Spieth and Reed Lead at Chambers Bay

With just two rounds to go, things have started to get a bit more interesting at the 115th US Open. Chambers Bay responded to those early scores in Thursday's round and gave the golfers more difficult conditions for Friday. As it stands now, the leading score still remains at 5-under, but it is now held by 2015 Masters Champion Jordan Spieth and the notorious Patrick Reed, closely followed by opening round co-leader Dustin Johnson and Branden Grace at 4-under. The cut has also been set at 5-over.

Spieth held his ground during his round and struggled with his driver; he's hit only 9 of 28 fairways thus far at Chambers Bay. Reed on the other hand has been driving the ball excellently, and said in an interview that he feels that he could hit the ball as hard as he wants and it'll find the fairway. This confidence is great and a must-have when playing Chambers Bay and it's what makes Reed such a fierce competitor.


TGR favourite Graeme McDowell wasn't really in the running this week, but did show us why he is a world class player on the par 3 207 yards 3rd hole. GMac landed his tee shot short and watched it roll up the right side of the green, nearly falling in the bunker, before rolling down the hill towards the pin stopping about a few inches from the hole for an easy birdie.

Apart from the golf, one of the biggest headlines yesterday was Jason Day's (physical) collapse on the 18 hole (which was a par 4). Day was walking on the sloped 18th fairway when he suddenly fell to the ground in a state of dizziness. Vertigo was to blame and it has been an issue for Day for the past few months now. After staying down for a few minutes, Day got back up, walked with some assistance to the greenside bunker where his ball lay, and went on to hit the best bunker shot I've seen, given the circumstances of his. To give you an idea of the state he was in, there was a loose stone behind his ball in the bunker and Day needed the rules official to remove it for him, as his hands were too shakey. He missed the par putt and finished off his round with a bogey, whereafter he was immediately taken to his onsite trailer. Despite this, Day sits at 2-under and is by all means still in contention scoring-wise. We hope Jason will be able to recover so he can continue playing, but his health is of course the most important.

Yet again Tiger Woods had a new milestone, this time it was his highest score in the US Open to date, a 16-over. His game was all over the place yet again and he was subsequently cut from the tournament. Also, amateur Brian Campbell is also in the mix at 1-under T12. He's currently the low amateur in the field and was close to leading at one point during his opening round.

Finally, here's how are picks are doing:

1) Phil Mickelson: T35 at 3-over
2) Rickie Fowler: CUT
3) Justin Rose: T28 at 2-over

Phil battled through his second round and it's resulted in him still being in the mix of things. So did Justin Rose. Fowler on the other hand was cut due to his surprising play, which was still a shock to us all.

Today is "Moving Day" and with the uncertainty that Chambers Bay brings every round, there's bound to be some movement on the leaderboard. Stay tuned for our recap post tomorrow morning,


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

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