PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Gary Woodland was playing so well Friday in the U.S. Open that he didn’t want to give away any shots. He wound up stealing one at the end for another record at Pebble Beach and a 36-hole lead for the second time in the last four majors.
Woodland kept bogeys off his card with a 15-foot par putt on the tough eighth hole. His final drive was seemingly perfect until it settled into a deep divot in the fairway, 217 yards away. One of golf’s most athletic figures gouged it out with a 7-iron onto the front of the green, then could only smile as he holed the 50-foot birdie putt.
His 6-under 65 matched the U.S. Open record at Pebble Beach for the second time in two days, a testament to a course that was only slightly firmer, but still soft enough under a heavy marine layer with so much condensation it felt like a list mist.
Woodland was at 9-under 133, beating by one shot the 36-hole record at Pebble Beach that Tiger Woods set in his record romp in 2000.
The difference: Woods had a six-shot lead in 2000. Woodland’s margin was only two shots over Justin Rose, who had a 70.
“I felt in control of my whole game,” Woodland said.
Louis Oosthuizen didn’t make a par on the back nine until the final hole in his wild round of 70 and was three shots behind.
The weekend remains a mystery.
Rory McIlroy, who kept it together right when it looked as though his round was getting away from him, felt the course was a little faster and could really speed up on the weekend. He was among 10 players separated by five shots halfway through a U.S. Open that so far has run smoothly.
That list includes two-time defending champion Brooks Koepka, who made two late birdies for another 69 and was five shots behind.
“I feel great. I’m excited. I’ve got a chance. That’s all you can ask for,” Koepka said. “I just need to make a few putts. Sometimes the hole just needs to open up. If I can get off to a good start tomorrow, have that feeling where the hole’s opening up, it could be a fun round.”
The list does not include Woods.
He made a 10-foot birdie on No. 11, his second hole of the round, and made nothing else the rest of the day. That birdie was the only putt he made longer than 5 feet, and he closed with back-to-back bogeys for a 72 to finish nine shots behind.
Rose set the target early and at one point Friday morning had a four-shot lead until a poor wedge to a front pin on No. 3, followed by an iron off the tee at the short, uphill fourth that peeled right over the edge and into ice plant, forcing him to take a penalty drop and leading to a bogey.
But he had few complaints with a super short game that has carried him for two rounds. Rose got up-and-down from the thick collar short of the green at No. 8, and with a lag putt from the bottom of the green at No. 9.
“At this point, there’s not a lot to worry about,” Rose said. “If you’re one ahead, one behind, it’s a lot of golf to be played. But it’s the perfect spot after two days.”
For the second straight day, Pebble Beach was there for the taking, but only for good, smart shots.
McIlroy also made a run at the lead until a bogey from the bunker on the 13th, and a mess on the par-5 14th. With the ball slightly above his feet for his wedge, and knowing that anything left of the pin would go down a slope with gnarly rough, he left it out to the right and watched it roll off the green and into the fairway. Then, he dumped a shot into the bunker and walked off with double bogey.
He answered with a pair of birdies.
“Those were huge to get me back into the tournament,” McIlroy said.
Oosthuizen, the first player to reach the early target set by Rose at 7 under, gave a shot back with a bogey on No. 8, and then another one at No. 10 that started his roller coaster along the inward nine.
A birdie was followed by two bogeys, followed by two birdies and another bogey.
