PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – With a 50-footer on the last, Gary Woodland polished off one of the best rounds at a Pebble Beach U.S. Open and created even more separation at the top of the leaderboard.
Woodland is at 9-under 133 – one shot better than Tiger Woods’ total when he went on a historic tear at the 2000 U.S. Open.
But unlike Woods, who ballooned his lead to six shots after 36 holes, Woodland’s advantage is only two, over Justin Rose.
With so many pre-tournament storylines still alive through two rounds, here are five things to watch heading into the weekend at the 119th U.S. Open:
1. Is it Gary Woodland’s time?
The two best major performances of Woodland’s career have come in the past three majors. At the 2018 PGA Championship, he matched the 36-hole scoring mark when he opened with 130 at Bellerive. He then slowed and shot just even par the rest of the weekend, dropping into a tie for sixth, his best major finish to date.
“I learned a lot from that,” Woodland said. “I don’t have to be perfect with my ball-striking, because I’ve got other things that can pick me up. That’s been a big confidence boost for me.”
At 35, Woodland has developed into a more complete player, sharpening his wedges with the help of Pete Cowen and turning into a reliable putter thanks to Phil Kenyon. Those new skills were on display late in his second round. He made a slick up-and-down on the par-4 eighth (his 17th of the day) that kept him in the lead, and then, after finding a divot in the fairway, he canned the 50-footer for birdie on his final hole for an exclamation point on his bogey-free 65.
ARE YOU KIDDING?!?!
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 15, 2019
Gary Woodland caps an unreal 6-under 65 round with a 50-foot birdie.
He leads by 2. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/QM466SGMF9
It’ll be a tough round to back up: Woodland’s 65 matched Woods’ as the best bogey-free score in a Pebble Open.
2. Brooks’ bid for 3 in a row
Vying to become the first in more than a century to capture three consecutive U.S. Opens, Koepka is lurking in a tie for sixth, just five shots off the lead.
Most promisingly: He hasn’t yet played his best golf.
After appearing rusty last week in Canada, Koepka has shown steady improvement with his long game. He spoke of how poorly he struck the ball earlier in the week – he blamed the tight turf on the range – but he currently ranks first in strokes gained: approach.
The trouble spot? Koepka historically hasn’t fared well on poa annua greens, and he’s struggled again through two rounds here. He sits 117th in putting. “Sometimes the hole just needs to open up,” he said.
If nothing else, Koepka’s mere presence has caught the attention of the final group. Said Justin Rose, “Absolutely, he’s a threat. He’s the guy that his name is standing out more than anybody else’s, for sure.”
3. When will the USGA toughen up Pebble?
Through two rounds the U.S. Open setup has been fairly benign, as if the USGA, worn down by years of professional whining, finally relented. In the opening round 39 players broke par, the second-most in championship history, and the 72.66 scoring average – basically identical to this year’s AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, in soft winter conditions – was the lowest opening day in any of the six U.S. Opens contested here.
Scoring was even better Friday, with light winds and more moisture in the air, and Pebble can firm up on most holes save perhaps for Nos. 5, 7, 8 and 14. At about 7,000 yards the course is already short enough that players will be able to stop high-floating wedges into the firm surfaces, but the harder conditions will bring in even more strategy and put a premium on accuracy over the weekend, when the wind is expected to gust no more than 15 mph.
“This golf course has plenty of teeth in it,” Rose said. “Because you’re playing near the ocean and you have to respect Mother Nature, you can’t set it up for perfect weather and not get it. So I think it’s right where it needs to be.”
4. Another side to Rory
This decade McIlroy has showcased the same firepower in each of his 16 PGA Tour wins/majors: In those victories he’s had a winning score of 12 under or better.
That won’t be the case this weekend at the U.S. Open, not with the 36-hole leader at 9 under and tougher course conditions expected.
So that means McIlroy, who made the U.S. Open cut for the first time since 2015, is going to have to show a certain grittiness that has been lacking.
And to this point, McIlroy seems game. After his blowout victory last weekend in Canada, he’s continued to play high-level golf, going 29 consecutive holes without a bogey until a few unforced errors on the back nine. He responded with back-to-back birdies – the first after a 170-yard fairway-bunker shot to inside 10 feet on 15, the latter after rolling in a 25-footer off the back fringe on 16.
It added up to a 69 that left him four back at 5 under – and ready to write a new chapter in his career.
5. The other pursuers
Woodland’s late birdie bomb made the challenge even greater for those who got off to slower starts.
Dustin Johnson easily could have shot in the mid-60s Friday but missed several times inside 15 feet. He’s seven shots behind.
A shot further back is Phil Mickelson, who made a run but bogeyed two of his last four holes. So is Jordan Spieth, who has made nine birdies (good!) but offset them with eight bogeys, many with short-iron approaches (bad!).
And still another shot behind is Tiger Woods, who was sharper with his irons in the second round but mustered only one birdie and made consecutive bogeys to finish. Currently outside the top 30, he needs a low round Saturday to get in the mix.