Big name, first-time major winners have been a trend of late in golf. Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, and Sergio Garcia all picked up their first within the last six major championships. Now, perhaps, it’s the biggest star of all ready to get that burden off his back.
Rickie Fowler’s rolling right along on Friday at the U.S. Open, firing a 2-under-par 34 on the front side at Erin Hills to retain his overnight lead (now at 9-under) for the championship. With a big crowd in tow, Fowler was flawless through the first-time major venue’s opening nine — now playing 27 straight holes without a bogey to open the championship. The highlight of the day so far? This 51-footer for birdie on the long par-5 7th hole to move himself back into the lead alongside Brooks Koepka. He now leads alone at 9-under-par.
A 51-foot downhill putt? No problem for @RickieFowler. #USOpen https://t.co/cpq5vvsLlr
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 16, 2017
Starting on the back nine, Koepka would perhaps be the big mover of the day after his 4-under 32 start to tie Fowler at 9-under, but, well, Hideki Matsuyama. Playing alongside a plenty-impressive Fowler, Matsuyama stole the show on the front nine with a 6-under 30 on the front nine to start the day. It was a tee-to-green clinic for one of the game’s best ballstrikers, and if he keeps it up, Johnny Miller’s 8-under par single round scoring record might be in jeopardy. I walked nearly every step of the way with Fowler and Matsuyama, and it was a ridiculous, clinical display of ballstriking. Give me more of this over the weekend, please.
While conditions were perhaps expected to toughen at Erin Hills on Friday, that hasn’t materialized just yet this afternoon in Wisconsin. With the course’s regular protectionist winds laying down for most of the afternoon, the water & treeless venue’s left with little protection outside of the trademark undulation & fescue. Don’t be surprised if one of those leaders gets to 11-under-par before this thing’s over.
Of course, that hasn’t helped everybody. For the four big names, two are trying to battle back into contention — while two others are already jet-setting out of Wisconsin. Rory McIlroy & Jason Day will miss the cut by a healthy margin, while Dustin Johnson & Jordan Spieth are flirting just above the expected 2-over-par cut line with nine holes to play. If Johnson can’t keep his head above the line, it’ll be the first time in the Official Golf World Ranking era that the world’s top 3 players have all missed a cut at a major.
Here’s the full leaderboard with nine to play for the leaders on Friday.
U.S. Open Leaderboard
Place | Player | Score | Thru | Round 1 | Round 2 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Place | Player | Score | Thru | Round 1 | Round 2 |
T1 | Rickie Fowler | -8 | 11 | 65 | |
T1 | Brooks Koepka | -8 | 11* | 67 | |
T3 | Paul Casey | -7 | F* | 66 | 71 |
T3 | Tommy Fleetwood | -7 | 12 | 67 | |
5 | Brian Harman | -6 | 12 | 67 | |
