Johnson takes 4-shot lead into weekend at US Open
Published 10:51 pm Friday, June 15, 2018
SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) — Shinnecock Hills is no longer the only challenge at this U.S. Open.
On a course that can cause problems in any weather, where triple bogeys or worse have been recorded on all but six holes, perhaps the most daunting prospect going into the weekend is Dustin Johnson with a four-shot lead.
Johnson played smart on the few occasions he was out of position, holed a 45-foot birdie putt on the par-3 seventh green and endured wind and two hours of rain Friday morning for a 3-under 67.
He was at 4-under 136, the only player still under par going into the weekend. Scott Piercy (71) and Charley Hoffman (69) were at even par.
“You’ve got to play really good golf if you want to shoot a good score, and I like where par is a good score on every hole, no matter what club you’ve got in your hand, what hole it is,” Johnson said.
Only six other players in the U.S. Open have led by as many as four shots after 36 holes. All but one — Tom McNamara in 1909 — went on to win.
Even so, there’s plenty of reminders of how it can all go wrong — some of them from Johnson’s own experiences, most of them from the final few hours Friday afternoon in perfect weather from those trying to catch him.
Shinnecock can punish anyone in a New York minute.
“There’s a disaster on every single hole,” Ian Poulter said moments after he went through one.
Poulter was one shot out of the lead and in the middle of the fairway with two holes to go when one bad shot led to a few more that were just as worse — a bunker shot that sailed over the green, a chunked chip into the hay, a chop short of the green and a triple bogey on No. 8. He made bogey on his last hole for a 72.
“I felt stupid knifing the first one,” he said. “I felt even more stupid semi-chunking the next one, and I didn’t do much better on the next one, either. So maybe it makes a few people happy out there that, you know, we kind of mess up just as good as everyone else.”
Poulter didn’t lose sight of being in a tie for fourth, five shots out of the lead.
Hoffman was the only other player under par until he missed the 18th fairway and had to chop it down the fairway and make a 5-foot putt to escape with bogey.
“Dustin plays a whole different golf game than I play, so I’m not going to play the guy,” Hoffman said.
“I’m just going to keep playing my game. You’re going to try to hit fairways. Because if you don’t hit the fairway, you’re not getting to the green.”
Tiger Woods won’t be around to see how it unfolds, and plenty of star power joined him on the way out of town.
Woods closed with back-to-back birdies to salvage a 72. He still missed the cut in a major for the fifth time in his last eight tries, this time by two shots. Rory McIlroy missed the cut for the third straight year in the U.S. Open, unable to recover from his opening 80. Jason Day opened with a 79 and missed the cut.
Jordan Spieth joined them in the most unlikely fashion. He took three shots to get up the slope and onto the 10th green, making double bogey. He was three shots over the cut line with six holes to play when he ran off four straight birdies to get inside the number — only to three-putt for bogey on the 17th, stub a chip from the collar of a bunker on the 18th and miss the par putt for a 71. He had not missed the cut in a major since the 2014 PGA Championship.
Piercy, a runner-up to Johnson at Oakmont two years ago, had a 71 and will play in the final group with him Saturday. Piercy’s day was not without regrets, especially when he three-putted from 4 feet for bogey on the par-5 16th.
Defending champion Brooks Koepka made six birdies over his last 11 holes for a 66, matching Tommy Fleetwood for the low round of the tournament. They were at 141, along with Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose, each with a 70, and Poulter.
Koepka and Johnson are close friends, so he should know as well as anyone what will make it hard to catch him.
“This golf course,” Koepka said. “There’s not many birdies. There’s a disaster around every corner. I mean, all it takes is one shot in the fescue, and you could be in there for a while. But you need a good round tomorrow just to give yourself a chance. Anything within three shots of the lead on the back Sunday, anything can happen.”
Rose also was under par until closing with successive bogeys. With 36 holes to play, he wasn’t overly concerned about tracking down the No. 1 player in the world.
