BROOKLINE — At simply 25 years previous, Collin Morikawa already has a PGA Championship and a British Open to his credit score. After one of the best spherical of the day on Friday, a 4-under-par 66, he has a share of the 36-hole lead at 5 underneath within the 122nd U.S. Open at The County Club with Joel Dahmen.
There are loads of strong names on the highest web page of the leaderboard as Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy a part of a five-man group one shot again and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler received going late to show in a 67 and is a part of a fivesome two photographs again. There are 37 gamers, together with 10 with a serious championship on their resume, inside six photographs.
“It’s the U.S. Open. No one has taken it deep so far and kind of run away, but you know what, right now my game feels really good,” Morikawa mentioned. “The last few days is a huge confidence booster for me heading into this weekend, and hopefully we can kind of make some separation somehow.”
Starting on the again facet, Morikawa performed bogey-free whereas making three birdies after which added a fourth on the primary to get to five underneath.
The lone bogey of the day got here on the fourth and was caught at 4 underneath till the eighth when he hit his strategy from the green to simply 4 toes. The solely drawback was that the eagle bid was a difficult right-to-left line and he didn’t match the pace to the break and had it dive underneath the opening, settling for a birdie.
“It was a couple balls outside the hole, so it wasn’t like it was the easiest putt,” Morikawa mentioned. “I know it was a short putt, but on these putts out here with a lot of slope you’ve got to match up speeds perfectly, and it just happened to be a bad stroke.”
That mistake was sufficient for Dahmen to get a share of the lead. He performed the entrance facet in 2 underneath after which the again facet in even, making a terrific up-and-down from behind the sixteenth inexperienced to remain at 5 underneath.
“This is really cool, but it’s really all for naught if you go lay and egg on the weekend,” mentioned Dahmen, who earned his lone PGA Tour win final 12 months within the Dominican Republic. “Yeah, this is cool. This is fun, but it would be really fun if I was doing this again Saturday and Sunday.”
Rahm, enjoying with Morikawa, took care of the par 5s, enjoying them in 3 underneath, as a part of a 67 that backed up a 69 on Thursday.
McIlroy gave the impression to be going for an enormous quantity when he hit his second into the fescue to the precise of the third inexperienced. It took him three whacks to get out, however he saved a double bogey – and possibly his probabilities to win his fifth main – by rolling in a 25-foot putt.
“I made a bad swing on the second shot on 3, and I made a bad swing on the tee shot on 10 and limited the damage as much as I could. Those two holes cost me three shots,” mentioned McIlroy. “But I stayed patient, and I knew I was going to give myself chances if I just hit the ball the way I have been hitting it. Today was a really good example of just having a good attitude.”
One underneath after his bogey at 10, McIlroy made birdies at Nos. 12, 14 and 17. He ran a birdie bid 6 toes by the opening on the final, however managed to make it to earn a spot within the second to final tee time.
By not leaping ship for LIV Golf and solely being in his third 12 months on the PGA Tour allowed Scheffler to keep away from a lot of the storyline main into the event.
“I kind of like flying under the radar. So for me, it makes things a lot simpler,” Scheffler mentioned. “Those guys carrying our brand, and I’m really happy that they do what they do for us.”
After opening with an even-par 70, consecutive bogeys on the par-4 fifth – one of many best holes at The Country Club – and the par-3 sixth had him at 2-over-par and far nearer to the lower line than the chief.
He made the flip at 1 over, made a birdie on the thirteenth, chipped in for eagle on the par-5 14th and birdied the par-3 sixteenth for a 3-under 67 that has him at 3 underneath for the event.
His eagle got here the exhausting manner. After hammering his drive 330 yards down the center, his strategy from 273 yards to the elevated inexperienced clipped a tree that overhangs the left facet and dropped down within the tough 55 yards from the opening.
That moved him from to 2 underneath and he rolled in a 10-footer at No. 16 and had a share of the lead for some time as MJ Daffue, who had gotten to six underneath after a birdie at No. 7 and constructed a three-shot lead, however performed the again 9 in 40 for a wild 72 and is 1 underneath general in a share of sixteenth place.
First-round chief Adam Hadwin had a birdie-birdie end to restrict some harm with a 72 and is tied for thirteenth at 2 underneath together with Sam Burns and Matt Fitzpatrick, who received the U.S. Amateur on these grounds in 2013.
Source: www.bostonherald.com