2012 U.S. Open: Tiger Woods Tied For Lead, Beau Hossler Dazzles Crowd

I get it: You want to be funny. You so desperately want to draw a laugh or be heard on television that you’re willing to make a fool of yourself. But please, for the love of everything, stop yelling stupid things at famous people during golf tournaments.

Maybe it’s just the nature of golf tournaments, especially majors. Large crowds, television cameras and a little bit of liquid courage just breeds stupidity.

While golf watchers on Friday were anointing 17-year-old Beau Hossler the winner of this week’s U.S. Open, Tiger Woods was grabbing the advantage, losing it, scrambling to a share of the lead with Jim Furyk and ending his second round tied at the top with Furyk and David Toms.

A birdie on the par-3 third hole gave Woods a quick one-shot lead on Friday, and, just as fast, he dropped three shots with consecutive bogeys on Nos. 5, 6, and 7 as Hossler cruised through his first nine on the back nine at 1-under. Then reality set in for the high schooler, who fell victim to the tough opening holes while a confident, comfortable and controlled Woods battled back with an even-par 70.

Lost in the furor over Tiger Woods sitting atop the leaderboard at The Olympic Club on the second day of the 2012 U.S. Open on Friday and 17-year-old amateur Beau Hossler claiming a lead no amateur had since 1980 was the story of last year’s defending champion. One year after ravaging Congressional in a record-breaking U.S. Open victory, Rory McIlroy is headed home after a missed cut.

McIlroy began his tournament with a first-round 77 that left him a full 11 shots off Michael Thompson’s pace and in danger of missing the cut, but he had a chance to rally on Friday and keep his tournament alive. Instead, despite starting on the ninth hole and taking on the softer back nine first, McIlroy was unable to get in gear, making two bogeys before his first birdie and five in his first 10 holes.

Noted golf enthusiast Tiger Woods started the second round of the 2012 U.S. Open near the top of the leaderboard and was off to a nice start, picking up par on the first two holes and a birdie on the third, but it seemed fans were about to see Woods unravel on the second day of the tournament.

Woods picked up three bogeys in a row on holes No. 5 through 7 and quickly began to tumble down the leaderboard, finishing up the front nine shooting a 36. Tiger straightened things out on the back nine however, opening up with a birdie and then adding another birdie on hole No. 13.

It looked as if 17-year-old amateur Beau Hossler was going to make Saturday’s round of the 2012 U.S. Open a must-watch as he found himself at the top of the leaderboard after his first nine holes on the course, but the magic didn’t last and the amateur began to fade down the stretch.

Hossler shot a 35 on the first half of the course, picking up a birdie on hole No. 17, but ran into trouble as he hit the back nine of the course. Hossler birdied the first hole of the back nine, looking as though he’d continue to climb and separate himself, but followed up with a bogey on the next hole. Hossler continued to fade, picking up a double bogey followed by two straight bogeys to bring his score to 4-over.

As the latter half of Day 2 of the 2012 U.S. Open winds down, the leaderboard has been in flux. Amateur Beau Hossler fell off the lead while Tiger Woods began gaining some ground to tie Jim Furyk for the lead. Woods and Furyk have been joined at the top of the leaderboard, but David Toms has made it a crowd at the top by shooting 1-under through 13 holes on the second day.

Toms started the day even after shooting a 69 in the first round, but has tied for the lead with a total of 1-under so far. Toms found himself at 1-over after two bogeys on the front nine, but on the 11th hole found himself picking up an eagle and parring the 12th hole to bring himself to a three-way tie for the lead.

Tiger Woods is back atop the leaderboard at the 2012 U.S. Open, moving into a first place tie with Jim Furyk with a birdie on No. 13. He is now even on the day. Beau Hossler fell back from his first-place perch, hitting a bogey on No. 2 and a double bogey on No. 4 to drop back to 2-over on the day and three shots off the lead.

Woods birdied on No. 10 to move within one shot of the lead, then sank a roughly four-foot putt for birdie on No. 13 to move back to join Furyk, who finished the day at 1-under.

Amateur Beau Hossler bogeyed his 12th hole in his second round at the 2012 U.S. Open, dropping a shot and falling back to 1-under for the tournament and locked in a two-way tie for the lead with Jim Furyk.

After making a solid bunker shot to within 15 feet of the hole, Hossler’s par save slipped past the hole before sinking a six-foot bogey putt. Hossler would follow with a par on the third hole, his thirteenth of the day.

Amateur Beau Hossler has taken the lead at the 2012 U.S. Open, adding fuel to the fire of what has become one of the best stories of the sporting year to this point.

The 17-year old high schooler just dropped an eight-foot putt on the first hole of The Olympic Club to take sole possession of the tournament lead at 2-under. Hossler started his round on the course’s back nine and is currently playing his 12th hole of the day.

Tiger Woods has taken sole possession of first place atop the leaderboard at the 2012 U.S. Open with a birdie on the par 3 No. 3 to move up to 2-under overall and 1-under for Friday. He surpassed Day 1 leader Michael Thompson, who is 3-over Friday through five holes, shooting a bogey on No. 11 and a double bogey on No. 12.

