Lefty shoots 66 to move into tie for 2nd place

Associated Press

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif.

With each birdie, Phil Mickelson put some life into an overcast day at Pebble Beach and gave himself another chance to finally take something more than silver home from a U.S. Open.

One day after he didn’t make a single birdie, Mickelson made six of them Friday. It wasn’t enough to catch Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland, who set the early pace with a 3-under 68 to take a two-shot lead into the weekend, but all that mattered to Mickelson was getting back to even par.

He did that one better.

With five birdies in a seven-hole stretch early in his round, Mickelson shot a tournament-best 66 and joined a shrinking group of five players who have beaten par over two days at Pebble Beach.

McDowell was at 3-under 139, and he made even more friends with a bogey on the final hole that assured 60-year-old Tom Watson of two more rounds in what likely will be his final U.S. Open.

Mickelson was joined at 1-under 141 by two-time U.S. Open champion Ernie Els (68), 18-year-old Ryo Ishikawa (71) and Dustin Johnson (70), who has won the last two times in the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and looks right at home in much firmer conditions.

“I’m in a good spot,” said Mickelson, whose five runner-up finishes is a U.S. Open record. “I don’t look at the leaderboard. I don’t look at other players. I look at par. If you can stay around par, you’re going to be in the tournament Sunday. That was kind of the goal.”

The Masters champion opened with a 75 Thursday, after missing a half-dozen birdie putts inside 12 feet. On Friday, he hardly missed anything.

It began with an approach into about 4 feet on the tough par-4 second hole, and Mickelson was relentless on the front nine until hitting into the cavernous bunker short of the ninth green and making his only bogey.

By then, he was back in the game.

Tiger Woods believes he’s still in the mix, too, although a pedestrian round of 1-over 72 left him seven shots behind. Woods has never won a major when trailing by more than six shots going into the weekend.

Asked if he liked his positions, Woods replied, “Absolutely.”

“I’m right there in the championship,” Woods said. “I just need to make a few more birdies, a few more putts on the weekend, and I’ll be right there.”

It starts with McDowell, a 30-year-old with five European Tour victories and a pair of 18-hole leads in the majors.

He was among the early starters, when the greens were in the best shape and the air was cool and calm. McDowell holed a 35-foot birdie putt on the 14th — the par 5 that chewed up so many other players throughout the day — and pulled ahead with smart shots into the fourth hole and the par-5 sixth to build his lead.

“I’m really trying to put no expectations on myself this weekend because I know there’s a lot of great players out here ... and this golf course is extremely difficult,” McDowell said.

McDowell’s round ended with a three-putt bogey on the ninth hole, but it was significant. By dropping to 3-under, he assured that everyone within 10 shots, 7-over or better, would make the cut to play on the weekend — Watson, Steve Stricker and Sergio Garcia included.

Watson, who won his only U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in 1982, made par on the last hole to follow his 78 with a 71.