Wrapping up round two of the U.S. Open

    It's always been a pet peeve of mine that when a round of any tournament, let alone the U.S. Open, wraps up on a Saturday morning because of weather delays, you never get a final accounting of that round. In the case of the 2013 U.S. Open, there were dozens of players still on the course when darkness fell Friday night. So, direct from the media center hard by the 16th tee at Merion Golf Club's historic East Course, is the second-round roundup I prepared for use on delcotimes.com

By TOM McNICHOL

tmcnichol@delcotimes.com

   HAVERFORD – When round two of the U.S. Open finally concluded Saturday morning, the 1-under 139 totals of Phil Mickelson and Billy Horschel did indeed hold up for the lead.

   Three players, Englishmen Luke Donald and Justin Rose and American veteran Steve Stricker landed at even-par 140 and were one shot back after two tours of what has proven to be a tough test in the 6,996-yard, par-70 East Course layout.

   Flying under the radar at 1-over were 2011 Masters champion Charl Schwartzel of South Africa, Nicolas Colsaerts, aka the Belgian Bomber, American Hunter Mahan, and Australian John Senden.

   Delco golf fans who were at the 2010 AT&T National held at Aronomink Golf Club remember Rose making a statement with his victory on the Fourth of July. Speaking of Aronomink, Mahan was a member of the field for the 1997 U.S. Junior Amateur there, a field that has already produced Masters winners Trevor Immelman and Adam Scott.

   Leading the pack at 2-over 142 is another Englishman, Ian Poulter, who basically wrested the Ryder Cup right out of the hands of some stunned Americans at  Medinah last fall. He’s joined at that figure by Australian journeyman Mathew Goggin and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson.

   Lurking at 3-over are that Woods fella – three-time U.S. Open champion, 14-time major winner Tiger Woods – and that Irish Rory guy – 2011 U.S. Open champion and owner of two majors at the tender age of 24 Rory McIlroy. There’s another major figure at 3-over in South African Ernie Els, twice a U.S. Open champion and the reigning British Open champion.

   If you don’t follow college golf, you might not know these guys, but a talented foursome of amateurs made the cut, led by California’s Michael Kim, the Haskins Award winner as the Player of the Year who joined heavyweights like Woods,  McIlroy and Els at 3-over.

   Tsung-Cheng Pan, who just completed his sophomore season at the University of Washington, was only one shot out of the lead when darkness fell and halted play in the second round Friday evening. Pan, a native of Taiwan, struggled a little coming in Saturday morning on that brutal finishing stretch at the East Course known as the Back Five, but he stands at 4-over 144, just a shot behind Kim in what could be an interesting battle for low-amateur honors.

   Making the cut just on the number at 8-over were two other amateurs, Kim’s Cal teammate Michael Weaver, and Kevin Phelan, a 22-year-old Irishman who just completed his senior season at the University of North Florida.

   The big story at Merion remains how well the East Course has held up to the best players in the world. There were some severe pin placements for round two, but, as in the first round, only five players broke par in the second round.

   Horschel, reiterating a point driven home by David Graham in the final round of the 1981 Open at Merion, hit every green and shot 3-under 67. To review: If you hit every green at Merion, you can score.

   Stricker had a very patient 1-under 69, Rose had a 69, Mahan a 69 and Stenson had the second-best second round with a 2-under 68.