It was a brutal day at Merion, with 12 players finishing with rounds in the 80s and only three players under par. When the second round was called due to darkness at 8:27 p.m. ET, only two players remained in red numbers for the tournament -- Billy Horschel, a 2013 PGA Tour winner who fired a flawless round of 67, and first-round leader Phil Mickelson.
2013 U.S. Open scores: Phil Mickelson leading, Tiger Woods in contention at Merion
The East Course at Merion was the story on Friday, punishing a field that’s left with just two players under par.
Horschel hit every single green in regulation for the miraculous loop through a course that made fools of some of the biggest names and best players in the world. It appeared he would go to sleep as the only player under par at the 113th U.S. Open, but Mickelson, always with a flair for the dramatic, canned a lengthy birdie putt in the gloaming on No. 18 to get back to 1-under. It was Mickelson’s only birdie of the day, coming on a hole that was statistically playing the most difficult. For the second straight night, he’ll go to bed with the clubhouse lead, halfway to capturing the white whale of his career.
Tiger Woods started his day with eight holes left in his opening round and then quickly doubled up with his second 18 just an hour later. It was a bit of a bad draw for Woods, who had to play the brutal five finishing holes twice back-to-back without really catching his breath, and at one point he was on the 4-over cut line. As the day progressed and the big numbers stacked up, that cut line moved well north of Woods, who picked up a shot coming into the clubhouse on Merion’s front side.
And despite all the agita about his struggles on the greens and a nagging elbow injury that’s clearly bothering him, Tiger got to sit back and watch the field contend with the same beast of a course and fall back to his spot at 3-over. He spent much of his first two rounds way back, hovering around 50th in the field but now he’s tied for 17th place and in fine contention to end his majors drought. That last victory, in 2008 at Torrey Pines, came with a severe injury hobbling him. Could he pull off another banged-up U.S. Open win?
Alongside Woods at 3-over are fellow U.S. Open champions Ernie Els and Rory McIlroy. With big numbers looming on almost every hole, anyone who makes the cut is technically in contention, but especially that accomplished trio at 3-over. More than a quarter of the field still has to finish up the second round, but here’s where things stand on Friday night:
| Place | Player | Score | Thru |
| T1 | Billy Horschel | -1 | F |
| T1 | Phil Mickelson | -1 | F |
| T3 | Luke Donald | E | F |
| T3 | Steve Stricker | E | F |
| T3 | Justin Rose | E | F |
| T3 | Ian Poulter | E | 14 |
| T3 | Cheng Tsung Pan (a) | E | 9 |
| T8 | John Senden | 1 | F |
| T8 | Nicolas Colsaerts | 1 | F |
| T8 | Charley Hoffman | 1 | 12 |
| T8 | Jerry Kelly | 1 | 12 |
| T8 | Michael Kim (a) | 1 | 11 |
| T13 | Mathew Goggin | 2 | F |
| T13 | Charl Schwartzel | 2 | 16 |
| T13 | Hunter Mahan | 2 | 15 |
| T13 | Henrik Stenson | 2 | 12 |
| T17 | Rory McIlroy | 3 | F |
| T17 | Tiger Woods | 3 | F |
| T17 | Gonzalo Fdez-Castano | 3 | F |
| T17 | Ernie Els | 3 | F |
| T17 | Matt Bettencourt | 3 | F |
| T17 | Jason Day | 3 | 14 |
| T23 | Geoff Ogilvy | 4 | F |
| T23 | Bo Van Pelt | 4 | F |
| T23 | Edward Loar | 4 | F |
| T23 | Russell Knox | 4 | F |
| T23 | Padraig Harrington | 4 | 15 |
| T23 | Jason Dufner | 4 | 14 |
| T23 | George Coetzee | 4 | 13 |
| T23 | Marcel Siem | 4 | 13 |
| T23 | John Huh | 4 | 12 |
| T23 | Robert Karlsson | 4 | 11 |
| T33 | Scott Langley | 5 | F |
| T33 | Kyle Stanley | 5 | F |
| T33 | Paul Casey | 5 | 14 |
| T33 | Rickie Fowler | 5 | 14 |
| T33 | David Lingmerth | 5 | 13 |
| T33 | Scott Stallings | 5 | 13 |
| T33 | Shawn Stefani | 5 | 11 |
| T33 | Mike Weir | 5 | 10 |
