U.S. Open 2019: Justin Rose, Jordan Spieth heat up as Tiger Woods tries to 'hang in there'

Bob Hille

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U.S. Open 2019: Justin Rose, Jordan Spieth heat up as Tiger Woods tries to 'hang in there' image

Tiger Woods, executing against his plan to "just kind of hang in there," was doing exactly that Friday at the midpoint of his second round at the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

Starting at No. 10, Woods, playing alongside overnight leader Justin Rose and Jordan Spieth, made the turn at 1 under for his round and 2 under for the tournament as he eyed taking advantage of the iconic course's relatively benign front nine.

"The first seven holes you can get it going," Woods said Thursday.

While Woods was methodically making his way around Pebble, Rose and Spieth were heating up. Rose, with a pair of birdies and the rest pars, carded a 34 on the tougher back nine to get to 8 under for the tournament and stretch his lead to three shots but immediately gave a shot back at No. 1 with his first bogey of the day.

Spieth, the 2015 U.S. Open winner, had three birdies in his first four holes to join Woods at 2 under, but gave a shot back at 14 before righting things with birdies at 16 and 18 to make the turn at minus-3 for the day.

Survive and advance was the order of the day among the group.

“It’s just fighting it out and grinding it out,” Woods said of staying in the mix ahead of Friday. “You just kind of hang in there.”

Two-time defending U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka, who went out some 20 minutes ahead of Woods' group, was doing exactly that: He mixed a bogey and a birdie with seven pars to turn at 2 under and, like Woods, five back of the leader Rose.

Meanwhile, Matt Kuchar put together a 3-under 32 on the front nine to climb 14 spots on the leaderboard and into a share of second place as he made the turn at 5 under for the tournament.

At approximately 11 a.m. local time and much more golf to be played, the projected cut line was a 1 over par.

The likes of Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele, Louis Oosthuizen (all 5 under after Round 1) and Rory McIlroy (3 under) were among the day's later starters.

According to Friday's forecast, breezes were again expected to be relatively tame, taking away one of Pebble Beach's main defenses and making it a second consecutive day ripe for scoring.

Thirty-nine players were under par after the opening round, the second-most in U.S. Open history, after the 44 who broke par at Erin Hills in 2017.

Bob Hille

Bob Hille Photo

Bob Hille, a senior content consultant for The Sporting News, has been part of the TSN team for most of the past 30 years, including as managing editor and executive editor. He is a native of Texas (forever), adopted son of Colorado, where he graduated from Colorado State, and longtime fan of “Bull Durham” (h/t Annie Savoy for The Sporting News mention).