Rory McIlroy had a disappointing three bogeys over his first nine holes while American Wyndham Clark jumped to the top of the leaderboard as second round action got underway at the US Open in Los Angeles on Friday.
Starting on the back nine, world number three McIlroy atoned for a bogey on 11 with a long, curling birdie putt on the next to move to three off the lead.
But near misses with the putter, including one on 18 that lipped out, left him two-over par for his round at the turn.
Action on the North Course of the Los Angeles Country Club kicked off after Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele made record-breaking starts with matching eight-under-par 62s on Thursday and ideal scoring conditions continued on Friday.
Clark had three birdies and no bogeys in his first nine holes to leap ahead of Fowler and Schauffele by a stroke midway through his round.
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The shot of the day so far came when Matt Fitzpatrick nailed a hole-in-one at the par-3 15, making him the first US Open defending champion to record an ace in the tournament’s 123-year history.
Fowler teed off at 8.30pm Irish time, alongside 2013 champion Justin Rose of England and Australian Jason Day, who last month broke a five-year winless streak at Byron Nelson.
Schauffele teed off at 8.55pm Irish time, with Norwegian Viktor Hovland and Masters winner Jon Rahm of Spain, who each start the day seven back from the lead.
LIV Golf’s Dustin Johnson went bogey free until his final hole on Thursday and ran into more trouble on Friday morning with a quadruple bogey on the par-four second that saw him tumble down the leaderboard.
The tournament is the first major since the bombshell announcement that the PGA Tour and rival circuit LIV would form a unified commercial entity. A report on Thursday indicated the US justice department would review the plans. -Reuters
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