“You just saw what happened to Ian Poulter five minutes ago. That could happen to DJ,” Rose said. “I’m not saying it’s going to, but it could. That’s the nature of the U.S. Open. So hang around is often the best form of attack.”
Johnson knows that all too well.
He had a three-shot lead at Pebble Beach in the 2010 U.S. Open and lost it all on the second hole with a triple bogey, and then compounded mistakes by trying to drive the green on the next two holes. He shot 82. He has endured more than his share of bad luck, bad breaks and bad shots in the majors.
His outlook at Shinnecock Hills has been built on patience and being practical.
“I never want to make doubles,” Johnson said. “Around here, it seems like when I do get out of position, I’m just trying to do everything I can to get it back into position, not try to push it, and just give myself a decent look … something on the green where I can have a look at par.
“I want to make things as easy as possible, even though they don’t get any easier.”
But this is far from over. Johnson knows that as well as anyone. So does Rose, who overcame an eight-shot deficit against Johnson in the final round in Shanghai last fall at the HSBC Champions.
U.S. Open
U.S. Open Scores
Friday
At Shinnecock Hills Golf Club
Southampton, N.Y.
Purse: $12 million
Yardage: 7,445; Par: 70 (35-35)
Second Round
a-denotes amateur
Dustin Johnson 69-67 — 136
Scott Piercy 69-71 — 140
Charley Hoffman 71-69 — 140
Tommy Fleetwood 75-66 — 141
Henrik Stenson 71-70 — 141
Justin Rose 71-70 — 141
Brooks Koepka 75-66 — 141
Ian Poulter 69-72 — 141
Russell Henley 69-73 — 142
Rickie Fowler 73-69 — 142
Marc Leishman 74-69 — 143
Matthew Fitzpatrick 73-70 — 143
Charles Howell 71-72 — 143
Rafa Cabrera Bello 73-71 — 144
Alex Noren 72-72 — 144
Jim Furyk 73-71 — 144
Pat Perez 73-71 — 144
Justin Thomas 74-70 — 144
Jason Dufner 70-74 — 144
Tyler Duncan 77-67 — 144
Brian Harman 74-70 — 144
Patrick Rodgers 72-72 — 144
Russell Knox 73-71 — 144
Mickey DeMorat 72-72 — 144
Calum Hill 75-69 — 144
Ryan Fox 73-72 — 145
a-Will Grimmer 73-72 — 145
Brendan Steele 72-73 — 145
Jimmy Walker 75-70 — 145
Branden Grace 76-69 — 145
Patrick Reed 73-72 — 145
Tyrrell Hatton 75-70 — 145
Hideki Matsuyama 75-70 — 145
Bryson DeChambeau 76-69 — 145
Xander Schauffele 72-74 — 146
Aaron Baddeley 74-72 — 146
Patrick Cantlay 75-71 — 146
Louis Oosthuizen 74-72 — 146
Paul Casey 73-73 — 146
Zach Johnson 73-73 — 146
Phil Mickelson 77-69 — 146
Andrew Johnston 73-73 — 146
Dylan Meyer 77-69 — 146
Chris Naegel 73-73 — 146
Sam Burns 71-76 — 147
Brian Gay 73-74 — 147
Peter Uihlein 75-72 — 147
Tony Finau 75-72 — 147
Webb Simpson 76-71 — 147
Francesco Molinari 75-72 — 147
Ross Fisher 76-71 — 147
Haotong Li 79-68 — 147
Byeong Hun An 71-76 — 147
