A glance at the 2nd round of US Open

A glance at the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in Southampton, New York.

Leading: Dustin Johnson at 4-under 136 after a second-round 67.

Just behind: Scott Piercy and Charley Hoffman are four shots back at even-par 140.

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Where’s Tiger: Gone, after shooting 10 over for two rounds and missing the cut.

Missing out: Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth also missed the cut.

Notable: Six other players have led by four shots or more going into the weekend of the U.S. Open.

Key stat: Players have made triple bogey or worse on all but six holes at Shinnecock Hills.

Quotable: ”Maybe it makes a few people happy out there that, you know, we kind of mess up just as good as everyone else. We’re human, right? We make a mistake.” – Ian Poulter, discussing the triple bogey that left Dustin Johnson as the only player under par.

Featured tee times: Rickie Fowler, Russell Henley, 2:26 p.m. EDT; Scott Piercy, Dustin Johnson, 3:10 p.m.

TV: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Fox.

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Massachusetts firefighter Parziale makes cut at US Open

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) The Massachusetts birthplace of boxing champions Rocky Marciano and Marvin Hagler will have another favorite son to root for this weekend.

Brockton firefighter and Mid-Amateur champion Matt Parziale made the cut at the U.S. Open on Friday, the first Mid-Am to survive the first two rounds since 2003. So while big names like Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy will be going home, Parziale will be at Shinnecock Hills on Father’s Day with his dad, Vic, as his caddie.

”I don’t know why you wouldn’t dream and try to do the best you can,” said Parziale, who also earned an invitation to the Masters with his Mid-Am victory but missed the cut.

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”Anything is possible,” he said. ”It’s been up and down, but I’ve always enjoyed trying to get better.”

Parziale was one of three amateurs to make the cut, which was at 148, or 8 over.

Will Grimmer was the low amateur through 36 holes at 5 over, and Luis Gagne was 6 over. Parziale had to sweat it out after ..

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Column: Golf’s stars battle not to win but to stay alive

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) The shadows were lengthening, the crowds thinning in the early evening at the U.S. Open. Shinnecock Hills itself was changing, morphing from a tortuous test of patience into a place where birdies were not only available but plentiful.

Dustin Johnson might have been off having a cold one somewhere, his place on top of the leaderboard secure. Tiger Woods was on his yacht heading home, his place in golf no longer so secure.

And three of the biggest names in the sport were playing together on their way to the clubhouse, united in a desperate attempt not to win but to find a way to play on the weekend.

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High drama on a Friday, with nothing at stake but a Saturday tee time.

Phil Mickelson managed to get one, playing the final nine in 33 to keep his slim Open hopes alive. Rory McIlroy didn’t, despite shooting 31 on the same back nine where he shot 42 a day earlier.

And then there was Jordan Spieth, who could only stand by the 18th green ..

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Paul Azinger, Phil Mickelson and a spirited gambling game of Hammer, with no shortage of trash talk

FacebookPinterestAl Messerschmidt(Photo by A. Messerschmidt/Getty Images)

Who doesn’t enjoy a good PGA Tour gambling story, including those who participated in them? We were reminded of this when Phil Mickelson birdied the fifth hole in the second round of the U.S. Open on Friday and Fox Sports’ Paul Azinger noted it was only his second birdie of the championship.
“Which is just hard to believe,” Azinger said. “He was a birdie machine. Don’t bump into Phil on a Tuesday or he’ll fleece you.”
Tuesdays are for practice rounds, which often include friendly, and occasionally expensive, wagers. Azinger’s comment brought to mind a story Mickelson once gleefully told me about how he was the one who was fleeced (though no money changed hands) and the man doing the fleecing was Azinger.
It happened in a practice round prior to the Tour Championship at the Olympic Club in 1993. The two were engaged in a game of Hammer and they were playing for $25 hammers, according to Mickelson.
Basically, ieac..

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Shinnecock Hills beats down some big names at US Open

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) The U.S. Open cut sliced off some huge names.

There won’t be an inspiring weekend return to the tournament for Tiger Woods, nor a fifth major championship for Rory McIlroy.

Jordan Spieth won’t get his fourth major, Martin Kaymer never contended for a third and Jason Day is going home without his second. Same deal for some other owners of one major title: Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott and Keegan Bradley.

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Four players ranked in the top 10 in the world won’t be around come Saturday, missing the cut of 8-over 148: No. 4 Spieth, No. 5 Jon Rahm, No. 6 McIlroy and No. 8 Day.

Shinnecock Hills beat them all.

Failure to advance might have been most painful for Spieth, who rallied from a first-round 78 with four straight birdies on his back nine, then bogeyed his final two holes to wind up at 9 over – and done.

Aside from his 2015 win in this event, Spieth has a spotty record. He finished 37th and 35th in the last two U.S. Opens.

Woods, who m..

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So Yeon Ryu shoots 67, leads Meijer LPGA Classic

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) So Yeon Ryu birdied all five par-5 holes in a 5-under 67 to take the second-round lead Friday in the Meijer LPGA Classic.

The sixth-ranked South Korean star played her final nine holes – the front nine at Blythefield Country Club – in 5-under 31 to top the leaderboard at 13-under 131. She rallied after making three bogeys in a five-hole stretch on her first nine.

”I really like with my putting stroke right now,” Ryu said. ”No matter I made it or not, I feel like my stroke is really great and my rhythm’s really great. I really want to keep this tempo and rhythm. And I just need to keep working on some tee shots.”

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Sandra Gal and Sakura Yokomine each shot 64 to reach 12 under. Caroline Masson (66) was 11 under, and Lee-Anne Pace (67), Anna Nordqvist (68) and Su Oh (68) followed at 10 under.

Ryu is winless this season after taking the major ANA Inspiration and Walmart NW Arkansas Championship last year. She has five LPGA Tour victor..

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Woods on expectations for another major win: ‘Absolutely’

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) Hoist the anchor, and set sail the great ship Privacy on a course for Carnoustie Bay, Pebble Beach or some other future site of a golf major.

Tiger Woods isn’t going to win the U.S. Open this year.

He still thinks he can win another major before he’s done.

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”Absolutely,” Woods said after shooting a 2-over 72 at Shinnecock Hills on Friday for a 36-hole total of 10 over that saw him miss the cut.

”They’re not easy,” he said. ”I mean, I’ve won a few of them over the course of my career, and they’re the hardest fields and usually the hardest setups. So they’re meant to be testers, and you don’t win major championships by kind of slapping all around the place and missing putts.

”You have to be on,” he said. ”You just can’t fake it at a major championship.”

Woods couldn’t even fake it for the first 34 holes in Southampton, and despite birdies on the last two holes, he needed a lot of help to avoid the cut for the fifth time in his last..

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