| T33 | Kevin Sutherland | 5 | 9 |
| T33 | Ryan Nelson | 5 | 9 |
| T43 | K.J. Choi | 6 | F |
| T43 | Jamie Donaldson | 6 | F |
| T43 | Webb Simpson | 6 | F |
| T43 | Hideki Matsuyama | 6 | F |
| T43 | Sergio Garcia | 6 | 15 |
| T43 | Simon Khan | 6 | 11 |
| T43 | Jaco Van Zyl | 6 | 10 |
| T43 | Kevin Phelan (a) | 6 | 9 |
| T43 | Randall Hutchison | 6 | 9 |
| T43 | Matt Weibring | 6 | 9 |
| T53 | Paul Lawrie | 7 | F |
| T53 | Lee Westwood | 7 | F |
| T53 | Carl Pettersson | 7 | F |
| T53 | Adam Scott | 7 | F |
| T53 | Bio Kim | 7 | F |
| T53 | Bubba Watson | 7 | F |
| T53 | Matt Kuchar | 7 | 17 |
| T53 | Stewart Cink | 7 | 15 |
| T53 | Matteo Manassero | 7 | 14 |
| T53 | Martin Laird | 7 | 13 |
| T53 | Fredrik Jacobson | 7 | 13 |
| T53 | John Peterson | 7 | 13 |
| T53 | Doug LaBelle II | 7 | 10 |
| T66 | John Hahn | 8 | 9 |
| T66 | David Howell | 8 | F |
| T66 | Peter Hedblom | 8 | F |
| T66 | Martin Kaymer | 8 | F |
| T66 | Michael Weaver (a) | 8 | F |
| T66 | Kevin Chappell | 8 | F |
| T66 | Josh Teater | 8 | F |
| T66 | Steven Alker | 8 | F |
| T66 | Alistair Presnell | 8 | F |
| T66 | Morten Orum Madsen | 8 | F |
| T66 | Jim Herman | 8 | F |
| T66 | Dustin Johnson | 8 | F |
| T66 | Brandt Snedeker | 8 | F |
| T66 | Tim Clark | 8 | 17 |
| T66 | John Parry | 8 | 16 |
| T66 | Bill Haas | 8 | 14 |
| T66 | Boo Weekley | 8 | 14 |
| T66 | Aaron Baddeley | 8 | 13 |
| T66 | Rory Sabbatini | 8 | 13 |
| T66 | Hiroyuki Fujita | 8 | 13 |
| T66 | Nicholas Thompson | 8 | 11 |
| T66 | Mackenzie Hughes | 9 | 9 |
| T87 | Justin Hicks | 9 | F |
| T87 | Chris Williams (a) | 9 | F |
| T87 | Michael Thompson | 9 | F |
| T87 | Y.E. Yang | 9 | 13 |
| T87 | Ted Potter, Jr. | 9 | 12 |
| T87 | Brandt Jobe | 9 | 11 |
| T87 | Chris Doak | 9 | 11 |
| T87 | David Hearn | 9 | 10 |
| T96 | Brian Stuard | 10 | F |
| T96 | Morgan Hoffmann | 10 | F |
| T96 | Casey Wittenberg | 10 | F |
| T96 | Kevin Streelman | 10 | F |
| T96 | Steven Fox (a) | 10 | F |
| T96 | Cliff Kresge | 10 | 16 |
| T96 | Peter Hanson | 10 | 15 |
| T96 | Ryan Palmer | 10 | 11 |
| T96 | Andrew Svoboda | 10 | 10 |
| T105 | Zach Johnson | 11 | F |
| T105 | D.A. Points | 11 | F |
| T105 | Sang-Moon Bae | 11 | F |
| T105 | Gavin Hall (a) | 11 | F |
| T105 | Max Homa (a) | 11 | F |
| T105 | Michael Campbell | 11 | 12 |
| T105 | Ryan Yip | 11 | 16 |
| T105 | Jay Don Blake | 11 | 12 |
| T113 | Keegan Bradley | 12 | F |
| T113 | Brendan Steele | 12 | F |
| T113 | David Toms | 12 | F |
| T113 | Marcus Fraser | 12 | F |
| T113 | Francesco Molinari | 12 | F |
| T113 | Luke Guthrie | 12 | F |
| T113 | Brandon Brown | 12 | F |
| T113 | Nick Watney | 12 | 15 |
| T113 | Ryan Moore | 12 | 12 |
| T113 | Wil Collins | 12 | 9 |
| T113 | Geoffrey Sisk | 12 | 9 |
| T124 | Marc Leishman | 13 | F |
| T124 | Graeme McDowell | 13 | F |
| T124 | Thongchai Jaidee | 13 | F |
| T124 | Branden Grace | 13 | F |
| T124 | Jordan Spieth | 13 | F |
| T124 | Jung-gon Hwang | 13 | F |
| T124 | Lucas Glover | 13 | 14 |
| T131 | Estanislao Goya | 14 | F |
| T131 | Scott Piercy | 14 | F |
| T131 | Eddie Pepperell | 14 | F |
| T131 | Jesse Smith | 14 | F |
| T131 | Harold Varner, III | 14 | 10 |
| T136 | Rikard Karlberg | 15 | 16 |
| T136 | Darren Clarke | 15 | F |
| T136 | Angel Cabrera | 15 | F |
| T139 | Jose Maria Olazabal | 16 | F |
| T139 | Jim Furyk | 16 | F |
| T139 | Joe Ogilvie | 16 | F |
| T139 | Robert Garrigus | 16 | 12 |
| T139 | Cory McElyea (a) | 16 | 9 |
| T144 | Russell Henley | 17 | F |
| T144 | Adam Hadwin | 17 | F |
| T146 | Thorbjorn Olesen | 18 | F |
| T146 | Yoshinobu Tsukada | 18 | F |
| T146 | Zack Fischer | 18 | F |
| T146 | Roger Tambellini | 18 | 16 |
| T146 | Yui Ueda | 18 | 16 |
| T151 | Matt Harmon | 19 | F |
| T151 | Brandon Crick | 19 | F |
| 153 | John Nieporte | 22 | F |
| 154 | Ryan Sullivan | 23 | F |
| 155 | Grayson Murray (a) | 24 | F |
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