US Open Golf 2015: Live Updates for Friday Leaderboard Scores
Chambers Bay is living up to the hype as a serious test for the best golfers on the planet. The difficulty level of the 2015 U.S. Open course should make for some tense moments deep into Friday night as players try to grind out enough pars to make the cut.
There are low scores available, as Dustin Johnson and Henrik Stenson illustrated in Round 1, but the margin for error is thin. Given the major elevation changes and the deep combination of rough and fescue, all it takes is a few bad tee shots to destroy a round.
With that in mind, let's check out the current leaderboard as play continues on Day 2. That's followed by a look at some players to keep tabs on throughout the rest of Friday's action.
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Current Leaderboard Scores
Afternoon Players to Watch
Dustin Johnson (-5)
On Thursday, Johnson displayed exactly the type of golf he'll need to play all week in order to claim his first major title. He was hitting the ball 32 yards further off the tee than the field average while still finding the fairway 79 percent of the time.
Shorter shots into the greens give him a better chance to deal with the angles and slopes. Whether he can connect on around 80 percent of the fairways all week is the mystery, but he's giving off a positive vibe after playing a solid all-around opening round, as noted by ESPN.
"I really felt like I swung it well and hit a lot of quality iron shots," Johnson said. "So the confidence is definitely there. I feel really good about where I'm at going into tomorrow."
The 30-year-old American has never lacked talent. He's struggled to put together four strong rounds in a row on the major stage, however, especially as nerves become a bigger factor on Sunday. It's a mental hurdle he'll need to jump if he remains in contention.
That said, the game plan should remain the same. He can't try to become more conservative after rushing out to the lead because it takes away his power advantage. From there it just comes down to maintaining the accuracy off the tee, which is easier said than done, of course.
Henrik Stenson (-5)
Stenson matched Johnson by hitting 79 percent of the fairways on Thursday. He can't equal the power of his fellow Day 1 leader, but his iron play is better, which made up the difference. It wasn't a flashy round, but it was clearly an effective one.
The good news heading into the second round is that he was able to find a groove late. He finished by posting birdies on four of the last five holes. That included one on the 18th, which featured a terrific read on the last putt to enter the clubhouse on a high note, as the USGA highlighted:
That putt continued a trend of him being able to navigate the tricky greens better than most of the field. He finished the day with 27 putts, picking up nearly six strokes on the field in the process. When a course is playing tough, gaining that many shots on the greens is massive.
Friday will go a long way in figuring out whether Stenson is going to contend. A similar performance on the greens in Round 2 would establish him as a bona fide contender heading into the weekend. Like Johnson, he's searching for his first major triumph.
Rory McIlroy (+2)
McIlroy attempted to sacrifice some power in the name of accuracy on Thursday. His driving distance was seven yards under the field average, but he was also below average in fairways hit. So the approach wasn't successful and struggles on the greens made things worse.
There are several different ways to attack the course, and it wasn't a surprise to see the four-time major champion play the way he did. It just didn't work out, and Ewan Murray of the Guardian noted the frustration showed on the greens:
Now it will be intriguing to see whether McIlroy utilizes a different strategy on Day 2. Perhaps he'll go for more distance off the tee with hope accuracy doesn't become an issue. The other option is sticking with the approach and simply trying to execute better.
He'll need a solid round to make the cut, but he's not out of contention, either. Chambers Bay probably isn't going to let anybody run away from the field, so if McIlroy can make up some ground each day, he can still work his way into the mix by Sunday afternoon.
All stats courtesy of the U.S. Open's official site unless otherwise noted.
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