Rory McIlroy recovered from a nightmare start to his second round to sneak through to the weekend at the US Open as defending champion Bryson DeChambeau suffered a shock early exit.
The Masters champion looked in danger of missing the cut after following an opening-round 74 with two double bogeys in his first three holes on Friday at Oakmont Country Club, only to battle back – in tricky scoring conditions – to scramble a two-over 72.
McIlroy remained outside the projected cut until two birdies in his final four holes saw him progress on six over, leaving him nine strokes behind halfway pacesetter Sam Burns on a leaderboard where just three players remain under par.
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McIlroy launched his club down the fairway in anger and smashed a tee marker during a frustrating second round
Burns fired a round-of-the-day 65 to jump to three under and grab a one-shot advantage over overnight leader JJ Spaun, with Viktor Hovland two strokes back in third, while world No 1 Scottie Scheffler sits on four over as he chases back-to-back major victories.
McIlroy is joined on six over by Xander Schauffele, as two-time US Open winner DeChambeau headlined the big-name exits after a seven-over 77 – including five dropped shots in a five-hole stretch – saw him miss the cut on 10 over.
How McIlroy survived early US Open exit
McIlroy’s wayward drive at the first left him taking four shots to reach the green on his way to an opening double-bogey, with another double-bogey at the par-four third dropping him to four over for his round and below the projected cut.
The Northern Irishman failed to take advantage of the par-five fourth but ended a run of pars by holing a 30-foot birdie at the ninth, the hardest hole on the course, only to bogey the 11th after finding another fairway bunker off the tee.
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McIlroy made two double-bogeys in his first three holes of his second round at Oakmont
McIlroy launched his iron in frustration after a wayward approach into a par-five 12th, where he could only make par, then failed to capitalise on birdie chances over his next two holes to remain on eight over.
He rolled in from 20 feet at the 15th to keep his hopes alive of making it through, a week on from missing the cut at the RBC Canadian Open, before he fired a wedge to within five feet at the par-four last to set up a closing birdie.
More to follow…
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