U.S. Open 2018 leaderboard: Who is leading after Round 2?

The second round of the 2018 U.S. Open is in the books. Let’s take a moment and check out who is leads and who missed the cut at Shinnecock Hills.

Friday at the U.S. Open began with unexpected, yet welcomed, rain showers for the early morning groups. After Thursday’s opening round of steady winds and dried out greens the unforeseen rain in the morning helped some players early on control their approaches around the green. Off the tee, however, the wind still wreaked havoc on players as gusts blew the ball to the opposite side of the course while greens remained deceptive and unforgiving.

The second round opened up with four players sitting atop the leaderboard. Ian Poulter, Scott Piercy, Russell Henley and Dustin Johnson were the only players at 1-under par in the entire 156 man field to start the second round at Shinnecock Hills. By days end Henley and Piercy stumbled with rounds of 73 to enter the weekend 2-over par.

Poulter began his day with a bogey to drop back to even but rolled in three birdies on his back nine to end 2-under and one shot off the lead. While some of his opponents regressed Johnson kept his foot on the gas. After an opening bogey of his own, Johnson carded four birdies for a round of 67 to climb to a tournament-leading 4-under par.

Still five strokes off the lead, Tommy Fleetwood made one of the days most surprising jumps up the leaderboard. The Englishman rattled off six birdies, in addition to two bogeys, to card a 4-under 66. The only other man to match Fleetwood’s round on Friday was last year’s U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka who also sits at 1-over for the tournament.

https://twitter.com/usopengolf/status/1007636389389725697

Here are the Top-10, other notables and those who missed the cut (MC) from the 2018 U.S. Open leaderboard following round two.

1. Dustin Johnson -4
T2. Scott Piercy E
T2. Charley Hoffman E
T4. Tommy Fleetwood +1
T4. Henrik Stenson +1
T4. Justin Rose +1
T4. Brooks Koepka +1
T4. Ian Poulter +1
T9. Russell Henley +2
T9. Rickie Fowler +2
T14. Justin Thomas +4
T26. Patrick Reed +5
T35. Phil Mickelson +6
MC. Jordan Spieth +9
MC. Tiger Woods +10
MC. Rory McIlroy +10
MC. Jason Day +12
MC. Sergio Garcia +14

Previous major champions Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day continued their Shinnecock woes as each missed the 8-over cutline. The 2015 U.S. Open champion Jordan Spieth began his day on the outside looking in after a miserable opening round.

In typical Spieth fashion he turned up the heat on his putter late with a string of four straight birdies but failed to keep the streak alive on 17 and 18. With back to back bogeys to close his round, after a valiant effort, Spieth fell just one shot off the cutline.

Next: Live from the U.S. Open, Tiger Woods can’t quite hit his high notes

On the eve of his 48th birthday, and looking for his first U.S. Open victory to complete the career grand slam, Phil Mickelson held on after a tumultuous first round to avoid the cut. Meanwhile Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson all remain within striking distance as a firm and fast weekend is just a sunrise away.

With such an unforgiving course and still two rounds to play the TaylorMade ball is firmly in Johnson’s court if he wants to leave Shinnecock Hills as the 2018 U.S. Open champion.