Friday, Round 2

SOUTHAMPTON, NY

"I think early in my career, even at that Open, I kind of freaked out. You then get fast, and you make poor decisions and compound errors. So I would lean on that going, hey, you know what, even though I made mistakes in '23 and didn't have the best, you know, last nine holes, I missed a ton of greens, I can still get up-and-down with my short game, I can still make putts and still win a tournament when maybe you're not hitting greens.Definitely will lean on that. I'll lean also on Byron Nelson, going out there at CJ Cup and playing good and just keep it going and not -- you know, pedal to the metal." - Wyndham Clark on how he will use the experience of LACC in 2023 this weekend.

I'm really curious how the USGA will approach Saturday. There are 72 players left in the field, so they can pull the restrictor plates off. The players have been vocal about the texture (softness) of the greens. I imagine the hoses go away for the weekend, and these guys will have their hands full. At the very least, there will not be any watering between tee time waves! RTL has three outrights under par and in serious contention. Enjoy the post-round recap; our Saturday "live" betting card is at the bottom.

Round 2 summary:

• Leader: -7, Wyndham Clark (64-69=133)
  • There are 10 players under par after 36-holes.
• Scoring average:
  • Rd 2: +2.25 (2018: +3.60)
  • First nine scoring average: +0.92, back nine: +1.32 (+0.40)
  • Morning wave: +2.57 (+0.65), afternoon wave: +1.92
  • Wave advantage after 36-holes? AM/PM +2.90, PM/AM +2.66 (-0.24)
  • Hardest hole Rd 2: #6 +0.34, easiest hole: #5 -0.43
  • The Field was 349 strokes over par today with 4 eagles, 404 birdies, 613 bogeys, and 68 double bogeys or worse!
• Strokes gained T2G leaders through two rounds:
  • Sahith Theegala, Wyndham Clark, Corey Conners, Cameron Young, Akshay Bhatia, Johnny Keefer, Matt Fitzpatrick, Sam Stevens, Harry Higgs, Alex Fitzpatrick
• Betting favorites after Round 2:
  • Clark (+190), Schauffele (+600), Fitzpatrick (+650), Scheffler (+910), Morikawa (+1375), McIlroy (+1500)
• Conditions: Temperatures were in the mid-70s. The wind switched to a Northwest direction and slightly fooled the guys at times. The wind was calmer than Thursday (16-18 mph, gusts 20+), but it was a factor.

Observations:

Between the lines...

• No 36-hole leader of the last four Shinnecock Hills US Opens has gone on to win.
  • The last time a player held a four strokes lead at the US Open after 36-holes? 2018, Dustin Johnson and he finished third.
• "I mean, it was definitely a different wind condition. I feel like we got fortunate yesterday in terms of what we were playing in, but I mean, the course is still very soft. I mean, it's obviously still Shinnecock. It's very hard, but it's been friendly the first two days for how it can play." - Justin Thomas on the playing conditions.
• Due to the soft conditions, SG: APP leads the way for those contending after two rounds. Here are the best iron players of those players who made the cut.
  • Ben Kohles, Akshay Bhatia, Joaquin Niemann, Johnny Keefer, Wyndham Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick, Sahith Theegala, Dustin Johnson, John Parry, Alex Fitzpatrick
• The cut came at +4 (144), the lowest in Shinnecock Hills Open history, with 67 professionals and five amateurs advancing.
  • Notable casualties include two-time champion Brooks Koepka, 2021 champion Jon Rahm, two-time champion Bryson DeChambeau and defending champion J.J. Spaun.
• "Yeah, certainly fairways started to run out a little bit more. The greens were still receptive, but there were certain shots that surprised me with how much they run out. Even like the shot I hit into 17, definitely took a decent bounce forward. So they were starting to dry out a little bit, so I would expect them to sort of keep trending in that direction, as we get into tomorrow and as the weekend goes on. You know, I think the weather has been perfect. They've got everything back on track, so I'd say people should expect the Shinnecock they've gotten to know over the past couple of decades." - Rory McIlroy on what he expects this weekend on the course.
• Converting on the putting surface was the second most correlated stat of the four main strokes gained categories at the top of the leaderboard. The SG: Putt leaders who made the weekend are:
  • Keith Mitchell, Rory McIlroy, JT Poston, Xander Schauffele, Zac Blair, Wyndham Clark, Collin Morikawa, Caleb Surratt, Eric Lee, Gary Woodland
• "Kind of it was less than I expected, if I'm honest. I really thought it was going to be way stronger, almost unplayable. It was still incredibly strong. My opening tee shot, I hit it what I thought was good. It kind of got to the top of its flight and just went 90 degrees left, so kind of underestimated that. Once I figured that out, I felt like I was pretty comfortable with the wind. I played obviously in the wind a ton growing up and in Europe and whatnot. It's not like I'm not used to it." - Matt Fitzpatrick on the wind.
• Shinnecock Hills is once again favoring driving accuracy over length. Who has hit the most fairways over the first two rounds?
  • Russell Henley, Brian Harman, Ryder Cowan, Eric Lee, Laurie Canter
• The two players with the longest active streaks of making the cut at the U.S. Open (Brooks Koepka-11 straight and Harris English-10 straight) both missed the cut this week. The longest active streaks now belong to Xander Schauffele and Hideki Matsuyama, both now at 10.
• "Yeah, see how the conditions are when we get out tomorrow. You know, this golf course can change pretty quickly, so we'll see how the golf course presents itself tomorrow, especially early in the day. I'll do my best to watch a little bit of golf and see how things are playing, but overall just come out tomorrow and continue to try to execute." - Scottie Scheffler getting ready for Saturday.

In a statement from the USGA, the golf course will be prepared to play progressively firmer over Saturday and Sunday, and the target green speed will be raised to 11.0 on the stimpmeter. Those looking for more difficult setup conditions, you will get your wish. Those looking for our Saturday card... scroll down.

Live Betting - US Open

Saturday card: B. Griffin over J. Poston (-122 DK) A. Rai over C. Conners (-118 DK) M. Greyserman over P. Coody (-102 DK)

* - Odds can change from site to site. Make sure you shop around before making each bet. Even though a bet is listed, it may have changed since the newsletter was published. FanDuel (FD), Caesars (CS), DraftKings (DK), BetMGM (BM), bet365 (B3), Bet Rivers (BR), ESPNBet (EB), Fanatics (FA)

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