US Open golf 2024: second round – live | US Open

“That might be the worst shot I’ve ever hit.” The world number one Scottie Scheffler, there, his mind being slowly scrambled by Pinehurst No2. A tee shot pulled miles wide left and short of the 199-yard par-three 17th. This isn’t Scottie Scheffler at all. Factor in the earlier meltdown, when Scheffler started throwing his putter around like Stevie Nicks in the video for Tusk, and maybe Tyrrell Hatton had a point yesterday when he was asked whether the difficulty of Pinehurst tipped the scales in his street-fighting favour …

I guess in some ways, with it being harder, a lot of guys sort of losing their head, it sort of brings them to my level because I just lose my head every week! They can kind of experience what it’s like in my head for a week.

A disappointing par for Bryson DeChambeau at 5, as he fails to get up and down from just off the front of the par-five. But he responds sensationally with the first birdie of the day at the 222-yard par-three 6th, curving in a big right-to-left putt from 25 feet, one he knew was going in from the moment it left the bat. He moves to -3, as does Tyrrell Hatton with birdie at 7, reward for a wedge from 107 yards to six feet.

-5: Cantlay
-4: Åberg
-3: McIlroy (7*), Hatton (7), DeChambeau (6), Pavon
-2: Kaymer (4*), Detry (2*), Finau

“[Word redacted by Family Website Editor] me!!!” Bob MacIntyre there, effing and jeffing in the deadpan Oban style as he watches a tickly downhill birdie putt on 7 roll six feet past. He does very well to steer in the one coming back to save his par and remain at +2. Birdie meanwhile for Thomas Detry at 11; the 31-year-old Belgian, who finished in a tie for fourth in the PGA at Valhalla last month, is currently in a tie for fifth at -2.

An unnecessary bogey for Max Homa on the par-five 5th. Having sent his tee shot into the gorse down the left, he elects to slash out with a hybrid instead of taking his medicine. Bad decision. He can only advance the ball 50 yards further up into more filth. A dropped shot becomes inevitable. He’s +2 for the week. Another birdie however for the 2014 champ Martin Kaymer, this time at 13, and he’s just three off the lead at -2!

“Is it really 100 years since Willie Macfarlane became the last Scot to win the US Open?” wonders Simon McMahon, who, let’s face it, is doing all he can to keep his mind off Euro 2024 and Germany. “Allow me to dream that maybe Bob MacIntyre can sink the winning putt and bring it home for Scotland this year. It’s about time. Go Bobby go!” Sadly MacIntyre is going backwards today, following up the aforementioned bogey at 4 with another on 5. He’s +2. Oh, and Macfarlane won in 1925, so that Caledonian yearning you speak of has only lasted a mere 99 years.

More thistle-infused US Open fun, courtesy of the four-time champion Willie Anderson, can be found by clicking below.

Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy fire their tee shots at the par-three 15th straight at the flag … but both topple back off the front of the turtle-back green. Scheffler gets too aggressive with his chip up, and is fairly fortunate that his ball doesn’t topple over the back and into a bunker. Instead it stops on the fringe, and while he’s inches away from draining the 25-foot swinger coming back for an outrageous par, the ball shaves the front lip, right to left, and he throws his putter into the air in a fit of pique. The putter spins, lands and bounces around on the floor as he turns away in disgust. Not too often Scheffler descends into a funk like this. The US Open at Pinehurst, ladies and gentlemen! McIlroy meanwhile only just chips up onto the green, and marks his ball quickly before it can think about rolling back down the false front. Two putts later, and both men are walking off with bogey. Par for Xander Schauffele. Meanwhile birdie for Tyrrell Hatton at 5, and the upper echelons of the leaderboard take on a subtle new look.

