OAKMONT, Pa. — A microcosm of the difficulty of Oakmont Country Club Friday can be summarized by Nick Taylor’s effort on the second hole. The Canadian found the fairway off the tee and had just 105 yards left to try to attack the green.
Alas, his approach shot, which Taylor told Sportsnet would have finished 15 or 20 feet away at most places, rolled all the way back to 50 yards from the hole.
“You have to check yourself,” Taylor said. “It’s just difficult.”
It is the most common of refrains around this major championship and certainly, this golf course, as the best in the world have been made to look silly through 36 holes and there are only three golfers under par heading into the weekend. The front nine Friday played a full three shots over par while the scoring average was, again, just a shade below 5-over par.
Sam Burns, who lost in a playoff at last week’s RBC Canadian Open, leads the way at 3 under through 36 holes after shooting a 5-under 65 on Friday.
First-round leader J.J. Spaun is at 2 under, while Viktor Hovland is at 1 under.
There are more golfers who are 20-over or worse through 36 holes than there are in red figures.
Burns made just one bogey on the day, on his first hole, and added four birdies in his final eight holes to come in with the round of the week so far. He gained more than 9.7 strokes to the field Friday with his 65, by far the best statistical major-championship round of the season.
Burns was not immune to Oakmont’s tough test, but he was just able to manage it better than anyone else on Friday. There’s still plenty of golf to be played, but 36 of the last 40 winners of the U.S. Open have been in the top 10 through two rounds.
“I think mentally there’s no just kind of gimme hole. There’s no hole where you can get up there and just hit it and not really pay attention to what you’re trying to do,” Burns said. “I think it requires a lot of focus on every shot, and even when you’re in the rough and you’re trying to get it back in the fairway, it’s just every shot is difficult.”
Burns, who is a five-time PGA Tour winner, has had a pedestrian collection of finishes at major championships in his career. His first, and only, top-10 result at a major came last year at the U.S. Open.
Burns — who has 11 birdies through two days, the same number of birdies that Dustin Johnson had for the entire championship when he won in 2016 — admitted Friday he had been trying to be “a little too perfect” around major setups but Oakmont “forces” golfers to take their medicine.
“A lot of the times that’s the only option you have,” Burns explained. “I think for this golf course you really just have to free it up. It’s too hard to try to guide it around here. You’re going to hit some in the rough, you’re going to hit some in some bad spots — so you might as well do it with authority.”
The cut came at 7 over.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler appeared destined for an unfathomable early exit before making three birdies in his final eight holes to finish at 4-over through two days. Scheffler hit only seven greens on Friday and was 116th in strokes gained: off the tee.
“It’s not overly complicated,” Scheffler said, “it’s just difficult.”
Among the notables to miss the cut include defending champion Bryson DeChambeau, former world No. 1 Justin Thomas, two-time winner this season Sepp Straka, past U.S. Open winners Justin Rose, Gary Woodland, Lucas Glover, and Johnson (the 2016 champ at Oakmont), along with superstar-in-waiting Ludvig Aberg.
Rory McIlroy hit his approach shot on his final hole of the day to just 4 feet for a closing birdie to give himself a bit of a cushion on the cutline — but that tidy finish came after he both threw a club (on 12) and smashed a tee marker (on 17) on Friday.
Beyond Taylor, the Canadian contingent all had their moments — good and bad — through Friday, but all four will find the weekend.
To Taylor’s credit, he’s staged a pair of impressive rallies over the first two days. He started 4 over through six holes Thursday and was 4 over through three holes Friday.
“Obviously a frustrating gut punch to start the day […] it could have gone south quickly, and it was, but I hung in there and only had one bogey the rest of the way with a bunch of nice putts coming in,” Taylor said.
Corey Conners was 2 under through his first five holes but went 6 over for his final 10 holes to tumble into the house. The good news for Conners, who sits at 6 over through 36 holes, was that he putted the lights out Friday — sitting first in strokes gained: putting (for maybe just the second time in his career). The putter saved him, as he was essentially last in the field in driving and ball striking.
Mackenzie Hughes is at 5 over and was actually fairly pleased with his two-day effort as, yes (of course!) he made bogeys — but he hasn’t made any double bogeys. He’s contained his mistakes.
“What I’m most proud of is that I’ve taken some punches in the teeth out there and remained level and thought through my options and made clear decisions. When you do that, you limit the damage,” Hughes said. “You put it in trouble, don’t make a second mistake. I’ve done a nice job of that so far and I think just staying patient and staying level is a nice skill to have.”
Taylor Pendrith was the only Canadian to play through the afternoon wave.
He made birdie on two of his first four holes but struggled around the turn, making three straight bogeys on Nos. 7-9 (to Pendrith’s credit, Nos. 8 and 9 were the two hardest holes on the course on Friday). He added two more birdies on Nos. 11-12 plus another circle on the card on 17 before suffering a rude lip-out for par on 18 en route to a 2-over 72.
Still, Pendrith and Taylor are just seven back of the lead. They know it will be tricky to stage a comeback, but, certainly, another solid finish for a Canadian at a major in 2025 is in the cards.
A lot of the biggest names in the game are either down the leaderboard or already wheels down at home, so we’ll leave, then, the last word to Denny McCarthy — who is tied with Taylor and Pendrith at 4-over, and is likely somewhere icing his jaw.
“It’s just kind of the common theme; everyone seems like they’re exhausted when they come in off the course just because it’s a punch in the face,” McCarthy said. “Even if you’ve played okay and grind it out and shoot a couple under to a couple over, it’s still just a grind. It just takes a lot out of you.”
And the reward for everyone who has played well so far over 36 holes?
They get to play 36 more.
