Storms Soften Oakmont and Stop the US Open

Play has been suspended for the day at the U.S. Open amid thunderstorms.

Johnson went 27 holes without a bogey in a U.S. Open held on its toughest course.

He grabbed a share of the lead with a second-round 69 as some half the field tackled 36 holes on the demanding Oakmont course thanks to weather delays that knocked the tournament off schedule on Thursday.

Bryson DeChambeau, out on Tour after a stellar amateur career, went as low as 3 under before he, too, got reeled in by punishing Oakmont. He hit the fairway and limited the damage to a double bogey.

While the leaderboard features a mix of familiar (Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia and Jim Furyk) and not so familiar names (hello, Andrew Landry) the twenty-somethings who have helped fill the vacuum left by Tiger Woods’ decline are nowhere to be found. And he still hasn’t made a birdie on a par 5 in two rounds. By the time you get your stuff ready and get out to the range you never hit any balls.

Bubba Watson was part of the four-player pack pursuing Landry at 2 under.

Defending champion Jordan Spieth is in the clubhouse after finishing off an opening round 2-over 72 in the U.S. Open.

Landry, who earned his spot at Oakmont via a sectional qualifier in Memphis, said he had spent very little time thinking about his birdie putt overnight.

The 21-year-old Thompson played the front nine – her final nine at Blythefield – in 6 under.

“Gosh, that would be pretty awesome”, he said.

Well that’s one way to make par.

Johnson was at 4-under 136, two shots ahead of anyone else who completed the second round in the rain-delayed U.S. Open.

“You get used to it”, he said. “How is that in the bunker!” he yelled.

Oakmont was supposed to be a brutal test of golf in the U.S. Open. World No. 1 Jason Day comes to his finals hole of his first round at 5 over.

Previous year he faced a 12-foot, bumpy eagle putt to win the U.S. Open.

Tasked with a 10-foot birdie putt on the second green, Kevin Foley, crouching, was eyeing up his attempt. He is coming off his best finish of the year, a tie for 41st in the FedEx St. Jude Classic last week. Then there are those, no less skilled or talented, who have neither luck nor fortune on their side, and their greatest failures are in plain sight for the world to gawk at. He honed his game along the Texas coast, once shooting a 58 while doing two loops around a nine-hole track not far from his childhood home affectionately known by the locals as “the Pea Patch”. The fairway slopes sharply downhill to a green that runs away from players, and the typical play is to land it some 25 yards short and let it run onto the green and, hopefully, have it stay there. He arrived at Oakmont as the hottest player on the planet, having won seven times since his ninth-place finish at Chambers Bay a year ago.

When the wave of storms swept across Oakmont, golfers were taken off the course to the nearest shelter, which for some of them meant going to the media center.

But it led to one peculiar policy. A few get upset simply because their favorite brand of shampoo isn’t available in the locker room.

“It’s just a long day”, he said about Thursday’s delays.

Russell Knox was happy to have shelter.

A second wave of rainstorms swept across Oakmont Country Club early in Round 1, forcing a suspension of play.

“It was a long day today, but I felt like I played really solid all day for all 36 holes”, said world number six Johnson, who had opened with a bogey-free 67 earlier on Friday.