Harrington falls victim to Pinehurst
Phil Mickelson slumped to his worst US Open round in over a decade at Pinehurst today as golf’s toughest event took its toll again.
While Mickelson fell away with a 77 – no mean effort after he went to the turn in 41 – Colin Montgomerie could do only two shots better than that and Padraig Harrington headed out of the event when he could improve only three strokes on his opening 77.
Montgomerie had been hoping to get back into contention when he resumed on two over, five off the lead, but damage limitation became the name of the game when he set off with a double bogey seven.
Last year’s runner-up Mickelson, also second when the event was last played on the course six years ago, was even better placed overnight at one under, but then had six bogeys in seven holes.
Montgomerie was in perfect shape after two shots on the long 10th, but pitched into the guarding bunker, went over the green and saw his putt up the slope fail to make it.
After his next attempt he was left with a six-footer to avoid an eight and he did well to make that one.
“I had an horrendous start. A terrible, terrible start,” he said after posting a seven over halfway total of 147.
Sergio Garcia, Vijay Singh and Michael Campbell set the clubhouse target on level par and as long as nobody got to four under Montgomerie would survive the cut under the rule whereby anybody within 10 strokes of the lead qualified for the closing 36 holes.
American Olin Browne and Rocco Mediate led overnight at three under and were among the later starters faced by a course which traditionally gets tougher as the heat of the day dries it out.
Browne set off again with three pars, Mediate with one and so they remained one ahead of Lee Westwood and Retief Goosen, who like Luke Donald (one under) and Tiger Woods (level) were just resuming.
It was not until the difficult 16th – a hole where he was one of only four players to birdie yesterday – that Montgomerie missed a fairway, but having found a bunker there he came up short of the green and failed to hole from eight feet.
When he bogeyed the 442-yard 18th for the second day running, almost putting off the green, he was down in joint 80th spot.
Covering the front nine in one over with a bogey at the fifth was as good as he could let it be, but after a round without a single birdie he added: “It’s amazing how difficult you can make a course.
“This has to be the toughest of any US Open course. There are just no greens at the end of what you are doing.
“My irons are not quite good enough and I’m not holing any putts, but it’s just so hard.
“I hit three good shots at the 10th. I was an inch short with the third of them.”
Mickelson’s problems began immediately too and he did wonderfully well to escape from the 10th with a five.
From the edge of the rough he went with a fairway wood, but it finished under the lip of a bunker 80 yards short of the green. He opted to splash out into thick rough and played a great pitch to five feet.
It was a sign that all was not well with the world number three, however, and he could not recover from the rough on the 12th and 13th, then took three from the edge of the short 15th, came up short on the next and three-putted the 17th.
Campbell was having a much better time. After missed cuts on his last four appearances in the event – they included rounds of 83, 80 and 78 – the 36-year-old, who came through the European qualifier with a last-hole birdie at Walton Heath last week, was round in 69.
Singh had his second successive 70 and Garcia handed in a 69 as well after chipping in at the 18th and then picking up two birdies in his last three holes.
Paul McGinley had to wait to see whether his eight over (76-72) was good enough.
“We all knew the exam we were going to sit this week,” he said.
“My putter has been icy cold and putting well is a pre-requisite in US Opens.
“With a bit of luck, though, I’ll make the cut.” Harrington commented: “I’m not overly disappointed. That’s the way it goes sometimes. Obviously it was not going to be my week.
“I was in the rough eight times (off the tee) and on seven of those I couldn’t make the green.
“That’s a lot of shots to make up and I didn’t putt particularly well.”
Swede Peter Hedblom did, though. He was round in a best-of-the-week 66 to move from seven over to three over.
Last week he finished alongside Campbell at Walton Heath after playing the last four holes in five under. He sank a seven-iron for an eagle two, then birdied the last three.
Montgomerie was far from safe yet and certainly not when Goosen kicked off with a birdie at the 10th to join Mediate and Browne on three under.
Donald bogeyed the first two holes, while Woods birdied the second, but was bunkered on the next and returned to level par.
Garcia, winner of last week’s Booz Allen Classic, still thinks the winning score could be two or three over.
“The course is not going to get any easier,” he said. “I feel very happy. I feel like I played very solid all day. I’m a little disappointed I three-putted the 15th and third from about 18 feet each time, but I felt I played very smart.
“The course is in immaculate shape. My only complaint is the bunkers – way too much sand.”
Scot Stephen Gallacher finished alongside Harrington on 11 over on his debut.
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