Rickie Fowler were given off to a blistering begin then hung on tight as Los Angeles Country Club struck again on Friday, taking a one-shot lead on the US Open looking for his first fundamental championship.
The former international quantity four, had eight birdies and 6 bogeys in his two-under-par 68 for a ten-beneath total of a hundred thirty.
Wyndham Clark carded a 3-underneath-par 67 for 131 and turned into one stroke in the front of Xander Schauffele and Rory McIlroy, who had six birdies in his final 9 holes at the manner to a sixty seven that left the Northern Ireland big name poised to strike at the weekend for a fifth foremost identify and his first in nine years.
Fowler set a US Open low-spherical document of sixty two on Thursday that changed into matched via Schauffele as misty weather made for benign conditions at the LA Country Club North Course.
With the direction gambling longer and toning up fast once the sun broke through inside the afternoon, Fowler picked up proper wherein he left off with three instantly birdies to open his round.His ability to maintain the birdies flowing – his 18 over 36 holes is another US Open document – allow him triumph over 3 three-putts, one from just off the green on the eleventh which he spoke back with a 23-foot birdie at the 12th.
“The birdies are available if you positioned yourself inside the right role, however as you can see, bogeys are very easy to make,” Fowler said. “You hit fairways and hit veggies, sure, you may score well, however you get out of function and it’s going to consume you up.”
Fowler managed to bounce back from his mistakes while he needed to.
After a three-putt at 13 he rolled in a birdie putt from inner 8 toes at the par-three fifteenth. Unable to get up and down from a greenside bunker at 16, he answered together with his final birdie of the day at 17.
Fowler, as soon as tipped as likely to win more than one majors, missed the past US Opens as he remained mired in a stoop that noticed him drop to 185th inside the international.
“I’m searching forward to the weekend,” he stated. “It’s been a while on the grounds that I’ve felt this precise in a event, let alone a chief.”But Fowler advised that the 36-hollow lead “method not anything.”
“(It’s) a little special once you get to after 54 holes because it is whilst matters truely heat up,” he stated.
Clark is hoping to get a taste of that venture after putting himself in a strong function in a bid for a primary most important – a month after he broke through for his first PGA Tour identify at Quail Hollow.
McIlroy, meanwhile, can be aiming to keep the pedal down after a searing end to his round that were given off to a rocky start with three bogeys and a birdie in his first nine holes.
Four birdies in his ultimate five holes included a tap-in at his very last hollow, the par-three ninth, in which his tee shot almost went in.
Schauffele’s task changed into in hassle after 3 directly bogeys at 13, 14 and 15, however he closed with birdies at 17 and 18 and signed for an excellent-par 70 to enroll in McIlroy on 132.
“It became huge, simply to preserve myself in contact,” Schauffele said of his birdie-birdie end.
