2017 U.S. Open: Live scores, leaderboard updates and more from Friday’s round

While most of the coverage focuses on the length of Erin Hills, this year’s U.S. Open venue, the most fun hole to watch on the course may be its shortest.

Update! On Sunday, the hole is set up at a beefy 172 yards. There’s also a 20 mph crosswind whipping through the hole and affecting tee shots from this elevated tee box “way up in the air” as FOX analyst Paul Azinger termed it. The pin is also tuuuuucked way back there on the green, giving the players a small landing zone out on the left side to an already small green.

We’ll be missing the top three players in the world for this weekend’s U.S. Open finish, but it’ll hardly be without major storylines. Perhaps it’ll even be golf’s most captivating star playing the main role come Sunday evening.

Rickie Fowler owned the headlines for most of the first two days at Erin Hills, but it’s a crowded leaderboard atop America’s national championship. Through two rounds, two Americans — Brooks Koepka and Brian Harman — share the lead alongside two Englishmen — Paul Casey and Tommy Fleetwood — at 7-under par. Fowler seemed as if he was on cruise control for the first nine on Friday, holding the lead at 9-under par, before making his first three bogeys of the tournament on the 11th, 12th, and 13th holes and falling one behind the quartet of leaders.

Jon Rahm was a legitimate favorite coming into the week at Erin Hills, but like a group of more seasoned, accomplished, veterans, the tempestuous Spaniard won’t be around for the weekend. Unlike fellow trunk-slammers Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, and Jason Day, the 22-year-old Spaniard let everyone know how displeased he was with how he played on his way to missing the cut (5-over for two days) at his first U.S. Open as a professional.

Rahm, with a win, a second, and a third this season, displayed an unpleasant temper throughout his two days at the tournament, all while playing alongside two players, Rickie Fowler and Hideki Matsuyama, who were in contention for the win. Several folks on the ground documented the hot-tempered Rahm’s march for the second day in a row.

If Rickie Fowler can hang on to capture his first major championship at this week’s U.S. Open, he might want to thank the Kardashians.

Major winners often give humble nods to those who encouraged them to reach the pinnacle of their careers. The names are legend in the world of sports:

Big name, first-time major winners have been a trend of late in golf. Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, and Sergio Garcia all picked up their first within the last six major championships. Now, perhaps, it’s the biggest star of all ready to get that burden off his back.

Rickie Fowler’s rolling right along on Friday at the U.S. Open, firing a 2-under-par 34 on the front side at Erin Hills to retain his overnight lead (now at 9-under) for the championship. With a big crowd in tow, Fowler was flawless through the first-time major venue’s opening nine — now playing 27 straight holes without a bogey to open the championship. The highlight of the day so far? This 51-footer for birdie on the long par-5 7th hole to move himself back into the lead alongside Brooks Koepka. He now leads alone at 9-under-par.

Rory McIlroy, getting ready to bundle up his satchels and head home after two ugly days at Erin Hills, may want a mulligan on his pre-tourney taunts regarding those whining about the tough rough at the U.S. Open.

What appeared to be an attempt to psyche out Kevin Na and others complaining that the abundant, knee-high grass was unfair backfired in spectacular fashion on McIlroy. The four-time major champion spent much of his first and second rounds hacking his way around the Wisconsin track on his way to an early exit at 5-over (78-71) after challenging the bellyachers to man up.

We’ve still got about eight hours left in the second round, but the U.S. Open projected cut line does not look like it will be kind to some of the biggest names in the game.

The cut at the U.S. Open is not the most generous of the majors, chopping the field at the top 60 and ties at the midpoint. Sometimes that can yield a big number if there’s a logjam of ties on a course that can create backups because of the usual challenging setup. As of early Friday afternoon, the cut is projected at 1-over at Erin Hills.

Aside from the blimp crash and an E. coli scare, the first day of the U.S. Open went off beautifully at new venue Erin Hills.

The fiery blimp crash became the big news of the day, but late Thursday night, I tuned into Golf Channel’s Live From postgame show and looked up from my computer to find Rich Lerner reading a statement on ... E. coli?

We’ve got 18 holes in the books at Erin Hills and while we’ve got a superstar at the top of the U.S. Open leaderboard, most of the big names struggled. Some notes on some of the bigger stories of Day 1 at the U.S. Open.

