OAKMONT, PA (93.7 The Fan) – If Thursday was a new hope for golfers, Friday was the course strikes back. By the end of the day only three players finished under par and the leader was only three under (a rain delay meaning keeping a few golfers from finishing kept it from being official).
Sam Burns is alone in first place after shooting the best round of the day, a five-under, 65, including an opening nine, 31 to stand alone at three under par.
“I just feel like I've tried to play too perfect and tried to force it a little bit at times,” Burns said. “So trying to really be patient and take what the golf course gives me.”
A shot back at two-under is first-round leader JJ Spaun.
“A few years ago I would probably expect to play poorly today,” Spaun said. “But I knew it would be hard to back up a bogey-free 4-under at Oakmont in the U.S. Open. So I'm just glad that I kept it together.”
“I was even par -- I was actually 1-under through 5 maybe, 6, so I still was hitting a lot of good shots, making a lot of good conversions, and I'm glad I kind of kept it together, kind of fell asleep on the back nine towards the end there, but responded with a nice birdie on 17 and hit a good shot on 18. I ended up being 2-over. Granted, the venue we're at, it's still a pretty decent score.”
The only other player under par is Viktor Hovland. A 68 on Friday, with much better putting, to go into Saturday third at one under par.
“Yeah, for some reason I've just been in a really nice mental state this week,” Hovland said. “It's like, both my rounds have been very up and down. I feel like a couple times if it would have happened at another tournament, for example, I could have potentially lost my mind there a little bit. But I felt like I kept things together very well.”
There are a couple of interesting players at even par. Major winner and 44-year-old Adam Scott and one of the hottest players on the PGA Tour this year, two-time winner Ben Griffin.
“I feel like there's probably not been many signs to anyone else but me the last month or six weeks that my game is looking better,” Scott said. “But I definitely feel more confident than I have been this year. I feel like this is what I've been working towards. I was kind of in the mix late at the PGA, and now kind of putting myself in this one for the weekend. It's a long way to go, but I feel like my game is in good enough shape to do this.”
“Playing great, honestly I just haven't had any birdie putts drop,” Griffin said. “I've had a lot of really good looks even inside 10 to 12 feet and I probably missed five or six of those that you hope to make when you're trying to win major championships. I feel like I'm managing my game really well. I made a couple bogeys today and honestly it was club selection more than anything was the issue.”
“I feel like from a physical standpoint my game is in great shape, just got to really be disciplined on the course in terms of course management the next two rounds and give myself a lot of looks.”
Viktor Perez, who had a hole-in-one on Friday with a 7-iron on the par three 6th hole, and Thriston Lawrence are both one over par with Brooks Koepka leading a group at plus two.
A number of names at plus three including Jason Day, who shot a 67 on Friday, US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley and Tyrrell Hatton.
Those at four over are highlighted by PGA Champion Scottie Scheffler, but also include major winners Jon Rahm and Collin Morikawa.
Last week’s winner at the Canadian Open Ryan Fox is five over with US Open champ Jordan Spieth.
Canadian Corey Conners, Tony Finau, Xander Schauffele and Rory McIlroy are all six over. Patrick Reed, Hideki Matsuyama, Harris English and Brian Harman just making it ahead of the cut.