A surprise leader and even more surprising departure
Soon after Steve Stricker celebrated a chip-in birdie on his final hole to take the outright lead on a Friday full of eyebrow-raising highs and lows at Winged Foot, Tiger Woods closed out his second straight 76 to miss his first pro cut in a major.
By T.J. Auclair, Junior Editor
MAMARONECK, N.Y. -- The U.S. Open is known as the toughest test in golf, but on Friday Winged Foot showed it can be a little wacky at times.
For proof, look no further than Tiger Woods, who missed the cut at a major championship for the first time in his professional career on Friday. Or Steve Stricker, who hasn't had his PGA Tour card in two years and hasn't had the lead at a major since 1998.
The U.S. Open cut falls at the top 60 and ties, plus any players within 10 shots of the lead. At the end of two rounds, Woods was neither.
After Stricker posted a brilliant round of 1-under-par 69 -- only the sixth sub-par round of the championship -- he got to 1-under for the tournament on a gorgeous afternoon at Winged Foot.
Padraig Harrington (69, T5), Arron Oberholser (68, T7), David Duval (68, T14) and Luke Donald (69, T29) were the only other players under par Friday.
Woods, about one hour behind Stricker, shot a disappointing and frustrating 6-over 76 that matched his first-round score and put him at 12-over for the tournament -- his highest 36-hole score as a professional and three shots shy of the cut, which eventually fell at 9-over 149. Woods missed an astounding 21 of 28 fairways over his two rounds and his performance marked his first missed cut in a major since turning professional in 1997, ending a streak of 37 straight highlighted by 10 wins.
"I thought I was playing well enough to shoot an under-par round today and I didn't do that," said Woods, who was playing in his first tournament since the Masters and the May 3 death of his father, Earl.
After a routine par at the par-3 10th hole -- his first of the day -- Woods made a terrific par at No. 11. After finding trouble with his tee shot, he was forced to punch out back into the fairway, leaving about a 100-yard third shot to the 396-yard par 4. From there, he stiffed his approach to within two feet of the hole and tapped in for a hard-earned par.
At the 458-yard, par-4 14th, Woods hit his first bump of the day, and it was a big one -- a double-bogey. In the greenside rough in two, Woods chunked a chip that rolled onto the green, but well short of the hole. His par putt ran three feet past the hole and he missed the bogey putt coming back to go to 8 over.
Trouble found Woods again at No. 16, only this time it was a serious case of bad luck. After a perfect drive, he had just an 8-iron left to the 478-yard par 4. There are several trees at Winged Foot that overhang the testy greens. Tiger's approach hit one of those trees and, with arguably the worst bounce in major championship history, his ball caromed 50 yards behind the green and under more trees. From there, his eventual double-bogey to fall to 10-over was impressive. He birdied No. 8 to move to 9-over and made the turn at that same mark.
Woods would go on to bogey Nos. 4, 8 and 9 on his back nine, all because of adventures in the grueling rough.
"I just didn't put it together at the right time," he said. "I didn't execute properly and, consequently, I shot 6-over. I felt like if I kept plugging along, I could have turned it around."
While Woods struggled dearly, Stricker made a move. Entering the second round at even par, he picked up a birdie after sticking his approach to five feet at No. 18, his ninth hole of the day, to get in the red.
Stricker, 39, dazzled the Winged Foot crowd with a hole-outs from greenside bunkers for birdies at both Nos. 2 and 9. He had it to 2-under through 11 holes after the birdie at No. 2 -- his 11th hole of the day -- but took bogeys at Nos. 7 and 8, missing putts from 12 and 15 feet, respectively, after blasting out of bunkers.
Stricker then found himself in the sand left of the ninth green and fearful of another bogey. But the ball took one bounce and disappeared into the cup for a birdie and a 1-under 69, leaving him the only player under par going into the weekend.
"It's tough to explain," said Stricker. "But that's the game of golf."
Still, he was thrilled with his round, which gave him a one-shot edge over Colin Montgomerie, who turned in a 17-par, one-bogey 71, and two-shot cushion over Geoff Ogilvy and Kenneth Ferrie. Jim Furyk and Padraig Harrington trail by three shots at 2-over, while Phil Mickelson was in a group of four players at 3-over.
"When I had it going today and knew I was well inside the cut and leading the tournament, I was actually having a lot of fun with it and really didn't feel a whole lot of pressure," said Stricker, whose best finish in a major was second at the 1998 PGA Championship at Sahalee. "I started feeling a little bit more pressure when I started making a couple of bogeys, but, I really enjoyed that a lot. I didn't have to worry about, like I said, making the cut and playing on the weekend. I was well inside that number."
For the second day in a row, Montgomerie put on a fine show. The only thing missing from Montgomerie's brilliant career is a major title, and arguably none has left him more baffled than the U.S. Open, where he has twice finished second and once third.
But on Friday, he was steady off the tee and on his scorecard. The best player without a major suddenly looks like it's not too late to shed that burdensome baggage.
"We're halfway there now," Montgomerie said. "It's about time we talked about winning. Of course, yeah, I have a chance, OK? That's all it is. My job in any competition and any tournament or any championship that I enter is to try to get into contention on Saturday night. So, tomorrow's round is very important to stay in there and to give myself a chance on Sunday."
And for all the thrills and mostly spills, two players considered favorites at this championship were looming not far from lead.
One of them was Furyk, the 2003 winner at Olympia Fields. He ran off nine straight pars before hitting a few bumps coming in, but still managed a 72 and was at 212, along with Padraig Harrington (69).
The other was Mickelson, who celebrated his 36th birthday Friday, as if the fans needed more reason to cheer.
The Masters champion, trying to join Woods as the only players in the last 50 years to win three straight majors, opened with consecutive bogeys and appeared headed down the leader board like so many others. But he limited his mistakes, including an up-and-down on his final hole to escape with bogey. Mickelson wound up with a 73, and at 3-over 213 was four shots behind.
"Bogeys are OK," Mickelson said, rare words from a guy who thrives on birdies. "I'm within four shots with two rounds to go. I'm where I wanted to be. All I wanted is a chance."
Lefty's only birdie came on a 30-foot putt on the par-3 13th, but the highlight of his round might have been a bogey on his last hole. Mickelson sliced his tee shot under the trees, and thought he had enough room to get out of trouble. But he caught it fat with a 9-iron, and the ball clipped a branch and settled in deep rough.
He chopped out to more rough in the front of the green, then chipped to 3 feet for bogey.
"Obviously, that could have been a disastrous hole," Mickelson said. "But I feel good about it."
Graeme McDowell (72), Oberholser and Jason Dufner (71) joined Mickelson at 143. Dufner is the only contender to have made it here through local and sectional qualifying, and in between he won a Nationwide Tour event.
Oglivy, who is having the best year of his young career this season with a win at the WGC-Accenture Match Play, carded an even-par 70 Friday.
"It feels pretty good," he said. "I mean, even par never really feels like 4- or 5-under-par because it's a grind, you know what I mean? But yeah, now that I'm finished and I look back and realize that I'm only 1 over par after two rounds around here, that's pretty nice playing, I think."
Duval tied Oberholser for low round of the tournament honors with his unexpected 2-under 68 Friday. That put Duval at 5-over for the tournament and gave him his first made cut in a major since 2002 PGA Championship, where he tied for 34th.
"I'm playing well," Duval said. "I'll say it again, I'm playing very well. I made some putts today a couple of times when I needed to, to keep my round going. I did it, and the little things added up a little bit better today than they have the past six months of this year so far."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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