Sam Burns is the leader after 36 holes of play at Oakmont after a sizzling round of 65 (-5) on Friday morning. Only two other players have shot lower scores than Burns at a U.S. Open at Oakmont: Johnny Miller had a 63 in 1973 and Loren Roberts had a 64 in 1994. Eight other players have held a one-shot lead after 36 holes at the U.S. Open since 2000. Only two of them have gone on to win: Angel Cabrera and Dustin Johnson – both of whom won at Oakmont. Burns’ highest major finish is a tie for ninth at last year’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst.
J.J. Spaun sits just one shot back of Burns after a second round of 72 (+2). After a bogey-free round on Thursday, Spaun made six bogeys during Friday’s round. He hit three more fairways Friday than he did Thursday and hit the same number of greens in regulation, his putter wasn’t very cooperative.
Viktor Hovland is in third at one-under after rounds of 71(+1) and 68 (-2) heading into the weekend. Hovland leads the field in strokes gained tee-to-green and average proximity to the hole on approach shots.
Thriston Lawrence held the lead at six-under par after three consecutive birdies. But he followed that up with four bogeys on his next five holes. Two more bogeys and a double bogey dropped him to one-over after 36 holes.
Oakmont showed its teeth on Friday with 17 of the 18 holes playing over par. Only three players are under par while there were eleven players with scores of 20-over or higher. Burns had the lowest score of the day with a 65 while the highest score of the day was an 89 (+19) by George Duangmanee. The 24-stroke gap is the largest in any U.S. Open round played at Oakmont.
Multiple former major champions will not be playing the weekend at Oakmont. Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Cam Smith, Justin Thomas, Justin Rose and Shane Lowry are all heading home early.
The shot of the day came from Victor Perez on the par-3 sixth hole. After just making birdie hole 5, Perez stepped up to the tee box and hit a towering 7-iron that bounced twice on the green before rolling into the cup. This is just the second ace in a U.S. Open at Oakmont, the first being Scott Simpson’s in the 1983 U.S. Open.
