Warian Is Medalist & Gophers Are Team Champs at Highland Meadows
April 16, 2024
Former MGA Amateur champions Tom Hoge (2009-2010) and Erik Van Rooyen (2012) made the cut on the bubble (+2) June 14 at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf LInks, Pebble Beach, Calif. They trail the leader, Gary Woodland who is at 9-under par, by 11 shots. Local qualifier Charlie Danielson, of Osceola, Wis., who sits at even-par, goes off at noon today. For more scores, click here.
Notes below courtesy of the USGA.
119th U.S. Open Championship
Round 2 Story & Notes
June 14, 2019
When: June 14, 2019
What: 119th U.S. Open Championship
Where: Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach, Calif.
Course Architect: Jack Neville and Douglas S. Grant
Par and Yardage: Par 71 – 7,075
WHAT HAPPENED:
Mother Nature continued to provide a reprieve to the world’s best golfers on Friday. While the sun finally made an appearance – brief as it was – at Pebble Beach Golf Links, the brisk winds that often define U.S. Open Championships contested on the iconic Monterey Peninsula layout continued to be kind and gentle.
Even with the greens firming up a bit, Round 2 produced more under-par rounds (44) than Thursday (39).
But a different person was holding the lead.
Gary Woodland, a 35-year-old Kansas native who has never finished better than a tie for 23rd in eight previous U.S. Open starts, carded a 6-under, bogey-free 65 for a two-stroke lead over 2013 champion Justin Rose. Woodland’s round matched the 18-hole record in a U.S. Open at Pebble Beach held by Tiger Woods (2000) and Rose, who posted that number in Thursday’s opening round. Woodland’s 36-hole total of 133 (9 under) surpassed Woods’ mark of 134 for U.S. Opens at Pebble Beach, but was three off the championship 36-hole scoring record of 130 registered by Martin Kaymer in 2014 at Pinehurst.
Louis Oosthuizen, the 2010 Open champion at St. Andrews, is three strokes back at 6-under 136. Rory McIlroy, the 2011 U.S. Open champion, and Aaron Wise are another shot back at 137 after shooting 69 and 71, respectively, on Friday.
Two-time defending champion Brooks Koepka carded a second consecutive 69 and tied for sixth, five strokes back at 138. Woods, a three-time champion, bogeyed his final two holes to shoot 72 and is nine back at even-par 142.
This is not the first time that Woodland, a three-time PGA Tour winner, has owned a 36-hole lead in a major championship. In last year’s PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club, he opened 64-66, only to finish tied for sixth. He also tied for eighth in last month’s PGA at Bethpage State Park.
On Friday, Woodland put on a ball-striking clinic by hitting 14 of 18 greens. After converting a 15-foot par putt on the difficult eighth hole, his 17th of the day, Woodland punctuated his day by holing a 50-footer for birdie on the par-4 ninth.
“I've played well at Pebble the last couple of times I've been here during the AT&T,” said Woodland, who tied for fifth in the annual PGA Tour event in 2017, but missed the cut in his three other starts. “I've struggled at the other two courses (Spyglass Hill and Monterey Peninsula Country Club), but this golf course I feel comfortable at.
“With the stroke itself I put a lot of work in with Phil Kenyon, at the PGA was one of the worst weeks I'd had putting but he told me it was the best he's ever seen my stroke. That gave me a lot of confidence knowing that it was something I could work on, not stroke-wise, but learning how to practice, learning how to read greens, making some adjustments in that aspect.”
Rose didn’t have the same fireworks as Round 1 when he closed with three consecutive birdies, but the Englishman’s 1-under 70 was more about grinding out pars, especially his final two holes when he converted an 8-foot par putt on No. 8 and got up and down for par from behind the ninth green.
“You know you're going to need to make those sort of key 5-, 6-, 7-, 8-foot putts for par, and invariably they have a lot of swing on them on this golf course,” said Rose, whose lone PGA Tour title in 2019 came in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. “They are makeable. You feel like you should make them. But they're kind of 50-50 putts. So when you make them you are keeping up the momentum and then you miss one you really feel like you've lost something.”
Both Woodland and Rose know medals and trophies aren’t handed out for 36-hole leaders. Several experienced players, including major champions McIlroy, Koepka, Henrik Stenson, Adam Scott and Zach Johnson, are within six of the lead.
“I've been in the situation recently, which has been a huge help,” said Woodland of the 2018 PGA Championship. “I was leading after 36 holes, played with Koepka there on Saturday. Playing with Tiger on Sunday at Bellerive was a huge daily shot, [just] being in that atmosphere.
“The comfortable [part] is within myself. I know what I'm capable of doing.”
QUOTABLE:
April 9, 2024
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