Monday, 20 June 2016

US Open 2016: Rory McIlroy misses cut, Dustin Johnson leads

Rory McIlroy at the US Open
US Open round two leaderboard
-4 D Johnson (US); -3 A Landry (US); -2 S Piercy (US), S Garcia (Spa), G Bourdy (Fra), S Lowry (Ire); -1 D Summerhays (US), A Sullivan (Eng), J Furyk (US), L Westwood (Eng).
Selected others: Level L Slattery (Eng), L Oosthuizen (SA), A Scott (Aus), Z Johnson (US); +1 R Knox (Sco); +3 G McDowell (NI), M Fitzpatrick (Eng); +4 A Johnston (Eng), J Spieth (US) +5 D Willett (Eng), C Wood; +8 J Rose (Eng), P Casey (Eng), L Donald (Eng), R McIlroy (NI)
Leaderboard
Rory McIlroy missed the cut at the US Open, with American Dustin Johnson leading after two rounds at Oakmont.
McIlroy double-bogeyed the final hole to card a one-over par 71 to miss the cut by two shots on eight over after an opening round of 77.
Johnson, who had to play his opening two rounds on Friday as a result of poor weather, is a shot clear on four-under, having shot rounds of 67 and 69.
Andrew Landry, who led on four under after round one, is a shot behind.
Ireland's Shane Lowry shot a second round 70 and his two shots off the lead along with American Scott Piercy, Spain's Sergio Garcia and Gregory Bourdy, from France.
Lee Westwood, who posted a three-under 67 on his first round, was among half of the field to finish their second round on Saturday and shot a 72 to trail Johnson by three strokes.
Compatriot Andy Sullivan is also on one under par, with Luke Slattery a further shot back. Scotland's Russell Knox is one over par.
Defending champion Jordan Spieth is four over par after a second-round 72 while Masters champion Danny Willett is a further shot back after a level-par 70 in his second round.
England's Justin Rose, Paul Casey and Luke Donald all missed the cut after finishing on eight over par.

Johnson leading the way

Johnson, who had a putt to win last year's US Open but took three to hand the title to Spieth, followed his bogey-free opening round with another nine holes without a dropping a shot.
Starting on the 10th, he birdied the par-three 13th to go to four under but gave that back with his first and only bogey of the tournament so far on the first.
A birdie on the sixth, after several missed opportunities, was reward for a disciplined and patient round and he parred his way in to finish just before sunset.
"I'm in pretty good shape, so the physical part's no problem," said Johnson after completing 36 holes in a day.
"But mentally you've got to make sure you stay sharp all day, because you can't go to sleep on any shot out here.
"I hit so many good putts today that I thought were going in, and burned the edge or lipped out. That's just how it goes - these greens are tough."

McIlroy misses out

McIlroy missed his first cut in a major championship since the 2013 Open at Muirfield and ended a run of nine straight top-25 finishes in the game's biggest events.
It was a mixed round for the four-time major winner, who birdied the 10th, 12th, 14th and 16th.
After driving the green on the short par-four 17th, McIlroy three-putted for par and missed more birdie opportunities on the first and second.
He four-putted from around 10 feet for a double-bogey six on the third and, needing a par on the ninth, failed to get out of a fairway bunker for a double bogey.
 Louis Oosthuizen
Westwood and Sullivan are the leading Englishmen on one under par with Slattery a further shot back.
Birdies on the 16th and 18th pulled Westwood back into contention after bogeys on seven holes between the sixth and 14th.
He said: "It was a professional round of 72. The mistakes I made weren't killers, weren't disastrous.
"The way I played today I could have blown myself out of the championship so it was good to grind it out, be under par and have a chance at the weekend."
Sullivan was among those to play 36 holes on Friday and he followed his first-round 71 with a two-under 68 to move to one under.
He played his first nine holes in three under par and said on Sky Sports: "I was aggressive and it paid off. I hit the driver really well, which opened up the greens and I had lots of birdie chances."
Slattery was one over for his second round and three over for the tournament after nine holes but two birdies and an eagle on the back nine helped him post a two-under 68 to get to level par.
"Adapting to the change in the greens was important as they got faster," he said. "It doesn't matter if it's uphill, downhill, side hill. Every putt is quick.
"I'm so tired that I don't really know what's going on. It's been a really tough day around a very tough golf course. It's been mentally demanding."

European challenge

Johnson's playing partner Garcia started his second round with a bogey-five on the par-four 10th but a birdie on the 17th saw him get back to two under par.
Bogeys on the 18th and first dropped him back to level par but birdies on the second and sixth kept him in the hunt for his first major.
The Spaniard, who is not renowned for his ability with the putter, made a superb scrambling par with a 50-foot putt at his last hole, the ninth.
Frenchman Bourdy topped the leaderboard briefly during the second round but dropped three shots on the last three holes in a round of 67.

Major threats

The 2003 US Open winner Jim Furyk is the only man in the top 10 to have won a major.
But South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen, Australia's Adam Scott and American Zach Johnson are all on level par, just four shots behind the leader.
Oosthuizen's five-under par 65 was the lowest score of the second round along with American Daniel Summerhays.
The 2010 Open winner said: "It was a great round. I could have easily just gone out there and shot another 74 or something and be out of the tournament."

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