Utah’s Tony Finau will stick around for what should be an adventurous weekend at Los Angeles Country Club in the 123rd U.S. Open.
Finau shot a 1-under-par 69 on Friday in the second round, and is at 3-under for the tournament. He is alone in 11th place heading into Saturday’s third round.
Finau is seven shots behind second-round leader Rickie Fowler, who shot a 68 Friday and is at 10-under.
The 36-hole cut came at 2-over, leaving notables who shot +3 such as Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth heading home for the weekend.
The other Utah native in the field, former Davis County resident Preston Summerhays, shot his second-straight 73 on Friday to move to +6 and failed to make the cut.
Finau has now made the cut in his last four majors and in 24 of the 29 majors he has played. He had missed the cut in the last two U.S. Opens, coming up short at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, last year and at Torrey Pines in the San Diego area the year before that.
His best U.S. Open finish came in 2018 at Shinnecock Hills, where he shot 5-over 285 and finished alone in fifth.
Can he make a run for the title this weekend?
He will need to clean up a few things, as his driving was average on Friday (8 of 13 hit fairways), his iron play was below his standard and he again missed a few short putts. He hit 11 of 18 greens in regulation.
The West High graduate from Salt Lake City’s Rose Park neighborhood shot a 3-under 32 on the front nine, with birdies on holes 1, 6 and 8. At 11:44 a.m. MDT, Finau was alone in fourth place at 5-under.
However, the back nine was a bit of a struggle. He made a bogey on the 297-yard par-3 11th hole, then missed a 3-footer for birdie on the next hole.
He also made bogeys on holes 13 and 16, while carding a birdie 2 on the short 15th, a 115-yard par-3.
Finau finished with some momentum, however, saving par from 20 feet away on No. 17 after hitting his tee shot into a hazard right of the fairway.
On No. 18, Finau got up and down from a greenside bunker to save par, rolling in an 8-footer after blasting out.