England’s pride
Casey recovers from nightmare hole to join leading pack and Fleetwood moves alongside him with late surge
Paul Casey and Rory Mcilroy provided quite the contrast here on the second day of the 117th US Open.
While the former took a share of the clubhouse lead with a 71 which owed so much to heart and perseverance, the latter submitted to the cut in a performance which is beginning to sum up his miserable season.
Nobody should have been shocked to see Casey up there on seven under, alongside another Englishman in Tommy Fleetwood, who shot a 70, and the Americans Brian Harman (70) and Brooks Kopeka, who was two under for the day playing the last.
Casey, the former world No3, has always possessed so much talent that it is, in fact, a surprise that he has not figured at the business end of more majors. Perhaps the 39-year-old now will in future after a battling display which seems to have added another string to his already well-bolstered bow.
When he birdied his second hole it appeared to be the stress-free golf of his opening 66. But Erin Hills, this 11-year-old layout with which the game is still coming to terms, was a more demanding test than on Thursday.
The greens, predictably, had become quicker in the scorching sun andthe pins, even more predictably, were not as generously set. Nevertheless, it was still difficult to envisage Casey’s capitulation and subsequent fightback.
He bogeyed the 12th after slicing it into rough off the tee – a dodgy drive means at least a bogey at Erin Hills – but it was on the 14th where the nuts pinged off the wheels.
In the fescue off the tee, into it again behind the green, a few chops and a three-putt. A triple-bogey eight. And when he bogeyed the next as well, he had fallen from first to 18th in the time it takes a to cook a pizza.
At that point, many would have succumbed to the injustices of this maddening sport. Indeed, Casey, himself, probably would have in days gone by. But the world No 14 is older, wiser and certainly pluckier and from the 17th (his eighth) he reeled off five birdies in succession to get back to seven under.
Granted, it was not quite the 64 of Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, the world No4 who leaped to five under with his eight-under magnificence. Yet considering the state of his scorecard at the time it must be wondered if there has ever been such an audacious rebound at America’s national championship.
“I was upset but it had no effect on my attitude or how I was going to approach the rest of the round or the next shot,” he said. “Part of that is just age, and part I’ll give credit to Johnny Mclaren [his caddie], credit to my wife and my little boy. It’s not every day you enjoy a round of golf with an eight on the card. I’ve shown what can happen with one bad swing.”
Fleetwood’s scorecard was much tidier. There were four birdies, two bogeys and 12 pars as the 26-yearold from Southport kept himself in the picture.
This is only his second US Open and the manner in which he retained his composure after making a hash on the first – a drive into the cabbage inevitably led to a six on the par five – has been very impressive thus far.
He holed three 15-footers, on the fourth, seventh and 18th and earned himself many new admirers in the process.
By the time Fleetwood was doing his stuff, Mcilroy had already exited stage left. Mcilroy’s 71 was commendable, but after his first-round 78 it was not nearly enough to make the weekend.
Maybe we expected too much from him, as it was only his second event in 10 weeks and only his second tournament with his new Taylormade clubs. The rib injury he sustained at the turn of the year has limited him to 24 professional rounds in 2017.
But he is the world No2 and his standards are such that this qualified as a huge failure.
As he acknowledged, he is desperately in need of golf and for that reason it is ideal that he is playing six of the next eight weeks, starting with the Travelers Championship
next week. His campaign will be judged on this run. At least he played his last six holes in four under.
“I showed up for the last six holes,” Mcilroy said with a laugh before picking through the positives.
“I definitely hit it better off the tee and gave myself a lot more looks at birdie but at the end of the day I need rounds with a card in my hand.
“I started to let it go towards the end and show what I can do. Yesterday I was a little anxious and that caught up with me as the round went on.
“Hopefully I’ve got a lot of the bad stuff out of my system.”
Jason Day, the world No3, was even more mediocre.
The Australian’s 75 left him on 10 over and outside the top 140 in a 156-man field.
It could be worse, he could be Danny Willett. The 2016 Masters champion withdrew before his second round with a bad back. Willett’s opening 81 was indicative of his struggles.
When he is swinging it poorly, his spine reacts. He looks in dire need of a break.