Birdie at the last sees Rory McIlroy make the US Open cut
Rory McIlroy will be around for the weekend at the US Open after just making the cut on six under after a round of 72.
The Masters champion made a birdie at the last to guarantee his involvement in the final two rounds at the Oakmont Country Club.
That said, it was a frustrating day for McIlroy and it all got too much for him on the 12th. After miscuing his second shot on the par-five, 647-yard hole, he threw his club in the air. And then on the 17th he smashed one of the tee markers after his disappointing drive.
A couple of double bogeys early on had the 2011 champion under real pressure but he settled down and made birdie at nine. There was a dropped shot on 11, but birdies on 15 and that saver at the last ensures McIlroy will have the chance to post a round in the 60s as he aims for a high finish.
Birdie for the weekend 🐦 @McIlroyRory converts to make it inside the projected cutline @USOpenGolf. pic.twitter.com/KEfvuBrMSa
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 13, 2025
Shane Lowry had day to forget. A round of 78 to add to his opening 79 left him at 17 over.
Sam Burns is the at the halfway point after taming Oakmont.
The 2023 Ryder Cup player carded a brilliant five-under-par 65 to move to three under.
He was one shot behind overnight leader JJ Spaun, who began his round at lunchtime on Friday.
The brutal Oakmont course, with punishing rough and treacherous greens, has chewed up and spat out some of the world's best players so far, but Burns was able to thrive.
Starting at two over after Thursday's opening round, he produced a blemish-free 31 with four birdies to make the turn at two under.
He dropped a shot at the first hole, his 10th of the day, but recovered with birdies at the second and fourth before draining a 22-foot putt to save par.
"I didn't really think of much of a score. The golf course is really too difficult to try to figure out what's a good score and what's not," Burns said.
"You're really just shot by shot and trying to play each hole the best you can.
"There's obviously a lot of golf left on a very tough golf course, so I think really this afternoon just getting rest and getting ready.
"I'm looking forward to the weekend. It's a 72-hole golf tournament, and if you can get a round under par out here, no matter if it's one under, you'll take it."
First-round leader JJ Spaun followed the eighth bogey-free round at Oakmont in US Open history with six bogeys on Friday, but he managed a two over 72 and settled into second place at two under for the championship.
Brooks Koepka was sitting at two under overnight but dropped down to two over after a difficult second nine holes saw him hit five bogeys.
Jon Rahm was another player who endured a torrid time, especially on the greens, as he tumbled down the leaderboard after a five-over-par 75.
"Honestly, I'm too annoyed and too mad right now to think about any perspective," the Spaniard said.
"Very few rounds of golf I played in my life where I think I hit good putts and they didn't sniff the hole, so it's frustrating."
Indeed, the terrifying course in Pennsylvania was playing even tougher on Friday.
Norway's Victor Hovland joins Burns in the red after he carded a two-under-par 68 to sit one under overall.
Hovland was at three under with four holes to play but two dropped shots, at the sixth and eighth holes, proved costly.
World number one Scottie Scheffler insists he is not out of contention, despite sitting seven shots off the clubhouse lead.
Scheffler, who has won his last two tournaments, including the PGA Championship, was on four over par after carding a one-over 71 in Friday's second round.
It seems a stretch to imagine Scheffler lifting the trophy on Sunday afternoon but the Oakmont course is chewing top players up and spitting them out and Scheffler reckons it could still bite plenty of people above him on the leaderboard.
"It felt like me getting away with one over today wasn't all that bad. It could have been a lot worse," he said.
"Overall, I'm definitely not out of the tournament. Today I think with the way I was hitting it, it was easily a day I could have been going home, but I battled pretty hard to stay in there.
"I'm four over. We'll see what the lead is after today, but around this golf course I don't think by any means I'm out of the tournament.
"I'm not in the position I'd want to be after two days, but by no means am I out of the tournament."
🚨 ACE ALERT 🚨
Victor Perez 🇫🇷 with a great shot and an even better celebration! pic.twitter.com/cmkThegam2
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 13, 2025
Frenchman Victor Perez hit a stunning hole in one during his second round.
With the brutal Oakmont course causing havoc for the world's top players, Perez decided the best idea was to take the punishing rough and treacherous greens out of the equation.
At the 192-yard par-three sixth hole, his seven-iron tee shot was rifled towards the flag in the middle of the green, bounced three times and rolled into the hole.
Perez celebrated wildly, chest-bumping his caddie James Erkenbeck before taking congratulations off playing partners Jacob Bridgeman and Adam Schenk.
It moved him from three over par to one over and repaired some of the damage of a triple-bogey eight on the par-five 12th.
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