Friday At The 2024 U.S. Open
Heat, hole locations take a toll as Aberg shoots 69 to hold a 1-stroke lead over three others. Plus, the fifth hole bites back, the late-early draw issue, two aces at the ninth and Weather.
Round Two By The Numbers
66-69: Rounds by leader Ludvig Aberg.
1 stroke: Lead for Aberg over Bryson DeChambeau, Thomas Detry and Patrick Cantlay
72.653: Second round scoring average (par 70)
72.958: 36-hole scoring average
+5: Cutline with 74 players making the weekend
66: Low second round (Hideki Matsuyama)
22: Second round scores in the 60s
6: Rounds in the 80s Friday
2nd hole: Toughest in round two (4.372 average, 5 birdies)
3rd hole: Easiest in round two hole (3.913 avg., 31 birdies)
1: Score on the par 3 ninth by Sepp Straka, Francesco Molinari
Ludvig Aberg grabbed the 36-hole lead in his first U.S. Open and in his eighth career major championship round.
Even with Pinehurst No. 2’s greens holding, continued speeds in the high 13’s and the toll of defensive U.S. Open golf causing several top players to unravel, Aberg is one of only three players to post a pair of under par rounds.
Aberg’s 69 and one-sroke cushion makes him the first non-American to hold the outright 36-hole lead at the U.S. Open since Germany’s Martin Kaymer ten years ago here in Pinehurst. And that’s not even close to the most incredible feat Aberg, the 24-year-old native of Eslöv, Sweden, could pull of with a win in his third career major start.
Not since Francis Ouimet in the vaunted 1913 U.S. Open has someone won America’s national championship in their debut.
“It was obviously very challenging, and it's not an easy golf course to play,” Aberg said after hitting 12 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens. “But I felt like we stayed very disciplined, stayed very patient, and tried to hit it to our targets all the time and see how many golf -- we said beforehand see how many good shots we can hit today and see where that ends up at the end.”
Aberg will tee off with Bryson DeChambeau Saturday at 3:35 p.m. ET.
“Slimmed down” Bryson’s recent run in majors saw him tied for first after 36 at the Masters and T-4 after 36 of the PGA where he finished one back of Xander Schauffele.
The 2020 U.S. Open champion at Winged Foot is the third player in the last 25 years to be inside the 36-hole top 5 of the first three major championships since Dustin Johnson in 2015 and Padraig Harrington in 2002.
“I'm excited for the test and challenge,” DeChambeau said after a morning 69 where he only hit seven fairways and 10 greens in regulation but managed his way into Saturday’s final pairing. “[The course] is going to continue to evolve, especially with the conditions being as hot as they are, and if the wind picks up, it's going to be diabolical.”
Little in the way of significant wind is forecast for the weekend. The warm temperatures will continue as chances of rain diminish. Pinehurst and it’s relentless greens appear set to present an old school U.S. Open where players are on the defensive, par is protected and the last player not to crash into three wins.
“If I had a crystal ball, I could say 4-under is going to have a really -- it's going to be close,” DeChambeau said of the winning score. “I'd like to get to 6-, 7-under. I think that would be a position where I'd feel a little bit more comfortable, and maybe it goes to 10. I have no idea.”
DeChambeau has posted 69 or better in each of his last six major championship rounds. The record of eight straight is shared by Rickie Fowler (2014) and Greg Norman (1993).
Hole of The Day: 5th
A simple hole location switch to the back of a green flipped the par 5 fifth from pushover to Friday pain-inducer. Stretched to its max at 596 yards, Thursday’s scoring average went from 4.583 to 4.919 in round two. The culprit? Several players missed approaches after attacking the back left hole cut 22 paces deep and eight from the left edge.
The fifth hole went from a gift to the rare par 5 they were just hoping to survive:
Thursday: 9 eagles, 60 birdies, 74 pars and 13 bogeys and no double bogeys or higher and the field played the hole -65.
Friday: 1 eagle, 36 birdies, 55 pars, 11 bogeys, 7 double bogeys and one other. The field played the hole 9-under-par.
The McIlroy-Schauffele-Scheffler group made an early day mess right after several early groups struggled and backed up front nine play. Some groups spent as much as 45 minutes from the tee to putting out on the difficult green.
“That back left hole location on 5 is pretty treacherous,” McIlroy said. “If you miss it left there at all, obviously you saw what Xander and Scottie did. After seeing their two attempts, I was pretty happy with mine just to get it over the other side of the green and get it up-and-down for 5.”
Besides a tantalizing hole luring players into the perched green’s troublesome lefthand fall-off, a flattish sandy area left some unsure how to recover.
“That's part of the mystery of the kind of sandy areas,” Scheffler said. “You get down there and it's kind of luck of the draw whether or not you have a shot. Preferably I would have loved to have hit like a little runner out of there, but I had a bush in my way to where I couldn't play the runner that I would have hoped to.”
Schauffele, who matched Scheffler’s double bogey 7 en route to a 69, chalked the troubles up to the waste area.
“You don't really trust what's underneath versus an actual bunker,” He said after his second round 69. “There's a ton of sand in the bunker. You want to hit it hard, down into the ground. You're worried, is there more sand or less sand? That little bit of hesitation is not good when your room for margin isn't that good.
“Rory is the only one that took his medicine after watching Scottie and I have a field day there hitting it across the green. It's doable. I'm sure there will be a highlight of someone holing out or hitting a very close shot out there. We just made a mess of it.”
The second shot outcomes and ball flight lines courtesy of ShotLink highlight how important it was to take the fifth fairway’s hanging lie and land an approach in the slot right-of-center:
And here’s a rarity: A day after 128 of 156 players hit the green in regulation (82.05%), the number dropped to 77/111 (69.37%) even with little wind and only a spike in temperatures.
Early-Late vs. Late Early
Warning: this item discusses matters far removed from real and real-adjacent world problems.