-5: Cantlay
-4: Åberg
-3: McIlroy (6*), Pavon
-2: Hatton (5), DeChambeau (4), Finau

Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele take turns to throw darts into the par-four 14th. All within ten feet, but only Schauffele is able to convert the opportunity into birdie. That’s two on the bounce for the Californian, and he’s repaired the damage caused at 10 and 11 impressively in short order. He’s back to level par.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout has never got it together at the majors. The 30-year-old South African’s best finish at one is a tie for 30th at the 2021 PGA. He’s threatening something a wee bit better here, though: birdies at 13 and 15 and he moves up to level par after yesterday’s 72. He’s one of only two players out there currently at two under for his round, the 25-year-old English debutant Sam Bairstow being the other. Bairstow has birdied 10 and 14 today, but he’s not going to beat his previous best at a major tournament – a tie for 81st at the 2022 Open – coming as he is off the back of yesterday’s disastrous 84. Bairstow is +12 for the championship, and currently propping up the entire field.

Martin Kaymer, who took Pinehurst No2 to pieces when winning the US Open here ten years ago, shot a fine 70 yesterday. He’s started well this morning, too, with birdie at 10 to move into red figures for the championship. He’s -1.

Scottie Scheffler has a quick sideways glance in the mouth of his lucky gift horse, trundling a 50-foot putt on 13 ten feet past. But he nails the one coming back. A par that didn’t look likely when his ball appeared from the tee box to be sailing towards the scrub. He remains at +1, and he’s rejoined there by his playing partner Xander Schauffele, who is rewarded with birdie for a wedge from 134 yards to five feet. Par for Rory.

A big break for Scottie Scheffler, whose drive at 13 found a large patch of sand. He’s able to whip his second onto the green, albeit nowhere near the flagstick. Luck however deserts Sepp Straka on 3. His approach looks really good … but it clatters the flagstick and bounds straight back into a bunker. Running hot, he overhits his splash out, which races across the green and down a scruffy bank on the other side. He needs three strokes to get the ball onto the green, then requires a ten-footer to limit (!) the damage to a triple-bogey seven. Last year’s joint runner-up at the Open tumbles down the standings to +3. How quickly a US Open bid can unravel.

“Dude, what are you doing?!” Scottie Scheffler yelling in exasperation there, as he carves his drive at 13 into an awful lot of nonsense down the right. His big stick behaved badly yesterday: he only hit six out of 14 fairways, a tie for 141st in a field of 156. He got away with a few errant ones then; he’ll be hoping to have caught another break here.

Tom Kim finished in the top ten at LACC last year. Throw in a tie for second at last year’s Open, plus commendable finishes in this year’s Masters and PGA, and the ever-entertaining young Korean is surely a major champion of the future. Three days in the future? Well, why not? The charismatic 21-year-old opened his round today with bogey at 10, but he’s just carded back-to-back birdies at 12 and 13 to bring himself up to level par for the tournament.

The new Canadian Open champion Robert MacIntyre, fresh from his week off celebrating, shot a commendable 70 yesterday. He nearly completes one of the great scrambles on the par-four 4th. Finding himself knee-deep in the native area to the left of the fairway, he does pretty well to power out, sending his ball wide left of the green. The best he could do, but there’s a bunker in the way and he’s on a downslope, short-sided. No matter! He opens his lob wedge to the heavens and scoops the ball miles into the air, landing it softly three feet from the cup. One of the shots of the week. Sadly, he doesn’t commit to the downhill putt, and it trickles apologetically to the left. A bogey and he’s +1.

An eventful start for Tommy Fleetwood. A three-putt bogey at 2 is followed by a fine second into 3, from 135 yards to ten feet. In goes the putt, and he’s back where he started the day at level par. In other dispatches for Anglophiles, Tyrrell Hatton began his round with a three-putt bogey at 1, and threatened to compound the error by whistling his tee shot at 2 into oomska down the left. But he got up and down from the apron to scramble par, and remains well in the hunt at -1.

An extremely careless bogey for Rory McIlroy on 11. Wedge in hand, 137 yards out, the pin in the middle of the green, he pulls his approach down a bank to the left. A chip up to six feet, but a missed putt, and that’s the 2012 and 2014 champion’s first backwards step of the week. A blemish-free card yesterday, but it didn’t take long to spoil things this morning. Another par for Scottie Scheffler, who hasn’t done anything particularly impressive so far today, but hasn’t made any silly mistakes either.

