The Olympic Club continued to prove difficult to the best golf players in the world as Tiger Woods again stuck it out to earn a share of the lead after the second round of the US Open, while defending champion Rory McIlroy missed the cut.
Woods, who shot an even par 70, leads the field with fellow veterans Jim Furyk and David Toms. Furyk's 1-under 69 on the 7,170-yard Lake Course put the 2003 US Open champion at an overall score of 1-under 139, the same scores as Woods and Toms, both of whom shot 70s on Friday.
Woods admitted patience was the key to getting by on this course, which saw just seven golfers break par in the field of 156 players.
"This tournament, you just (keep) plodding along," the 14-time Major winner said. "This is a different tournament. You have to stay patient, got to stay present, and you're just playing for a lot of pars.
"This is not a tournament where we have to make a bunch of birdies. Just got to just hang in there with a bunch of pars."
"It doesn't surprise me at all what you've seen over the first two days and I would imagine it will continue," Toms added. "I just hope I'm part of it."
"It can snowball very quickly here," Furyk said. "It's tough to kind of put a tourniquet on it and stop the bleeding and get the momentum changed back in the right direction on this golf course because, there's not a lot of let up . . . there's a couple of disasters waiting there."
The best round of the day went to 22-year-old University of Alabama graduate Hunter Hamrick, who shot a 3-under 67.
Phil Mickelson just about made the cut with an even par 70, which saw him finish the two rounds with a total of 7-0ver 147. The cut was set at 8-over 148.
There was no such luck, however, for McIlroy, who saw his tournament come to an end with a 10-over 150. Joining the Northern Irishman in taking an early flight home were Bubba Watson and world number one Luke Donald.
Graeme McDowell, the winner of the US Open in 2010, is tied for fourth on 1-over, and said he was just happy to survive. "My day was equally as un-enjoyable as yesterday," said McDowell. "It's just tough to have fun out there, I got to be honest with you. It's just a brutal test of golf."
