Johnson sets a daunting target
Another solid round in testing conditions at the US Open
SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Dustin Johnson handled the worst of the weather and wound up as the sole survivor to par at the U.S. Open, taking a four-shot lead into the weekend at Shinnecock Hills.
Johnson dropped only one shot Friday morning in wind and two hours of light rain that made the course play even longer. He made a 45-foot birdie putt on the par-3 seventh hole for a 3-under 67.
In perfect scoring conditions in the afternoon, no one could catch him.
Ian Poulter was one shot behind until a triple bogey on his second-to-last hole. Charley Hoffman was under par until a bogey on his final hole.
Johnson was at 4-under 136, four shots ahead of Hoffman and Scott Piercy.
The weekend will not include Tiger Woods, who shot 72 to miss the cut for the fifth time in his last eight majors. Jordan Spieth joined him with a bogey-bogey finish to miss the cut by one shot.
“I’m not very happy the way I played and the way I putted,” Woods said. “I don’t know that you can be too happy and too excited about 10-over par.”
Johnson, who won the U.S. Open at Oakmont two years ago, was at 4-under 136. He was the only player under par among those who played Friday morning in a strange mixture of weather that began with an overcast sky, gave way to two hours of light rain and then returned to mild sunshine.
Russell Henley was tied for the lead until he missed the third fairway and went into thick grass that change fortunes in a New York minute.
He hit more grass than ball. He advanced his third shot into more rough. The grass wrapped around the hosel of the club and sent his fourth shot off to the right across the fairway to lighter rough.
He wound up with a triple bogey, shot 73 and was six shots behind.
Tommy Fleetwood of England made six birdies and shot a 66, the low score of the tournament, and was at 1-over 141. Henrik Stenson kept a clean card over his last 11 holes and made eagle on the par-5 16th for a 70. He joined Fleetwood at five shots behind.
Ian Poulter and Scott Piercy, who were tied with Johnson after the opening round, played in the afternoon. So did Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day, all of whom were mostly concerned about first making the cut.
Johnson was concerned with staying out of trouble, and he has done that well on a punishing course. His best move of the week might have been on Thursday, when his ball finally was found in deep rough at No. 6 and he considered going for the green, decided not to take on Shinnecock’s lone water hazard and eventually made bogey.
His only bogey on Friday, at the first hole, came from a conservative bunker shot to avoid rolling off the green.
“There were a couple times where I had a couple of bad iron shots, but every time I felt like I was able to save par, at least give myself a really good look at par,” he said. “My only bogey I made today, I still had a decent look at par.”
Fleetwood was going the wrong direction Thursday afternoon, making a late birdie to salvage a 75.
He hung around through the rain and then finished with three birdies over his last five holes.
“You don’t know what’s going to turn. You don’t know what the weather is going to do and how difficult it’s going to get. So as long as you keep going and hang in there, something might happen. Or it might not,” Fleetwood said.
That goes for Johnson, too.