US Open Golf 2013 Schedule: Day 3 Start Time, TV Coverage and Live Stream

Darkness again left golfers with holes remaining in their second round at the 2013 U.S. Open, as officials at Merion Golf Club continued to scramble to make up for Thursday's rain-soaked festivities.

"

Round 2 will resume on Saturday morning at 7:15 am EDT. #usopen

— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 15, 2013"

In all, the field made a decent-sized chunk of improvement over the 78 golfers who were left with holes to from Round 1, and odds are everything gets straightened out for a standard Sunday finish. But after the way Merion's East Course played during on Friday's rounds, it's unclear how this field will weather (sorry) these tough conditions.

Without torrential downpours to worry about in Friday's forecast, there were many who thought scores would go low. Instead, they went in the completely opposite direction. Only three golfers finished their second round with under-par scores, though there are a handful working toward attaining that goal on Saturday morning.

Standing at the top of the leaderboard are two faces, one a monolith of the sport and another an almost completely anonymous face to the mainstream. Phil Mickelson and Billy Horschel lead the pack with one-under overall scores, both having a long wait ahead of them Saturday after getting into the clubhouse before darkness hit.

Horschel, 26, finished with a three-under score of 67 for his day, tying Mickelson's opening-round score for the best of the entire tournament. Overall, these two men have been the great outliers at the East Course, as scores have gone skyrocketing with even the world's best struggling.

Here's a look at how the score distributions have gone through the first two days; notice how there were almost three times as many bogeys as birdies:

With pin placements only getting more difficult going forward, this will undoubtedly be a test of wills on Saturday. Here's a look at everything you need to know about all the action. 

Round Information

When: Saturday, June 15 starting at 7:15 a.m. ET

Where: Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa.

Watch: NBC (12 p.m. - 7 p.m. ET)

Stream: NBC Sports Live Extra (12 p.m.), U.S. Open Marquee Group Live Stream (12 p.m.)

U.S. Open Live Leaderboard

*Check back for live scores

Golfers to Watch on Saturday

Billy Horschel (T-1, -1)

There weren't many people who saw Horschelmania coming to Pennsylvania, but with a second-round score of 67, Billy Horschel has arrived in the national lexicon. A middling tour pro who hadn't played in a major championship since the 2006 U.S. Open, Horschel is having the finest season of his career, and it shows here in Ardmore.

Horschel had come into this tournament with five top-10 finishes in his last seven tournaments, including his first PGA Tour win at the Zurich Classic in April. That recent hot streak has sent him ascending to fourth in the FedEx Cup points list and fifth on the money list—both far and away career bests for the 26-year-old Floridian.

Already experiencing the best season of his career, Horschel's hot streak has only continued at Merion. He shot a very respectable opening-round 72, working through tough conditions and trying to stay as close to level par as possible.

Being over par through the first round is often a death knell at majors. But this is the U.S. Open—not a normal major—and Horschel showed a keen eye for accuracy on this course, especially hitting his greens.

And, boy, did he ever hit the greens on Friday. Horschel hit all 18 greens in regulation during his second round, which hadn't been done at the U.S. Open since 1992. Despite being known for his high-strung nature—Horschel has described himself as being impatient—the Florida graduate has taken a rather Zen approach to hitting the greens at Merion, per Golf Channel's Jason Sobel. 

“Some of the pins you can take on, and there are some pins if you do take on and you miss, you miss badly. You pay the price for it,” Horschel said. “I was pretty happy if I hit 20, 25 feet."

While the oddity of Horschel playing a controlled U.S. Open style could lead to some regression to the mean, recent history says that won't happen. He's been playing too brilliantly to suddenly start hitting the ball into the stands, and it's not like you get to fourth place on the money list by getting lucky.

Horschel has been great all year; we're just finally getting a chance to notice it.

Phil Mickelson (T-1, -1)

Horschel will likely be paired with the man everyone in Ardmore seems to be rooting for, Phil Mickelson. Lefty, with his gregarious nature and touch for always playing into the narrative, is always a favorite of U.S. Open crowds, and this week has been no different.

Well, it's been a little different. Phil got the "Mashed Potatoes" treatment from a fan during his backswing on Friday, much to the dismay of anyone who believes that joke is as old as 300-year-old mashed potatoes.

Other than that, though, Mickelson's two-day experience has gone swimmingly. The 42-year-old Californian (along with Horschel) set the tone for the best round of the week with his three-under 67 on Friday, a score that helped buoy an up-and-down Friday experience.

Playing an uncharacteristically conservative style—which isn't necessarily a criticism on this course—Mickelson needed a (literally) last-second birdie put to finish his second consecutive day with at least a share of the clubhouse lead.

While it's always tough to draw correlations between unrelated events, Mickelson has to be encouraged by his recent history leading major events. According to ESPN Stats & Information, Mickelson's last major victory (2010 Masters) came after he was in the lead through 36 holes:

"

Round 2 will resume on Saturday morning at 7:15 am EDT. #usopen

— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 15, 2013"

Whether that can cross over into a U.S. Open victory is unclear, partially because it's working against another strong narrative—Mickelson's awful luck in this tournament. Lefty has infamously finished second in the U.S. Open a record five times, the most recent being in 2009 at Bethpage Black. 

With Mickelson playing jarringly inconsistent golf throughout 2013 and those demons haunting him, it's possible that Saturday sees a vintage Lefty collapse. 

But the numbers just don't seem to be pointing in that direction. Mickelson has hit 75 percent of his fairways and 75 percent of his greens in regulation, both excellent numbers considering the narrow fairways and difficult pin placements. Throughout his career, Mickelson's biggest problems have always come when he's trying to do too much.

This week he's found the happy medium. The result from that epiphany could be magical.

Tiger Woods (+3, T-17)

On Thursday, Woods seemed to come closer and closer to losing his round with every stroke. The world's top-ranked golfer struggled with his feel, carding four bogeys against just two birdies before darkness finished his round.

But more notably, Woods seemed to be struggling with an arm injury. There were noticeable grimaces and other signs of frustration in his swing, ones that sometimes spell impending doom.

With about a round-and-a-half of golf to play, was Tiger going to fall apart? Of course not. This is a major, silly.

Woods, though still far from perfect, worked his way through an up-and-down day to stay firmly in contention for the tournament. At three over par, Woods is only four strokes off the clubhouse lead, so it's a little strange that people have spent more time wondering "what's wrong" then realizing that he's still right within striking distance of his first major in five years.

Still, the trepidation isn't completely unwarranted. Woods has never won a major when outside the top five after the first two rounds, and while his front-running capabilities have been well-covered, El Tigre has never been one for the chase.

Each of Tiger's major championships have come with a share of the lead after 54 holes, and there's also that whole not having won a major championship in five years thing looming over everyone's head.

Woods isn't out of it by any stretch of the imagination. But he's also tied with Rory McIlroy on the leaderboard in a tie for 17th place. If you had to bet on one of those two players coming back and winning this tournament, you'd probably pick Tiger sheerly out of habit. 

Think about it for a couple more seconds, and let me know if you change your answer.

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