Graeme McDowell emerged as the halfway leader in the US Open while Phil Mickelson briefly tamed a Pebble Beach course on Friday that has tormented the world’s best players for two days.
Northern Ireland’s McDowell sank two monster birdie putts in a round of 68 that saw him break from a tightly packed field to grab the outright lead at three-under-par.
McDowell will head into the final two rounds two strokes ahead of Mickelson, Ernie Els, Ryo Ishikawa and Dustin Johnson, who all made moves but were stalled by a teasing course.
PHOTO: AFP
They were also the only five players in the 156-man field to break par for the first two rounds as a host of major champions failed to make the cut at seven-over.
Tiger Woods did survive after adding a one-over 72 to his first day 74, but his long stranglehold atop the world rankings is now under serious threat from Mickelson.
The US Masters champion shot a brilliant 66, the best round of the tournament so far, and was poised to go even lower after making five birdies in the first eight holes before he too fell victim to the deceptively tough Californian layout.
He lost his momentum when he made a bogey at the ninth and while he retrieved a shot at the 10th he was unable to pick up any more shots on the notoriously tough back nine.
It was partly because of Woods’s runaway 15-shot victory at the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach that tournament organizers toughened the layout for this year’s championship, tightening fairways, extending the rough and building more strategically placed bunkers to add to the unique natural hazards of the surrounding beaches and cliffs.
Woods did not make a single birdie in his opening round and although he made three on Saturday he still finished the day seven shots behind McDowell. He has never won a major from that far back but he was still talking up his chances.
“I’m right there in the championship. I just need to make a few more birdies, a few more putts on the weekend and I’ll be right there,” Woods said.
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