2023-06-17 02:35:00
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Hours following posting a record-breaking 62 round at the US Open, American Rickie Fowler retained the tournament lead with a second-round score of 68 on Friday.
After 36 holes, Fowler has a cumulative 130 strokes (minus-10), which allowed him to equal Martin Kaymer’s record (2014) for the lowest stroke total following two rounds at the United States Open. United.
Returning to the course for his late followingnoon round, Fowler kept up a blistering pace heading into the second round and he birdied each of his first three holes to climb into the lead alone unless -11.
Fowler, however, chained birdies and bogeys throughout the round therefollowing to conclude his day by subtracting only two shots from par. Fowler had eight birdies, just four pars and six bogeys.
“The greens were a little firmer and the flags were positioned differently. I made several putts that were too short, I had difficulty hitting my putts hard enough. I would say those were the two main differences from the first round: the speed of the greens and the more difficult pennant positions,” Fowler explained following his round.
Early in the day, Fowler temporarily lost control of the tournament to American Wyndham Clark. Third following 18 holes, Clark continued his work Friday followingnoon with a score of 67.
Thanks to four birdies and a single bogey, Clark had temporarily taken the tournament lead at 9 under.
Also on the court early in the day, world No. 3 Rory McIlroy chipped away three par to post a score of 67 and stay top of the standings at 8 under. He shares third position with the American Xander Schauffele, author of a card of 70.
McIlroy’s work day got off to a rocky start, with a front nine of 37 due to three bogeys and just one birdie. McIlroy found his bearings followingwards, however, with six birdies on the back nine to pick up the pace. On his last hole of the day, on the par-3 of the 9th hole, McIlroy came within centimeters of making a hole-in-one.
“I think the difference in difficulty between the two nines is quite big this week. I don’t feel like I did anything wrong between holes 10 and 18, just a few more difficult holes. I took advantage of the few opportunities I got followingwards,” explained McIlroy following his day.
As for Schauffele, who had made a record round the day before, his work day was calmer on Friday with four birdies and as many bogeys. Schauffele fell victim to a tough streak of three straight bogeys between the 13th and 15th holes, but he finished his day with two birdies in a row to join McIlroy at eight under par.
“Those are two tough holes. I had some difficulties, but I felt good. I assumed that if I had two really good tee shots, I was going to have good results,” Schauffele said of his end to the day.
Dustin Johnson (70) and Min Woo Lee (65) tied for sixth at 6 under, one stroke ahead of Sam Bennett (68) and world number one Scottie Scheffler (68).
Defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick had a par-3 hole-in-one on the 15th hole early in the day. The English delivered a card of 70 and he points a shot above par following 36 holes.
Tough day for Hughes
In the Canadian camp, Mackenzie Hughes had a tough day and had to settle for a score of 73, three strokes over par, but he qualified for the last two rounds. Hughes committed four bogeys and only birdied one to move into 30th place. The day before in the first round, he shot 67 to tie for seventh in the tournament.
Adam Svensson (70) and Adam Hadwin (72) will also participate in the weekend rounds.
Four Canadians, however, saw their work week end earlier than expected. A terrible end to the day deprived Corey Conners of participating in the next two rounds. Conners turned in a bogey and two double bogeys in the final three holes of the day to turn in a 74 and miss the cut by two strokes.
Taylor Pendrith (73) and Nick Taylor (72) and Roger Sloan (73) were also dropped from the weekend rounds.
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