T6 | Si Woo Kim | -5 | F* | 69 | 70 |
T6 | Xander Schauffele | -5 | F | 66 | 73 |
T6 | Cameron Champ (a) | -5 | F | 70 | 69 |
T6 | Charley Hoffman | -5 | 14 | 70 | |
T6 | Patrick Reed | -5 | 9 | 68 | |
T11 | Brendan Steele | -4 | F | 71 | 69 |
T11 | Marc Leishman | -4 | F* | 68 | 72 |
T11 | Harris English | -4 | F* | 71 | 69 |
T11 | Bill Haas | -4 | F | 72 | 68 |
T11 | Jamie Lovemark | -4 | 13 | 69 | |
T11 | Chez Reavie | -4 | 12* | 75 | |
T11 | Brandt Snedeker | -4 | 11* | 70 | |
T11 | Hideki Matsuyama | -4 | 11 | 74 | |
T11 | J.B. Holmes | -4 | 10* | 69 | |
T20 | William McGirt | -3 | F | 70 | 71 |
T20 | Russell Henley | -3 | F* | 71 | 70 |
T20 | Sergio Garcia | -3 | F* | 70 | 71 |
T20 | Bernd Wiesberger | -3 | F | 69 | 72 |
T20 | Ernie Els | -3 | 9* | 70 | |
T25 | Satoshi Kodaira | -2 | F | 73 | 69 |
T25 | Andrew Johnston | -2 | F* | 69 | 73 |
T25 | Adam Hadwin | -2 | F | 68 | 74 |
T25 | Justin Thomas | -2 | F* | 73 | 69 |
T25 | Jonathan Randolph | -2 | F* | 71 | 71 |
T25 | Yusaku Miyazato | -2 | 13* | 72 | |
T25 | Zach Johnson | -2 | 9 | 71 | |
T25 | Stephan Jaeger | -2 | 7 | 71 | |
T33 | Jack Maguire | -1 | F* | 70 | 73 |
T33 | Eddie Pepperell | -1 | F* | 72 | 71 |
T33 | Scottie Scheffler (a) | -1 | F* | 69 | 74 |
T33 | Matt Fitzpatrick | -1 | F | 70 | 73 |
T33 | Trey Mullinax | -1 | F | 71 | 72 |
T33 | Whee Kim | -1 | 16 | 73 | |
T33 | Gary Woodland | -1 | 10* | 72 | |
T33 | Martin Laird | -1 | 9* | 72 | |
T33 | Martin Kaymer | -1 | 8 | 72 | |
T33 | Jordan Spieth | -1 | 8 | 73 | |
T43 | Brandon Stone | E | F | 70 | 74 |
T43 | Kevin Na | E | F | 68 | 76 |
T43 | Louis Oosthuizen | E | F* | 74 | 70 |
T43 | Jim Furyk | E | F | 70 | 74 |
T43 | Kevin Chappell | E | F | 74 | 70 |
T43 | Stewart Cink | E | F* | 74 | 70 |
T43 | Jordan Niebrugge | E | 15* | 73 | |
T43 | Talor Gooch | E | 15* | 74 | |
T43 | Davis Love IV | E | 14* | 71 | |
T43 | Thomas Aiken | E | 13 | 71 | |
T43 | David Lingmerth | E | 13* | 73 | |
T43 | Michael Putnam | E | 13 | 73 | |
T43 | Lee Westwood | E | 10 | 69 | |
T56 | Daniel Summerhays | 1 | F | 73 | 72 |
T56 | Keegan Bradley | 1 | F | 72 | 73 |
T56 | Shane Lowry | 1 | F | 71 | 74 |
T56 | Steve Stricker | 1 | F* | 73 | 72 |
T56 | Ryan Brehm | 1 | F* | 71 | 74 |
T56 | Kevin Dougherty | 1 | 15* | 71 | |
T56 | Bud Cauley | 1 | 12 | 73 | |
T56 | Rafa Cabrera Bello | 1 | 11* | 72 | |
T56 | Jason Kokrak | 1 | 10* | 75 | |
T56 | Matt Kuchar | 1 | 9 | 74 | |
T56 | Kevin Kisner | 1 | 9* | 74 | |
T56 | Branden Grace | 1 | 9* | 72 | |
T56 | Dustin Johnson | 1 | 8 | 75 | |
T56 | Max Greyserman | 1 | 8* | 76 | |
T56 | Daniel Miernicki | 1 | 7 | 73 | |
T56 | Tyler Light | 1 | 7 | 73 | |
PROJECTED CUT | |||||
T72 | Kyle Thompson | 2 | F | 76 | 70 |
T72 | Yuta Ikeda | 2 | F* | 72 | 74 |
T72 | Pat Perez | 2 | F* | 76 | 70 |
T72 | Richie Ramsay | 2 | F | 73 | 73 |
T72 | Peter Uihlein | 2 | F | 74 | 72 |
T72 | Justin Rose | 2 | F* | 72 | 74 |
T72 | Mason Andersen (a) | 2 | F* | 73 | 73 |
T72 | Hideto Tanihara | 2 | 14 | 72 | |
T72 | Haotong Li | 2 | 13* | 74 | |
