The two Utahns in the 156-player field of the 124th U.S. Open golf tournament continue to play well at Pinehurst Golf Resort in North Carolina and are currently in the top 10 midway through the national championship.
Former Salt Lake City resident and West High graduate Tony Finau posted a 1-under 69 in the second round on Friday and is tied for fifth at 3-under 137 heading into the weekend.
Ogden native and former BYU standout Zac Blair also carded a 69 and also easily made the cut at 1-under 139. He’s tied for ninth through 36 holes.
Many of the game’s best players were not so fortunate, as Viktor Hovland (+6), Max Homa (+6), Tiger Woods (+7), Jason Day (+8) and Rickie Fowler (+8) will be heading home for the weekend.
The cut came at +5, and the day’s highlight was provided by Italy’s Francesco Molinari. He aced the 9th hole, his 18th, on Friday to get to 5-over.
Sepp Straka also made a hole-in-one on No. 9.
Finau has now made the cut in 27 of the 33 majors he’s played in, and five of nine U.S. Opens. Blair has made the cut in two of the three U.S. Opens in which he’s competed.
“When they say it is the toughest test of golf, I think that’s what you have to expect,” Finau said. “You know it is going to be grueling every day. … So far I have been up to the challenge.”
Ludvig Aberg of Sweden leads the tournament at 5-under, while Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Cantlay and Thomas Detry of Belgium are a shot back at 4-under 136.
Finau was in contention for the lead late in his second round, but on No. 18 he took a bogey after a rare errant tee shot.
He finished the second round with three birdies and two bogeys, the other miscue coming on the gnarly 523-yard par-4 4th hole.
“I thought overall it was a nice round,” Finau said. “I have hit a lot of fairways over the last couple of days. This is a golf course you can only score (well on) if you are hitting it from the fairway, so I was happy with that.”
Indeed, Finau hit 12 of 14 fairways on Friday, which left him tied for 11th in that category for the second round and tied for second overall after he was 13-for-14 in fairways hit on Thursday.
“The wind got a little swirly on the back nine,” he said. “I thought it was really hard to hit it close on any hole. Light and variable, a caddie’s nightmare.
“It was only blowing 3-5 miles an hour, but it seemed to be swirling so you just kind of hit when you felt like you were ready.”
Finau said a solid game plan to hit a lot of fairways and play conservatively through the first two rounds has put him in position to win his first major.
“You’ve got to hit fairways out here,” he said. “I’ve done a good job of that so far, and that’s what I will be looking to do over the next couple of days to give myself a chance to win.”
Blair tied for 40th at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst in 2014 and is in excellent shape to better that performance this weekend. He made four birdies Friday, including a 2 on the difficult par-3 17th, rolling in a putt of a little more than 21 feet to get back into the top 10.
Like Finau, Blair is hitting fairways and making putts. He hit 12 of 14 fairways in the second round and was tied for 10th in fewest number of putts.
Through two rounds, Blair is 148th in driving distance but proven that accuracy at Pinehurst is more important than length.