Traffic jam at the top at Erin Hills
Brooks Koepka, Paul Casey, Brian Harman and Tommy Fleetwood are all at seven-under-par after two rounds of action at the US Open and so lead the year’s second major.
Koepka, Harman and Fleetwood all backed up opening 67’s on Thursday with 70’s on Friday to put themselves in position to compete for their first major.
The story of the day though was Casey’s recovery after racking-up an eight on the par-five-14th and following it up with a bogey on the 16th.
Having dropped four shots in two holes, his US Open ambitions seemed to have slipped from his grasp but he then chalked-up five consecutive birdies to get himself right back into contention.
“Not every day you enjoy a round of golf with an eight on the card, but I’m a pretty happy man,” said Casey afterwards.
“It was a bit of a roller coaster.”
Lurking one back are a trio of Americans Jamie Lovemark (69), J.B. Holmes (69) and overnight leader Rickie Fowler, who slumped to a one-over 73, carding three consecutive bogeys in a back nine lull.
After an opening round 74, world number four Hideki Matsuyama looked ready to exit Erin Hills along with Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson and Jason Day but Asia’s flag bearer hit back with the joint best round of the day (65) to shoot up the leader board and into the mix at five-under.
Joining Matsuyama two shots back is a group that consists of PGA Tour rookie Xander Schauffele (73), amateur Cameron Champ (69), 36-year-old PGA Tour veteran Brandt Snedeker (69) and 21-year-old South Korean Kim Si-woo (70), the youngest player to win the Players Championship.
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