-5: Cantlay
-4: McIlroy (2*), Åberg
-3: Pavon
-2: DeChambeau (2), Finau, Bhatia

Xander Schauffele can’t guide in his gentle right-to-left slider on 11, and that’s a bogey-bogey start for the PGA champ. He’s +2. But Schauffele isn’t the first to zig-zag his way around Pinehurst this week, and he won’t be the last. The man he pipped at Valhalla last month, Bryson DeChambeau, finds himself in the scrub on 2, and his second flies through the green and topples down a bank. He overcooks the chip back, and that’s a shot gone. He’s -2.

More trouble for Xander Schauffele, who sends his tee shot at 11 into the scrub down the left. His ball ends up in front of a tuft, with another clump of grass behind it. That’s going to interfere with his backswing. Forced to come down steep, he can only gouge back out onto the fairway. One of those shots that looks like amateur hackery, but in fact is some result; just getting it out took reserves of power and skill. But he’s got to get up and down from distance to save his par now. A wedge straight at the flag to 12 feet will help. Big momentum-shifting putt coming up.

Sure thing, Viktor Hovland! He so nearly spins his wedge at 1 from 121 yards into the cup. The ball stops nine inches away from the hole and that’s a kick-in birdie. He’s +7 and will need something pretty special if he’s to survive the cut. That’s currently at +3 but will almost certainly move out as the field struggles with these conditions and Pinehurst’s notorious turtle-back greens.

Xander Schauffele was all over the shop yesterday, and did very well to emerge relatively unscathed with a level-par round of 70. The newly crowned PGA champion is up to his old tricks again today, carving his second into the trees down the right of 10, then flying his third from the pine straw over the back of the green. His wedge up from the back zips 12 feet past, and he can’t make the par saver. He slips to +1. Pars meanwhile for both Rory McIlroy (-5) and Scottie Scheffler (+1).

Viktor Hovland is back with his old swing coach Joe Mayo. A decision that has, on the whole, rescued his season from disaster, though you can never fix everything in one fell swoop, and yesterday’s 78 was a stark reminder that there’s still work to do. There’ll be no maiden major for the reigning FedEx champ and two-time PGA runner-up this week. Anyway, he’s started today’s repair job with an iron clacked down the middle of 1, as have his playing partners Bryson DeChambeau (-3) and Max Homa (+1), and I can’t be the only person whose mind turns to Seinfeld when the subject of Hovland’s coaching arrangements comes up.

An early birdie for Brandon Robinson-Thompson. The 31-year-old from the Isle of Wight is playing in his first US Open and only his second major – he played all four days at Hoylake in last year’s Open – and is enjoying himself so far this week. A 72 yesterday, and now a birdie at 10 to start off his second round. He’s +1 overall, and with extensive experience of golfing in neighbouring South Carolina, will fancy his chances of surviving another major-championship cut and building from there.

It’s not really breaking news to inform you that Pinehurst No2 is playing hard and fast today. Sky Sports have just illustrated that fact by showing a couple of shots into 1 this morning by Mark Hubbard and Adam Svensson: both players landed their ball softly beside the pin, only for a small amount of backspin to send their ball back onto the fairway, first slowly, then very quickly. Perfect comic timing, with affronted reactions to match. Not quite so amusing when it happens to you or your favourite, of course. It could be a long day for the players unless they find their landing spots. The margin between success and failure so fine, but then it’s the US Open, so.

So will Rory McIlroy continue his upwardly mobile momentum in the wake of that birdie on 18 last night? He’s admitted that he only walked in the putt because he thought he’d left it short, which was honest of him but kinda ruined the mic-drop effect; either way, though, it’s given the 2011 champion a huge boost as he pursues that elusive fifth major. He’s out early this morning, and his first drive down 10 is a thing of club-twirling perfection. His playing partners Xander Schauffele and the world number one Scottie Scheffler also split the fairway. It’s going to be an exciting morning!

Preamble