After two killer cutdown days, U.S. Open begins now

Ten of the top 20 players in the world are gone, and the average score is hovering around 77. But halfway through the U.S. Open, the 63 players left are within 10 shots of each other, setting up a weekend full of intriguing possibilities.

By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.com Correspondent

OAKMONT, Pa. -- This U.S. Open has been a real grind.

Yes, they usually are. But this year? Well, we're beginning to get an Oakmonster of a headache.

The annual effort to put forth an excruciating examination of heart, mind and game that defines the best player in the game, the blue blazers have worn us out.

Just imagine what they've done to the field.

We're rolling into the weekend at this 107th U.S. Open and there's no buzz. Let alone many birdies.

Five of the top 10 players in the world are out of it. So are five more of the top 20.

Par is hovering around 77, which makes Paul Casey's 66 on Friday morning was one for the ages, better, some suggested, than Johnny Miller's iconic closing 63 here in 1973.

Tiger Woods is right there, five back with 36 to play. Sound familiar? And there are 63 players in a field that's separated by all of 10 shots, which in major terms is an inch. Maybe less.

But other than that?

Well, did you know that while most of the field was thrashing through rough or putting off a green, three players actually birdied three holes in a row? Geoff Ogilvy, Lee Westwood and amateur Trip Kuehne. The first two play 36 more. Kuehne, after rounds of 79-80, is heading home.

"I think," Westwood said, "there should be some crystal or something."

We have to agree.

As we head into the final 36 at the course where members are punished on a daily basis and their guests are destroyed, we only know a few things for sure.

This one won't come down to Phil Mickelson or Colin Montgomerie -- guys who wanted desperately to begin erasing the memories of what could have been at Winged Foot. And with sun and wind -- and no rain -- in the forecast, the brutal conditions are expected to get worse.

So how bad is it? Tiger says we normal folks can fuhgetaboutit.

"If you're a 10-handicapper, there is no way you're breaking 100 out there, if you played all out on every shot, there is no way," he said. "You just have to be so patient and on top of that you've got to be strong coming out of the rough and you've got to have unbelievable touch on the greens.

"Most 10-handicappers I know don't have that."

This field needs all that and more -- for pars and bogeys.

Yes, this one has the feeling of Bethpage Black, where 10 over made the cut, too. And 63 players. And, you know who won.

Here? Nothing's for sure.

On one hand you have Tiger, the man who lives for tough, going for a third Open. On another you have long hitters like leader Angel Cabrera and Bubba Watson and Aaron Baddeley at the top of a leader board filled with intriguing possibilities.

There are straight, medium hitters like David Toms and Scott Verplank. There are former Open champs Ogilvy, Jim Furyk and Lee Janzen. Current Masters champ Zach Johnson, who slid in under the wire, and former major champs Mike Weir, Ben Curtis and Vijay Singh. And surprising young faces like Anthony Kim, Boo Weekley and Pablo Martin.

So gentlemen, start your focus. This weekend isn't for the timid. The course will push you to the limit and then demand a little more. It will be your job to stay patient and -- above everything else -- not lose your cool.

And, we remind you, stay in the moment.

"You have no other choice," Tiger said. "You have to."

It will come down to who handles it all the best. Who keeps it in the fairway. Who can find a way to put it underneath every hole and be looking at an uphill putt. Who can make a bogey out of a double; who can avoid those triples and four-putts.

Who doesn't make the kind of rookie mistake that had Toms shaking his head Friday afternoon. Why did he try to muscle it out of the rough at 14? And turn a par into a double bogey?

This Open, more than any other, is coming down to walking the line. Figuring out who you are, what works for you and how in the devil you're going to get the best of this relentless brute of a course.

"I know I can't play as stoic as Hogan, and I can't talk as much as Trevino," Tiger said. "You have to be your own person."

As the day came to a close, Tiger headed for the range to work on his swing. Cabrera birdied his last hole to knock 19 players out of the weekend rounds. Toms explained a rookie mistake.

And the course? It was quiet.

Maybe everyone was tired. Maybe everyone was nursing an Oakmonster of a headache.

Or just maybe they were preparing for two more days of this brutal grind.

Like we said, there's been no buzz.

Don't believe us? Well, we'll leave you with this one final note. When Paul Goydos holed out from the fairway for eagle -- one of just four, period, this week -- at the seventh hole Friday, the crowd watched quietly as it tracked toward the hole.

It had to hit the bottom of the cup before the spectators let out a cheer.