right with the Olympic champion’s game.
However he did find birdies at the fourth and sixth in order to shoot one over par for his round, a score beaten by only 12 other players, before heading to the range for two hours to practice.
South Africa’s Thriston Lawrence, who stormed two shots clear on six under after three successive birdies early in his round, followed that with a run of six bogeys and a double bogey across nine holes as he dropped back to one over.
And just as he was standing over a four-foot par putt on his last hole, six hours and six minutes after he teed off, the horn sounded to suspend play.
Two-time US Open champion Brooks Koepka has shown glimpses of his impressive major-winning credentials but was scrappy in a round of 74 to drop to two over par.
Two shots further behind, the 2021 champion Jon Rahm saw his challenge falter, having impressed on day one.
Starting the round three off the lead, he followed three bogeys on his first nine with a penal double bogey at the 12th to drop to four over par, with his sole birdie arriving at the fourth.
To compound his frustration, he saw a series of birdie chances slide by during his closing holes before a bogey at the last left him seven shots off the lead.