Woods is in the midst of a treacherous stretch of holes. If he can maintain 1-under through hole No. 6, he would put himself in a nice position to potentially expand his lead even more. It is still early, but Woods has to be very happy so far.

Jim Furyk shot a 1-under 69 on Friday to move up five spots on the leaderboard into a three-way tie (for now) in second place with Tiger Woods and David Toms. The trio still sits three shots back from Michael Thompson, who is still in the lead at even through two holes played Friday, and 4-under overall.

Furyk shot even through the treacherous first six holes at the Olympic Club. He hit birdies on No. 3 and No. 7, and bogeys on No. 5 and No. 9 to finish the front nine at even-par. Furyk was more consistent on the back nine, making par on every hole outside of a birdie on the par-3 No. 15.

If the U.S. Open were to make its cuts now, the line would be drawn 5-over. But the prevailing feeling around the course is that the line will continue to come down; after all, it’s still early and there’s more high numbers out there than low ones. With the first groupings of the day just coming off the course, there’s little red to be found -- a recipe for numbers near double-digits over par.

This is where we stand: Most, including myself, feel the cut line will end up at either 8- or 9-over. With few players under par and nearly everyone falling down the leaderboard, the line should start to move significantly soon. Many players sitting at or around 5-over have yet to tee off, and low numbers are going to be almost impossible this afternoon.

SAN FRANCISCO -- It’s only going to get tougher from here. With the early morning fog gone, the sun is doing its work, baking The Olympic Club to a crisp as the first wave of competitors navigates the site of the U.S. Open. And as of now, the golf course is winning yet again.

At the moment, only eight players are in the red. The lowest in-progress score is 2-under from Nicolas Colsaerts, who worked his way back to even-par for the tournament with three birdies and a bogey on his first 10 holes. With the morning emerging as the best time to post a number at Olympic, it’s a bad sign that so few players have been unable to get anything going.

Round two action is underway at the 2012 U.S. Open and like on day one, players are struggling to find the red. With roughly half of the field on the course, seven players are currently under par for the second round.

Graeme McDowell, who shot a 1-under 69 in the first round, is now in second place by himself at 2-under. McDowell’s second round got off to a rocky start when he bogeyed No. 9, the first hole of his round, but he rebounded on No. 10 with a birdie. Following another bogey at No. 12, McDowell birdied both No. 15 and No. 16 to move to 2-under.

Perhaps in Friday’s second round, Bubba Watson will be able to reach the green of the daunting 670-yard 16th with two swings of his driver, as the USGA has apparently taken uncharacteristic pity on the field by shortening the longest hole in U.S. Open history.

After overseeing an opening round that took its toll -- to the tune of 53 bogeys, 15 double-bogeys, and four of the dreaded “others” -- officials moved the tee up 60 yards, according to Golf Channel. The pin placement, which yesterday was in the front, measures 16 paces back and four from the left and should be more accessible in the second round.

The second round of the 2012 U.S. Open tees off from The Olympic Club in San Francisco on Friday. All eyes will be on Tiger Woods, however here are a few other storylines you’ll want to monitor throughout the day.

Michael Thompson - An opening round of 66 is pretty damn impressive, especially on this course, and Thompson is your first round leader because of it. Having not really been in this position before in the past as a professional, the question for Thompson today is simple: can he have a repeat performance of yesterday?

SAN FRANCISCO -- You can’t really prepare for following a grouping of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson around The Olympic Club for 18 holes at the U.S. Open. Putting the three marquee names of the tournament together was the USGA at its finest, producing a group made for TV and meant to draw in the casual fan. Little did I know just how crazy the scene would be.

Woods, Mickelson and Watson went off early enough that getting to the course meant rising from bed before the sun rose in the east and, for the gallery, staking out a prime spot along the ropes. Fans had been there since the gates opened at 6 a.m., all in hopes of seeing the three titans of the sport. Never mind that any glimpse they’d get would be brief: It was all about the experience.

Round two of the 2012 U.S. Open gets underway Friday and fans not able to watch live from the Olympic Club will have plenty of options to follow the second-round action.

ESPN and NBC will combine to broadcast 10 hours of round two. The coverage begins at 6 a.m. ET on ESPN. At 9 a.m. ET, the television coverage will shift to NBC until 11 a.m. ET. ESPN will then air the final five hours of coverage from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. ET.

The first day of the 2012 U.S. Open on Thursday offered no shortage of surprises and established the early storylines for the remainder of the prestigious Grand Slam event. The Olympic Club in San Francisco has proved to be every bit as challenging a course as was anticipated with elite golfers such as Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson having a devil of a time getting anything to go their way.

Meanwhile, odds-on favorite to win Tiger Woods had a very strong start to the tournament, finishing at 1-under to finish in a four-way tie for second place. Michael Thompson had the best start of anyone, finishing at 4-under to claim a three-stroke lead at the end of the first round.