San Francisco, CA – Former champion Jim Furyk carded a 1- under 69 on Friday to finish two rounds at the 112th U.S. Open in red figures.
With the morning wave complete, Furyk is the leader in the clubhouse at 1- under-par 139.
The 2003 champion at Olympia Fields has finished in the top 26 in each of his last eight PGA Tour starts, and that includes a share of second place at the Transitions Championship.
Furyk is tied for the lead with first-round leader Michael Thompson, who was 3-over par through eight holes at The Olympic Club, and amateur Beau Hossler, who is 1-under after 10 holes of his second round.
Graeme McDowell, the 2010 champion at Pebble Beach, managed a 2-over 72 to slide to 1-over-par 141 for the championship. He stands alongside Nicolas Colsaerts (69) and former NCAA champion John Peterson (70).
For his second round, Furyk started on the ninth tee. Players are starting on one and nine this week, instead of the normal first and 10th tees.
Furyk tripped to a bogey on No. 9 to slip to even-par. After making pars on the next five holes, Furyk got back to 1-under with a birdie on the par-3 15th.
"I hit a 9-iron and rode the wind a little," Furyk said on TV of his tee shot at 15.
The 42-year-old birdied the par-3 third, but stumbled to a bogey at the fifth. At the short par-4 seventh, he made his third and final birdie of the day to get back to 1-under.
Furyk parred No. 8, his last, to stand atop the leaderboard.
"As difficult as the golf course is playing, you feel like you can't make any mistakes, but you're going to," Furyk stated in a televised interview. "You're human, You're going to hit some shots off line."
This is Furyk's 18th U.S. Open, and he has missed the cut just twice.
"Very difficult. I think back to Oakmont and Winged Foot, where somewhere around 5-over par won the golf tournament," Furyk said in a TV interview when asked to compare the conditions this week to past Opens in which he has played.
"Depending on the setup on the weekend, that could be the winning score very easily on this golf course. It's difficult to get the ball in the fairways, it's difficult to hit the greens, and then once you're on [the greens], there's a lot of slope and they're difficult to putt."
Matt Kuchar stumbled to a 3-over 73 to finish two rounds at 3-over-par 143. Two-time champion Ernie Els (69), Steve Stricker (68) and Sergio Garcia (71) are among those one back at plus-4.
Lee Westwood (72), Ian Poulter (75) and former PGA Champion Martin Kaymer (71) are tied at 5-over-par 145.
World No. 1 Luke Donald and defending champion Rory McIlroy are among the many big names outside the projected cut line of 8-over par.
Dustin Johnson struggled to a 4-over 74 to finish two rounds at plus-9. McIlroy (73) and 2006 champion Geoff Ogilvy (74) finished two rounds at 10- over par, while Donald (72) ended 36 holes at plus-11.
Stewart Cink, Aaron Baddeley, Trevor Immelman and Miguel Angel Jimenez will all have the weekend off as well.
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