Fowler stays hot to maintain lead at U.S. Open
Sports
Fowler made three birdies in his first three holes on Friday to retake the lead at the U.S. Open.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rickie Fowler followed up his record-breaking first round 62 with three straight birdies to start his second round before making the turn at 3-under par at the U.S. Open on Friday.
Fowler narrowly missed his 16th birdie of the championship on the par-3 ninth when his putt stopped just short of the hole but is 11-under overall, two shots ahead of fellow American Wyndham Clark.
Fan favorite Fowler, a former top-10 golfer who last September dropped to a career-low 185th in the rankings, signalled his return to form on Thursday and will look to keep the momentum going to his first major title.
Overnight co-leader Xander Schauffele mixed two birdies and a bogey through his first eight holes to sit in second place with Clark as afternoon sunshine finally broke through at the Los Angeles Country Club.
Earlier in the day Clark drilled his fourth birdie of the day on his penultimate hole en route to a second round 67.
"Fairways are pretty wide out here so you can just bomb it," said Clark, who won the Wells Fargo Championship last month.
Rory McIlroy birdied four of his last five holes including the par-three ninth where he narrowly missed a hole-in-one to keep his hopes of ending his nearly a decade-long major drought alive.
"I thought it might have hit the hole, which would have been...," said McIlroy, trailing off.
"But I'll take a two there. Obviously a great way to finish the round and a bit of a reversal of yesterday where I made that bogey at the last."
The shot of the day so far came when Matt Fitzpatrick nailed a hole-in-one at the par-3 15, making him the first U.S. Open defending champion to record an ace in the tournament's 123-year history.
LIV Golf's Dustin Johnson made a mess of his second hole and finished with an unsightly quadruple bogey to tumble down the leaderboard but he battled back to card even par 70 and stay in the hunt going into the weekend.
Course conditions have been favorable for scoring due to a thick marine layer blanketing Los Angeles but the sun began to shine and wind picked up on Friday afternoon. More sun is forecasted over the weekend.
Firmer conditions should make the course located in the heart of Los Angeles a more fitting challenge for the world's best at a major that prides itself as being the greatest test in golf.
The tournament is the first major since the bombshell announcement that the PGA Tour and rival circuit LIV would form a unified commercial entity. A report on Thursday indicated the U.S. Justice Department would review the plans.