This is an easy and obvious choice. Rickie Fowler went out and matched an opening round record in relation to par, a 7-under 65 that has him in front by a shot. Granted, the course was yielding red numbers all over the place, relatively for a U.S. Open. But Fowler was flawless and it could have been better, with a few putts burning edges to stop birdie runs.

Rickie Fowler proved Erin Hills’ record-setting length wouldn’t intimidate him en route to tying the record for lowest opening round in U.S. Open history. Now he needs to keep that momentum going to win the first major golf tournament of his career.

Fowler dusted Erin Hills on Thursday on his way to a -7 score that matched Jack Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf as the best start in Open history. He waylaid concerns about the course’s distance (7,741 unforgiving yards, including a 675-yard behemoth of an 18th hole) and the knee-high fescue that had other pros grumbling before the tournament. (Though in a twist, one of those pros — Kevin Na — found his way onto the leaderboard, in part by avoiding the tall grass against which he’d railed.)

The 117th U.S. Open is upon us, and this year the prestigious event makes its Wisconsin debut. Erin Hills, a course that served as a cow pasture just 13 years prior, is the 2017 host of one of the sport’s four major tournaments.

The Open’s charm lies in its accessibility. Anyone, from professionals to amateurs to weekend duffers with an official USGA handicap can try their hand at qualifying through regional tournaments. This year, 13 amateurs will attempt to boost their careers by lasting all the way to Sunday’s final round.

The story was supposed to be the golf course. Through half a day at the U.S. Open, it’s about the stars at the top of the leaderboard. In fact, the lamentations and handwringing about Erin Hills’ thick fescue perhaps seems like much ado about nothing.

Still in search of his first major win, Rickie Fowler sits two shots clear of all others after firing a 7-under, course-record 65 to open America’s national championship. It was a flawless, bogey-free round for Fowler and a masterful ball-striking performance at a track that’ll demand such for anyone that hopes to take home the title on Father’s Day. Rickie only missed two of Erin Hills’ commercial-jet-landing-strip-sized fairways — nearly a prerequisite for contention this week. If you’re looking for a compelling tournament, one of the game’s biggest names at the top puts us well on our way this weekend.

Although the host USGA is trying to get away from it, for years the U.S. Open has marketed itself as “the toughest test in golf.” Whether you love it or hate it, it’s unique and has its own strong to quite strong identity. There will be frustration, yelling, anger, absurd drives, exquisite shots, and a major champion. Here are 10 things to watch and know for this week’s 117th edition at Erin Hills in Wisconsin.

The always entertaining wall-to-wall coverage of some course feature or controversy has centered around the high fescue grasses of Erin Hills this week. We always get something every U.S. Open, whether it’s the debate over “native sandy areas” at Pinehurst, wrecked greens at Chambers Bay, and now this in Wisconsin. It’s hilarious to watch, if you just keep a little perspective.

It seems like we were just watching Sergio Garcia pour in that putt at the 18th hole after sunset in Augusta. But the Spaniard has been strutting around in his green jacket for two months now and that means the second men’s major of the season is here.

The U.S. Open tees off Thursday from Erin Hills, a new venue to the national championship rota and one that almost no player in the field has experience playing under competitive conditions. Players, caddies, media, and maybe even the USGA are trying to figure out what this public course is all about in the middle of Wisconsin. What kind of game will it favor? Will we avoid the controversy, or disaster, similar to the last time the U.S. Open visited a new venue, Chambers Bay, in 2015?

The U.S. Open field is arguably the most democratic in golf. It is truly open, with almost half the field reserved for those working their way through the qualifying process. This year, the qualifiers are exactly half the field, with 78 earning a spot through sectional qualifying and the other 78 getting in via the USGA’s usual 14 exemptions. There may be a late withdrawal on Thursday that alters that balance but more on that in a minute.

The 156-man field is the biggest in golf. The Open Championship and PGA Championship match that size, but none is bigger. It’s a logistical challenge for the USGA, but one they’ve learned to master over the years. The course is jammed with threesomes using split tees for sun-up to sundown golf over the first two rounds. Even when we get a major wash-out, like last year at Oakmont, where Thursday featured minimal golf, the USGA can still hustle to get this massive field back on track for a Sunday night finish.