Phil Mickelson spent last week “relearning” a golf course that he’s been playing for four decades and is just miles from his house.
But he itted he rarely plays Torrey Pines South except during the annual Farmers Insurance Open and his local knowledge from his youth was largely erased by the course’s various facelifts. That’s why he skipped the the last two PGA Tour events so he could play practice rounds with a specific eye toward scouting the breaks on the greens.
Time well spent, it turns out. Mickelson needed only 26 putts on Friday’s 18 holes — fourth fewest of the day — en route to a 2-under 69 that got him to the weekend. The cut line was 4 over, which was where the 51-year-old Mickelson started the day before finishing at 2-over 144.
“I left myself some challenging up-and-downs,” Mickelson said, “and I ended up making the putts, which felt good.”
Echoed playing partner Xander Schauffele: “He made the putts he needed to stay in. He could have easily let it slide away with a few. Anything inside 10 feet, he was pretty automatic. … He did what he was supposed to do at a U.S. Open, which is grind it out on a hard day.”
Mickelson still has plenty of work if he hopes to complete the career Grand Slam with a U.S. Open title. He’s seven strokes behind the leaders with plenty of big names between him and them.
“I know the course is going to get harder,” Mickelson said. “It was set up beautifully. It’s going to get tougher and tougher pins, and (I’ll try) to be patient and pick my spots. I’m looking forward to the weekend. Feel like I’m playing good enough to make a run at it.”
Schauffele was never more than 1 under or 1 over Friday in his round of 71. He is tied for seventh at 2-under 140, three shots off the lead.
Henley still happy
Russell Henley, who shared the lead after the first round, had a 17-foot putt on his last hole, the ninth, that would have given him a two-shot advantage entering the weekend. Even after he missed, he still had a 27-inch putt that would have given him a one-shot lead.
He missed that, too, ing for his only bogey in a round of 1-under 70. He’ll begin Saturday tied (and paired) with Richard Bland.
Still, he pronounced himself “really happy with my round.”
“I feel good about my game,” Henley said. “I’ve never been in this position before in a major. Just feel like I’m going to learn something no matter what happens.”
Middle of the night
After a first-round 73 that ended just before sunset, Bryson DeChambeau went to the driving range and hit balls for more than an hour as it got darker and darker and then was just plain dark. He played better Friday, although he said it wasn’t because of anything he discovered on the range.
“I was sleeping and it came to me in the middle of the night,” he said, “woke up and I was like, hmm, I’m going to try this. I went out, and my intuition is pretty good, so I went out and tried it and it worked, just keeping the right wrist bent for a lot longer through impact. … It worked out there for the most part. Irons it didn’t work, but driver it worked.”
DeChambeau bogeyed two of his first three holes (10 and 12) in the second round before playing the next seven holes in 5 under, including an eagle on 18 from 25 feet. He wound up with a 69 after a birdie at the last offset bogeys at 3 and 7.
He rated his iron game a C or C-plus, his driving a B and his putting an A.
“I’m putting really well,” he said. “But I feel like if I can clean up my iron play and get a little more comfortable with the irons and the drivers, I’ll have a good chance for this weekend.”
Local knowledge
Past Farmers Insurance Open champions Bubba Watson (67) and Jon Rahm (70) are just two shots off the lead heading into the weekend and will play together Saturday in the third-to-last pairing.
Torrey Pines South plays differently in June than January, but as Rahm said, “Tee shots are the same. Having played this course in every possible wind always helps, and I think just the memory of some putts and some breaks can always help, right?
“We all know everything tends to break towards the ocean, but it’s not always the case, right? I feel like just the experience on the course in certain moments can always help out.”
Rahm made three birdies Friday, including one from the sand on 14, but he thought par-saving putts from 15, 8 and 6 feet on 10, 11 and 12 were the key to his round.
“Things could have taken a turn for the worse, and I was able to save some great pars in a row,” he said. “Hopefully, I can just swing it like I did on the last four holes because I hit some beautiful shots, and keep it going on the weekend.”
More experience
Kevin Streelman was co-leader after the first round at the last U.S. Open here (he wound up tied for 53rd), and while he hasn’t reached that status yet this week, he enters the weekend just three shots off the lead after rounds of 71-69.
“It’s a course I feel comfortable at,” he said. “I play here at Farmers every year. Played here probably 14 tournaments. Gosh, with two U.S. Opens, 16 tournaments, so it’s a course I know well and I love.
“I think this is one of the best setups I’ve seen at a U.S. Open. I think it’s super fair off the tee. You still have to hit the proper shot and execute the proper shots into the greens, but you’re penalized if you don’t, and I think that’s what this tournament is all about.”
Streelman’s best finish at the Farmers was solo third in 2016.
Locals watch
San Diegan Charley Hoffman started his day by finishing off a 1-over 72 from the first round, then went out and bettered that score by a shot to enter the weekend tied for 21st at 1-over 143.
Hoffman had five birdies in his round but was hurt by a double bogey at 12 and three bogeys. It’s the seventh time in eight U.S. Open starts that Hoffman has made the cut; his best finish is eighth in 2017 at Erin Hills.
J.J. Spaun, formerly of SDSU, missed the cut after rounds of 77 and 75.
On second thought
Hayden Buckley, a regular on the Korn Ferry Tour, opened with a 2-under 69 Thursday and was tied for fifth with the likes of Rahm and Schauffele.
After the round, he was asked by SiriusXM Radio about the challenge of putting his game up against some of the best in the world.
“I won’t look at the scoreboard,” he said. “I don’t even know a lot of the guys out here. I don’t watch golf. I don’t know a bunch of guys. I’ve been practicing all week with these guys. It’s just, it’s another golf tournament, it’s another golf course and you find fairways and hope to find greens and go from there.”
Unfortunately for Buckley, he had his only chance Friday. He made three double bogeys en route to an 82 and missed the cut.
Notable
- The last of the 71 players to make the cut was Akshay Bhatia, a 19-year-old pro making his major debut, who got up and down from the rough behind the green on 18 for a birdie.
- sco Molinari (144) and brother Edoardo (146) became the first siblings to make the cut at the U.S. Open since Joe and Jumbo Ozaki in 1993.
- In the last 25 U.S. Opens, 24 winners have been inside the top six and 23 were within two shots of the lead. The top six players after two rounds Friday are within two shots of each other.
- The low round of the Open thus far is 4-under 67, by six golfers: Henley and Louis Oosthuizen on Thursday and Bland, Watson, Mackenzie Hughes and Collin Morikawa on Friday.
