June16 USOpen

The third round of the 107th US Open is underway, and early signs are that the course is going to play harder than ever. There are some high scores among the early starters; and Michael Campbell, the champion from a couple of years ago, went out in 4-over-par 39. European interest centred around Anders Hansen who was out in 5-over-par 40, while Olazabal made a bogey at the 2nd to be 9-over for the tournament. Ian Poulter was one of the few to get off to a flyer, making pars at the first two holes, before following it with a birdie at the 3rd.
But real interest later today will revolve around whether Paul Casey or Justin Rose can keep their challenge going in the trying conditions.
Yesterday, they both did enough to suggest that this could well be an historic weekend for English golf.
Justin Rose is two shots off the lead held by Argentinian Angel Cabrera, while Paul Casey is a shot further back. With almost the last shot of the day in the second round, Cabrera put a number of big names out the tournament, including Phil Mickelson, and the Argentinian leads by a shot from Bubba Watson and by two from Aaron Baddeley, Stephen Ames and Justin Rose.
But it was Casey’s round of 66 which got even Tiger’s attention, three shots better than anyone else in the field. “That’s amazing golf,” said the world number one after shooting a 74, which puts him at 5-over for the tournament.. “It was very tough out there today, and if they don’t put water on this, it’s only going to get tougher. I’m glad I was wearing spikes on my shoes, otherwise I would have slid off the 1st green.”
Rose had another 71 which he described as “much better than yesterday’s 71. “I’m in a great position,” he said, “You just can’t get ahead of yourself on this course. You never know what’s around the corner. You’re fighting for pars, staying patient, trying to do all the right things.”
Further down the leaderboard it was a tale of train crashes. The world number 2, 3 and 4, Jim Furyk (75), Phil Mickelson (77) and Adam Scott (82), shot a combined total of 24 over par between them.
There was also controversy of a sorts when, for the second day in a row, Phil Mickelson as good as blamed the USGA for his injured wrist. A USGA spokesman was hauled into the press centre and asked whether his organisation listened to players comments about the course. “We listen,” said James Hyler, the Chairman of the USGA Championship Committee with a grin “but what they say doesn’t impact on how we set up the course. “We want a rigorous, hard test of golf that is fair and that’s what we’re trying to give the players. We have our philosophy and that’s what we’re sticking to.”
Among the big names to miss the cut which came at 10-over-par were Adam Scott, Retief Goosen and Trevor Immelman. And there were some big-name Europeans as well who will not be here for the weekend, including Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald and Colin Montgomerie.
But hold on to your seats folks, because this has all the ingredients of a very tense 48 hours.

So, at half-way, the leaderboard reads:
140 Angel Cabrera
141 Bubba Watson
142, Aaron Baddeley, Justin Rose, Stephen Ames, Niclas Fasth
143 Paul Casey, Brandt Snedeker, Tom Pernice, Carl Pettersen, David Toms, Scott Verplank

Other European 2nd round scores:
144 (+4) 72, 72 Carl Pettersen; 71, 73 Peter Hanson
145 (+5) 68, 77 Nick Dougherty; 73, 72 Graeme McDowell
147 (+7) 72, 75 Lee Westwood, 71, 76 Pablo Martin
148 (+8) 70, 78 Jose Maria Olazabal
149 (+9) 72, 77 Ian Poulter
150 (+10) 74, 76 Kenneth Ferrie, 71, 79 Anders Hansen

Missing the cut:
151 (+11) 76, 75 Soren Kjeldsen; 74, 77 Luke Donald; 75, 76 Thomas Bjorn; 75, 76 Johan Edfors
152 (+12) 78, 74 Richie Ramsay
153 (+13) 73, 80 Padraig Harrington
154 (+14) 73, 81 Anthony Wall; 79, 75 Sergio Garcia
155 (+15) 76, 79 Martin Laird, 79, 76 Henrik Stenson
157 (+17) 74, 83 Rhys Davies
158 (+18) 77, 81 Robert Karlsson; 76, 82 Colin Montgomerie
163 (+23) 78, 85 Christian Cevaer
167 (+27) 78, 89 Sam Walker