T72 | Webb Simpson | 2 | 9* | 74 | |
T72 | Lucas Glover | 2 | 9* | 74 | |
T72 | Joaquin Niemann (a) | 2 | 7 | 74 | |
T84 | Chris Wood | 3 | F | 73 | 74 |
T84 | Adam Scott | 3 | F* | 72 | 75 |
T84 | C.T. Pan | 3 | F | 73 | 74 |
T84 | Henrik Stenson | 3 | F* | 74 | 73 |
T84 | Charl Schwartzel | 3 | F* | 71 | 76 |
T84 | Byeong Hun An | 3 | F | 71 | 76 |
T84 | Maverick McNealy (a) | 3 | F | 73 | 74 |
T84 | Alex Smalley (a) | 3 | F | 73 | 74 |
T84 | Ryan Palmer | 3 | 15 | 78 | |
T84 | Bradley Dredge | 3 | 13 | 74 | |
T84 | Thomas Pieters | 3 | 11* | 76 | |
T84 | Angel Cabrera | 3 | 9 | 71 | |
T84 | Francesco Molinari | 3 | 9 | 74 | |
T84 | Christopher Crawford (a) | 3 | 8* | 75 | |
T98 | Troy Merritt | 4 | F | 74 | 74 |
T98 | Bubba Watson | 4 | F* | 75 | 73 |
T98 | Roberto Diaz | 4 | F* | 72 | 76 |
T98 | Brice Garnett | 4 | 14* | 75 | |
T98 | Paul Dunne | 4 | 13* | 75 | |
T98 | Alex Noren | 4 | 11* | 73 | |
T98 | Jon Rahm | 4 | 11 | 76 | |
T98 | Ross Fisher | 4 | 10 | 75 | |
T98 | Graeme McDowell | 4 | 10 | 76 | |
T98 | Scott Gregory (a) | 4 | 9* | 75 | |
T98 | Tyson Alexander | 4 | 8* | 71 | |
T109 | Gregory Bourdy | 5 | F* | 77 | 72 |
T109 | Sean O'Hair | 5 | F* | 76 | 73 |
T109 | Rory McIlroy | 5 | F* | 78 | 71 |
T109 | Sam Ryder | 5 | F | 76 | 73 |
T109 | Shugo Imahira | 5 | 15 | 76 | |
T109 | J.T. Poston | 5 | 13* | 78 | |
T109 | Jeunghun Wang | 5 | 13 | 76 | |
T109 | Tyrrell Hatton | 5 | 11* | 76 | |
T109 | Russell Knox | 5 | 9* | 73 | |
T109 | Joel Stalter | 5 | 7 | 77 | |
T109 | Sahith Theegala (a) | 5 | 7 | 77 | |
T120 | Wade Ormsby | 6 | F | 75 | 75 |
T120 | Chan Kim | 6 | F* | 74 | 76 |
T120 | Brad Dalke (a) | 6 | F | 78 | 72 |
T120 | Bryson DeChambeau | 6 | F | 74 | 76 |
T120 | Scott Piercy | 6 | F | 72 | 78 |
T120 | Jimmy Walker | 6 | F* | 77 | 73 |
T120 | Ted Potter Jr. | 6 | 16 | 74 | |
T120 | Matt Wallace | 6 | 15 | 76 | |
T128 | Oliver Bekker | 7 | F | 75 | 76 |
T128 | Ben Kohles | 7 | F* | 77 | 74 |
T128 | George Coetzee | 7 | F* | 72 | 79 |
T128 | Jason Dufner | 7 | 14 | 76 | |
T132 | Corey Conners | 8 | F* | 76 | 76 |
T132 | Alexander Levy | 8 | F | 77 | 75 |
T132 | Jhonattan Vegas | 8 | F* | 77 | 75 |
T132 | Roberto Castro | 8 | F | 76 | 76 |
T132 | Emiliano Grillo | 8 | F | 76 | 76 |
T132 | Andy Pope | 8 | F | 77 | 75 |
T132 | Andres Romero | 8 | 14* | 74 | |
T132 | Aaron Rai | 8 | 13* | 73 | |
T132 | Scott Harvey (a) | 8 | 13 | 78 | |
T141 | Daniel Berger | 9 | F | 78 | 75 |
T141 | Derek Barron | 9 | F* | 70 | 83 |
T141 | Stewart Hagestad (a) | 9 | 12* | 77 | |
T144 | Nick Flanagan | 10 | F | 75 | 79 |
T144 | Jason Day | 10 | F* | 79 | 75 |
T144 | John Oda (a) | 10 | F* | 78 | 76 |
T144 | Matt Campbell | 10 | 7* | 77 | |
148 | Gene Sauers | 11 | 12* | 77 | |
T149 | Brian Stuard | 12 | F* | 81 | 75 |
T149 | Daniel Chopra | 12 | 16 | 77 | |
T149 | Billy Horschel | 12 | 9* | 79 | |
T149 | Garrett Osborn | 12 | 7* | 83 | |
153 | Roman Robledo | 13 | F* | 78 | 79 |
T154 | Wesley Bryan | 15 | F | 76 | 83 |
T154 | Walker Lee (a) | 15 | 7* | 81 | |
WD | Danny Willett | 9 | 81 |