FOUR FROM LIV MAKE CUT
Fans at The Country Club have been welcoming to the golfers who decided to take the money and run to the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour.
The U.S. Open course itself, not so much.
Only four of the players who have signed on with the breakaway tour made the cut Friday, led by Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed at 1 over. Almost a dozen others who joined the 54-hole tour missed the cut at 3 over and were gone after 36 holes.
Johnson followed a 68 in the first round with a 73 on Friday. He said he didn’t hear any guff from fans about his decision to play in LIV Golf, which has been heavily criticized because it is backed by the Saudi government.
“Obviously, this is a good sports town, and a lot of people come out and support the event. The fans have been great,” Johnson said. “I haven’t really noticed any difference.”
Bryson DeChambeau and Richard Bland also made it to the weekend, coming in at 2 over after 36 holes. Sergio Garcia and James Piot were at plus-4 and just missed.
Other defectors who weren’t so lucky included Phil Mickelson, a sixtime major champion — and six-time U.S. Open runner-up — who has become the face of the new tour. He shot a 73 on Friday to finish 11 over par.
It wasn’t Phil
Mickelson’s tee shot on No. 3 landed in the rough to the right, and when he arrived at his ball he saw a man sitting on the ground, holding an icepack to his right temple, with medical staff gathered around.
Mickelson went over and gave the man a glove and apologized. One problem: It was Sam Horsfield’s shot from the neighboring sixth hole that hit him.
“It’s just instinct,” Mickelson said, drawing laughter from the gallery. “I would normally think it’s me.”
That’s how things went for the sixtime U.S. Open runner-up at The Country Club this week: a series of apologies, interrupted by a whole lot of bad golf shots.
“Wish I had played better,” Mickelson, who declined to talk to reporters, said in a transcript that was distributed by the USGA on Friday after he followed a first-round 78 with a 3-over 73 to finish 11 over and miss the cut at plus-3.
Locals watch
Xander Schauffele, the San Diegan ranked 12th in the world, turned five birdies and four bogeys into a 1under 69, good for 1-under for the tournament and a tie for 16th at the turn.
USD golfer Charlie Reiter, who qualified for the tournament in San Francisco, didn’t make the cut but improved slightly with a 5-over 75 to finish at 11 over in his first U.S. Open.
English’s streak alive
Harris English shot a 69 on Friday, finishing the 36 holes at 2 over par, keeping his streak of making the cut in majors alive.
English hasn’t missed a cut at a major since the 2014 PGA Championship. That’s 15 straight times he’s teed it up in a major and made it to the weekend — the longest active streak in golf. He’s still trying for his first major.
Hardy hardly last now
Except for a withdrawal on Thursday, Nick Hardy can be listed as the last player to get into the U.S. Open. The USGA was saving a spot in case Cameron Champ or J.J. Spaun (SDSU) won the Canadian Open, which would have been their second PGA Tour win in the last 12 months and thus made them exempt.
Both missed the cut and Hardy was in. And now he will be among the last players to tee off going into the weekend at The Country Club after rounds of 69-68 for a 3-under 137.