The Latest: Henley, Bland lead, Mickelson advances

Updated Jun. 18, 2021 9:58 p.m. ET
Associated Press

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Latest on the U.S. Open (all times local):

6:45 p.m.

Russell Henley and England's Richard Bland share the lead going into the weekend at the U.S. Open. Both are at 5-under through two rounds, one shot ahead of Louis Oosthuizen and Matthew Wolff.

Bubba Watson and Jon Rahm are another shot back at 3-under 139.

ADVERTISEMENT

Phil Mickelson finished off a steady round with a birdie on 18 for a 2-under 69 to advance to the weekend of the one major championship he has never won. Mickelson, who won the PGA Championship last month at age 50, was at 2-over 144.

Mickelson, a San Diego native, has finished second six times in the Open.

___

6:10 p.m.

Russell Henley lost a chance to take sole possession of the lead going into the weekend at the U.S. Open when he three-putted his final hole for a closing bogey.

Henley had to settle for a tie for the early lead with 48-year-old Richard Bland of England. They were at 5 under through two rounds.

Henley was coming off a birdie on No. 8, his 17th hole, when he ran his 15-footer for birdie past the hole on No. 9. He then lipped out the 2-footer coming back to finish at 1-under 70.

It was the only bogey on Henley's scorecard.

___

5:45 p.m.

Turns out even Brooks Koepka can have a rough time in the U.S. Open.

The two-time U.S. Open champion had two quick birdies to get within one shot of the lead, and it's been all downhill from there. He followed with back-to-back bogeys on the fifth and six holes. He made consecutive bogeys on the back nine when he got in trouble off the tee.

Koepka was 2 over for his round and even par for the tournament with two holes to play. He was assured of ending his streak of six consecutive rounds in the 60s at the U.S. Open.

He was tied with Bryson DeChambeau, though it was impossible for them to be paired in the third round because they were on opposite sides of the draw.

___

4:40 p.m.

Viktor Hovland of Norway is out of the U.S. Open with sand in his eye.

He withdrew after taking a double bogey on the first hole, his 10th of the second round at Torrey Pines. Hovland was 6 over for his round and 9 over for the tournament, making it unlikely that he would have made the cut.

The USGA says Hovland twice sought medical attention, and the irritation was to a point that he chose not to continue.

___

3:15 p.m.

Hayden Buckley is an example of how quickly fortunes can change in the U.S. Open. Buckley had one of 10 sub-70 scores in the opening round. The Korn Ferry Tour player shot 69 and was two shots out of the lead.

He followed that with an 82 on Friday with three double bogeys and six bogeys, and he was on his way home.

The flip side was Jordan Spieth and Chez Reavie.

Spieth opened with a 77 and followed with a 69, giving him an outside chance of making the cut. Reavie shot 76 and 68 and was assured of making it to the weekend.

___

12:03 p.m.

Richard Bland has taken the lead in the second round of the U.S. Open.

The 48-year-old Englishman became the European Tour's oldest first-time winner last month and continued his good play at Torrey Pines.

Bland opened with a 1-under 70 and reeled off six birdies to shoot 67 under a marine layer in the second round. He's at 5 under and leads by one over Russell Henley, who shared the first-round lead with Louis Oosthuizen.

Bland won for the first time in 478 career starts at The Belfry last month after shooting a final-round 66.

___

8:15 a.m.

Louis Oosthuizen finished with two good par putts and joined Russell Henley atop the leaderboard at 4-under 67 after the opening round of the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.

Oosthuizen was among 36 players who didn't finish the round Thursday because of a 90-minute fog delay at the start of the championship.

The South Africa had a 25-foot birdie putt when play resumed Friday on the par-3 eighth hole. He ran that 8 feet by and holed the par putt. He finished with a long birdie putt up the ridge on the par-5 ninth that came up 4 feet short and made that.

The 10 players who shot in the 60s include Rikuya Hoshino, the 25-year-old who has won twice in the last two months on the Japan Golf Tour.

The average score for the opening round was 73.7.

___

More AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

share