Farmingdale, New York - American Lucas Glover produced a
stunning run of form in the late evening sunshine as he headed the
leaderboard early in the second round of the US Open on Friday.
The 29-year-old picked up six birdies in a flawless exhibition to
end the day on 6-under-par through 13 holes, one shot clear of
another American, Ricky Barnes, and two ahead of Peter Hanson of
Sweden and Canadian Mike Weir.
Adam Scott and Phil Mickelson are handily placed on 2-under and 1-
under respectively midway through their second rounds, while
defending champion Tiger Woods has work to do after a first-round 74,
4-over.
After the deluge of day one, when 78 players did not even start
their opening rounds, the sunshine and soft greens made for good
scoring from those who got the luck of the draw.
Glover had finished his first round on 1-under but as the day drew
to a close, he found his form in style, picking up five birdies, at
the 10th, 13th and 18th, and then on the 1st and 3rd.
Barnes, a relatively unknown American player, was just one shot
back after adding two birdies in his first eight holes of round two
to his first round of 67.
Former Masters champion Weir led for much of the afternoon after
he surged to 6-under with a first-round 64, a round marred only by a
double-bogey at the 6th.
But bogeys at the 5th and 9th holes dropped him back to 4-under
through nine holes, the same as Swede Peter Hanson.
Australian Adam Scott looked in good form as he finished the day
on 2-under through 11 holes, while Mickelson is just one shot worse
off with seven holes still to play.
The left-hander double-bogeyed the second hole in his second round
but three birdies in four holes lifted him up the leaderboard and
well into contention.
Woods was playing well to be level par with four holes to play of
round one, only to let things slip and finish with a 74, 10 shots off
the pace.
'I was even-par with four to go,' Woods said. 'I mean, it's not
like I was hitting it all over the place. I was hitting a lot of good
shots. Unfortunately, I just didn't finish off the round the way I
needed to.'
Former Open champion David Duval is right up there on the
leaderboard at 1-under. The American shot 67 in the morning and then
recovered from a horrific start to round two - when he bogeyed four
of the first six holes - to be 1-under after 12.
Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy were 1-over through 11 and 12 holes
respectively, while two-time former champion Retief Goosen was one
shot behind.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story