Lefty leaps into contention with 66

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/06/2010 (5782 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — The big boys finally made some noise Friday at the U.S. Open, but the biggest, baddest of them all was about as noticeable as drab stage furniture against the prettiest backdrop in golf.

Tiger Woods, who won by 15 strokes at Pebble Beach 10 years ago, isn’t going to win it this time, unless he can find a way to make up a seven-stroke deficit and leapfrog a couple of dozen bodies with a golf game that’s wheezing along with no inspiration and not much of a putting stroke.

Now, ask those ahead of them if they care.

Graeme McDowell doesn’t. The 30-year-old from Portrush, Northern Ireland, leader at the halfway pole, will have enough to worry about on the weekend, contending with the pack in close pursuit — including, as it does, superstars Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson, 18-year-old phenom Ryo Ishikawa and the absurdly long Dustin Johnson, who’s won the last two Tour events played at Pebble.

Els, twice a winner already this year, matched McDowell’s 68 to sit two strokes off the pace and leave his playing partners, Woods (72-146) and Lee Westwood (71-145) behind.

“It’s been such a long time since I won one of these,” said Els, the 1994 and ’97 U.S. Open champ. “But we’ve got a long way to go. Obviously, I needed a round like today to get me back in the tournament.”

But Mickelson was the afternoon’s main event, rattling off six birdies in his first 11 holes and guiding it home from there en route to the tournament’s best round, a 5-under-par 66 that put him in a tie for second and right back in the hunt after Thursday’s disappointing 75.

“I got the putter going, obviously. These greens, you can lose confidence on them quite quickly because the ball won’t hold its line. The biggest thing for me was I had a lot of uphill putts,” said Mickelson, the Masters champion who suddenly is making a pretty good stab at the second leg of the Grand Slam.

“Well, I’m in a good spot,” he said. “I don’t look at the leaderboard, I don’t look at other players. I look at par. And this is the only tournament really in professional golf that brings out Bobby Jones’s old saying of ‘playing against Old Man Par’ — because if you just can stay around par you’re going to be in the tournament on Sunday, and that’s kind of the goal.”

The hunt, by the way, will be basically Canadian-free, because Mike Weir of Bright’s Grove, Ont., who started the day one stroke off the lead, dropped six strokes to par in his first five holes and only stopped the bleeding once he got to within a shot of the cut line. His second-round 79 left him alive, but near the bottom of the field with 36 holes to go.

Calgary’s Stephen Ames (84-158) and Regina’s Kent Eger both missed the cut.

McDowell, who won the Wales Open two weeks ago at Celtic Manor, where the Ryder Cup will be played this fall, has never been better than second in a PGA Tour event, but he’s contended early in a few majors, including British Opens at Hoylake and Birkdale in the last four years.

“I’m probably as ready to go into the weekend of a major as I’ve ever been. Is this weekend my weekend? I have no idea, but if I get a sniff Sunday afternoon I’ll be ready for it,” said McDowell.

“I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about picking up the trophy on Sunday afternoon. I think that’s only natural. But I’m trying to be very realistic about it, as well. I’m really trying to put no expectations on myself this weekend because, A, I know there’s a lot of great players out here, and B, this golf course can beat you up the second you get out of position.”

McDowell had a chance to finish it off with style, from the middle of the fairway on his final hole, the ninth, but hit his approach shot to back of the green and then putted off the front, making bogey and ending at 3-under-par 139.

“I kind of felt like I hit the first one a little too hard and hit it off the green and you get a little frisky with the one back, and all of a sudden you’ve got that length for a three-putt and you’re thinking, geez, don’t four-putt this thing,” he said. “So I was really happy to get out there with a five. You got to accept your bogeys around here.”

And your triples, too. The par-5 14th dealt a passel of those Friday, including one each to Englishmen Ian Poulter and Paul Casey, and another to PGA champion Y.E. Yang, all of whom who roller-coastered around the radically contoured green like Space Mountain in broad daylight.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Mike McIntyre | On Sports

Thursdays

Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter.

Sign up for Mike McIntyre | On Sports

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

Yang’s round of 83 included five bogeys, a double and two triples over his final nine holes alone. He shot 49 on the back.

First-round co-leader Brendon de Jonge came out firing on his first nine, the back side, and had it to 4 under par, six holes into his round, but began leaking oil and by the time he had played 14 holes, he was back to even par.

Shaun Micheel followed his opening 69 with a sloppy 77 and shot his way out of contention, as did a number of others who shared the limelight Thursday.

But Tom Watson, who won here 28 years ago, survived the cut at age 60, shooting a second-round 71 to make it on the number.

— Canwest News Service