Justin Rose takes charge of US Open but Brooks Koepka lurks closely as Tiger Woods struggles
JUSTIN ROSE continued to set a hot pace at the US Open, shooting a second round in the sixties to strengthen his position at Pebble Beach.
Rose added a two under par 69 to his brilliant opening 66, and at seven under par he entered the clubhouse with a two shot lead over the rest of the pack.
There was no guarantee he would stay there, as three of the men trailing him by just one overnight – Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele, and Louis Oosthuizen – were still waiting to star their second rounds among the afternoon wave.
It was still a great position to be in, although it was no surprise to see Rose crank up the pressure on his rivals.
Rose is regarded as the ultimate ‘TGI Friday’ player, as he leads the PGA Tour in second round scoring this year.
But his nickname should probably be changed to Harry Houdini, after the world No 4 continued his amazing impression of the great escape artist, with some more of the incredible par saves that lit up his opening round.
Rose salvaged par eight times out of nine after missing the green in his first round 66 at Pebble Beach, and had an incredible FOURTEEN one-putts.
Playing partner Tiger Woods also putted superbly in his opening 70. But the magic seemed to have deserted him as he missed a series of birdie chances, and finished bogey-bogey to slip back to level par at halfway.
Rose was quickly up to his ‘death-defying’ tricks again at his second hole, the eleventh, after sending his approach shot clattering into the thick rough.
He eased his chip down to six feet short of the flag - and after the way he putted on day one, Woods could have been forgiven for telling the Englishman to pick up his ball, and accept it as a gimme!
'DEATH-DEFYING' TRICKS
That sort of thing is OK at the Ryder Cup but not in Major championships. But Rose causally rapped his ball into the cup, and allowed himself a big smile before walking to the par three 12th.
His tee shot landed in a greenside bunker, but once again Rose made the up and down for par look ridiculously easy.
His next one-putt, at the 15th, secured his first birdie, and even when he found another bunker at the par three 17th the inevitable result was a sixth sand save in a row.
He made it seven out of seven by landing his ball three feet from the pin on the par five18th - but this time it produced his second birdie after he had found the bunker while going for the green in two.
He finally gave a shot back after finding deep rough on the first hole, only to bounce back immediately as a 334 yard drive on the second set him up for his third birdie.
Even in flat calm conditions there is still plenty of trouble lurking at pebble – as Ian Poulter discovered as he ran up a quadruple bogey on the third hole, after struggling to escape from a bunker.
That sent Poulter plunging to six over par – but at least he knows who to call for a few tips.
Rose did his best to extricate himself from another tight spot after hitting his ball into a water hazard at the fourth, but this time his seven footer for par shaved the hole.
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It was back to business as usual as another superb up and down at the eight helped him close with five successive pars, and throw down the gauntlet to the afternoon starters.
Rose will also be looking anxiously over his shoulder at defending champion Brooks Koepka, as the sleeping giant suddenly woke up to remind his everyone he will not give up his crown without a hell of a fight.
Koepka, bidding to become only the second man to win three US Opens in a row, was still stuck on his starting position at two under with four holes to play – until back-to-back birdie hoisted him to with three shots of Rose.