a-Matt Parziale 74-73 — 147
Kevin Chappell 75-72 — 147
Daniel Berger 76-71 — 147
a-Luis Gagne 73-74 — 147
Dean Burmester 75-73 — 148
Gary Woodland 79-69 — 148
Steve Stricker 73-75 — 148
Kiradech Aphibarnrat 76-72 — 148
Brandt Snedeker 72-76 — 148
Cameron Wilson 75-73 — 148
Matthieu Pavon 71-77 — 148
Jhonattan Vegas 76-72 — 148
Bill Haas 76-72 — 148
Tim Wilkinson 76-72 — 148
Failed to Qualify
Roberto Castro 75-74 — 149
Emiliano Grillo 76-73 — 149
Lucas Glover 77-72 — 149
Graeme McDowell 79-70 — 149
Si Woo Kim 73-76 — 149
Chez Reavie 75-74 — 149
a-Braden Thornberry 76-73 — 149
Matthew Southgate 77-72 — 149
Jason Scrivener 78-71 — 149
Eric Axley 73-76 — 149
Jordan Spieth 78-71 — 149
Thorbjorn Olesen 76-73 — 149
Sungjae Im 76-73 — 149
Matthew Wallace 77-72 — 149
Lanto Griffin 76-73 — 149
Matthew Jones 76-74 — 150
Tiger Woods 78-72 — 150
Brian Stuard 74-76 — 150
Sebastian Vazquez 77-73 — 150
Rory McIlroy 80-70 — 150
Shubhankar Sharma 74-76 — 150
a-Tyler Strafaci 78-72 — 150
Aaron Wise 77-74 — 151
Cameron Smith 79-72 — 151
Sebastian Munoz 80-71 — 151
Will Zalatoris 80-71 — 151
Chesson Hadley 76-75 — 151
Mackenzie Hughes 76-75 — 151
Bubba Watson 77-74 — 151
Tom Lewis 79-72 — 151
Ollie Schniederjans 76-76 — 152
Luke List 75-77 — 152
Kevin Kisner 77-75 — 152
Jason Day 79-73 — 152
Charl Schwartzel 79-73 — 152
Danny Willett 75-77 — 152
Matt Kuchar 74-78 — 152
Cole Miller 78-74 — 152
Richie Ramsay 77-76 — 153
Adam Scott 78-75 — 153
Trey Mullinax 79-74 — 153
David Bransdon 79-74 — 153
a-Doug Ghim 79-74 — 153
Sung Joon Park 81-72 — 153
Paul Waring 78-76 — 154
Ted Potter 76-78 — 154
Sergio Garcia 75-79 — 154
Kyle Stanley 75-79 — 154
Shane Lowry 75-79 — 154
Christopher Babcock 78-76 — 154
a-Rhett Rasmussen 80-74 — 154
Scott Stallings 80-74 — 154
Harold Varner 79-75 — 154
Michael Putnam 78-76 — 154
Wenchong Liang 79-76 — 155
Keegan Bradley 81-74 — 155
Jon Rahm 78-77 — 155
a-Stewart Hagestad 81-74 — 155
Michael Miller 77-78 — 155
a-Theo Humphrey 84-72 — 156
Ryan Evans 78-78 — 156
Richy Werenski 76-80 — 156
a-Jacob Bergeron 81-75 — 156
a-Chun An Yu 76-81 — 157
Ernie Els 78-79 — 157
Lucas Herbert 83-74 — 157
David Gazzolo 76-81 — 157
Alexander Levy 77-80 — 157
Kenny Perry 79-79 — 158
Martin Kaymer 83-75 — 158
Adam Hadwin 83-75 — 158
Rikuya Hoshino 79-79 — 158
a-Ryan Lumsden 82-76 — 158
James Morrison 81-77 — 158
a-Franklin Huang 82-76 — 158
a-Timothy Wiseman 83-75 — 158
a-Garrett Rank 83-75 — 158
Dylan Frittelli 78-80 — 158
Satoshi Kodaira 81-77 — 158
a-Kristoffer Reitan 81-77 — 158
Shota Akiyoshi 82-77 — 159
a-Noah Goodwin 81-78 — 159
a-Harry Ellis 80-79 — 159
a-Shintaro Ban 81-78 — 159
Sulman Raza 82-77 — 159
Michael Hebert 87-73 — 160
a-Philip Barbaree 82-79 — 161
Michael Block 85-78 — 163
Scott Gregory 92-75 — 167