Long-hitting Angel Cabrera of Argentina knocked in a short birdie putt on the last hole to claim a one-shot lead after the second round of the US Open on the fast-running Oakmont course.

Cabrera, who began his round from the 10th tee, sealed a challenging day on the treacherous layout with his two-foot birdie at the ninth to register a one-over-par 71 and reach the halfway mark at even-par 140.
   
One stroke back was another big hitter, American Bubba Watson. The 28-year-old Watson, who leads the US Tour in driving, also posted a 71 for his 141 total.
   
"It's great to finish this way, but I've got to keep concentrating," Cabrera, 37, told reporters through an interpreter. "The tournament really starts tomorrow."
   
Watson, who missed the cut in his only previous US Open in 2004, said would try to stay relaxed and play his game.
   
"If your game is on, anyone has a chance to win here," said the left-hander from Bagdad, Florida. "Everybody is going to make mistakes." Watson had five bogeys and four birdies.
   
Two shots off the pace were England's Justin Rose, Sweden's Niclas Fasth, Australian Aaron Baddeley and Stephen Ames of Canada, whose 69 was one of only two sub-par rounds.
   
England's Paul Casey fired a four-under-par 66 to vault into contention at three-over 143, moving up 97 places on the packed leaderboard after his opening 77.
   
World number one Tiger Woods was within range at 145 after grinding his way to a 74, while defending champion Geoff Ogilvy of Australia posted a 75 for 146.

Woods is on the same mark, five off the lead, as Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell. After an opening 73 the 27-year-old added a 72 on a day when scoring soared.
   
"It was hard out there, but you expect that," Woods said about the notoriously fast, sloping greens, which firmed up in the sunny and breezy conditions after rain on Wednesday made them more receptive for Thursday's early starters.
   
"The wind was blowing out there and that helped to dry the greens out. You just had to keep your patience."

Padraig Harrington had a miserable afternoon and eventually slumped to 13 over par after his second round 80. 
   
The 37-year-old Cabrera, chasing his first major title, had three birdies and four bogeys but his most memorable hole may have been a par-save at the fourth, his 13th hole of the day.
   
The stocky Argentine hit into deep rough right of the fairway and elected to blast out onto the adjacent fifth fairway. From there he drew in a soft-landing approach 220 yards onto the green and two-putted to par the 609-yard hole.
   
Cabrera, who tied for seventh at the 2001 U.S. Open, has been known to rise at the big event. He has won three European Tour titles, including the European PGA Championship in 2005. He also tied for fifth in last month's PGA at Wentworth.
   
Sixty-three players made the cut, which was set at 10-over-par 150.
   
The birdie putt by Cabrera eliminated 19 players who would have qualified, including world number two Phil Mickelson, who had been poised to qualify by being within 10 of the lead after his 77 Friday left him with an 11-over-par 151 total.
   
The result ended Mickelson's streak of making cuts at the major championships at 30 in what had been the longest current streak among the players.

Collated second round scores in the US Open Championship, Oakmont GC, United States of America

(USA unless stated, par 70):

140 Angel Cabrera (Arg) 69 71

141 Bubba Watson 70 71

142 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 72 70, Justin Rose (Eng) 71 71, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 71
71, Stephen Ames (Can) 73 69

143 Paul Casey (Eng) 77 66

144 David Toms 72 72, Scott Verplank 73 71, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 72 72, Tom
Pernice Jnr. 72 72, Brandt Snedeker 71 73

145 Jerry Kelly 74 71, Peter Hanson (Swe) 71 74, Tiger Woods 71 74, Chad
Campbell 73 72, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 73 72, Nick Dougherty (Eng) 68 77

146 Jason Dufner 71 75, Lee Janzen 73 73, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 71 75, Jim Furyk
71 75, Mike Weir (Can) 74 72, Olin Browne 71 75, Shingo Katayama (Jpn) 72 74,
Stuart Appleby (Aus) 74 72

147 Hunter Mahan 73 74, Anthony Kim 74 73, Boo Weekley 72 75, Michael Putnam 73
74, Pablo Martin 71 76, Lee Westwood (Eng) 72 75

148 Steve Stricker 75 73, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 75 73, Harrison Frazar 74 74,
Ben Curtis 71 77, Jeff Brehaut 73 75, Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 70 78, George
McNeill 72 76, Vijay Singh (Fij) 71 77, DJ Brigman 74 74, Tim Clark (Rsa) 72 76

149 Chris DiMarco 76 73, Fred Funk 71 78, Charles Howell III 76 73, J J Henry
71 78, John Rollins 75 74, Ernie Els (Rsa) 73 76, Ian Poulter (Eng) 72 77, Ken
Duke 74 75

150 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 75 75, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 73 77, Michael Campbell
(Nzl) 73 77, Anders Hansen (Den) 71 79, Zach Johnson 76 74, Kevin Sutherland 74
76, Kenneth Ferrie (Eng) 74 76, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 76 74, Dean Wilson 76 74, Bob
Estes 75 75, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 77 73, Camilo Villegas (Col) 73 77, Marcus
Fraser (Aus) 72 78

The following players missed the cut

151 Nick Watney 79 72, Kirk Triplett 73 78, Joey Sindelar 73 78, Soren Kjeldsen
(Den) 76 75, Woody Austin 74 77, Johan Edfors (Swe) 75 76, Justin Leonard 75 76,
Joe Durant 75 76, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 75 76, Shaun Micheel 78 73, Jon Mills (Can)
73 78, Lucas Glover 71 80, Eric Axley 79 72, Mark Harrell 75 76, Phil Mickelson
74 77, Paul Goydos 78 73, Luke Donald (Eng) 74 77, Tripp Isenhour 74 77, Ryan
Moore 78 73

152 Richie Ramsay (Sco) 78 74, Tom Byrum 73 79, Vaughn Taylor 74 78, Jeff
Sluman 74 78, Stewart Cink 72 80, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 73 79, KJ Choi (Kor) 77
75, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 74 78, Brett Wetterich 77 75

153 Kaname Yokoo (Jpn) 78 75, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 76 77, Sean O'Hair 73 80, Joe
Daley 77 76, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 73 80, Nobuhiro Masuda (Jpn) 76 77, Toru
Taniguchi (Jpn) 78 75

154 Pat Perez 76 78, Arron Oberholser 73 81, Andrew Buckle (Aus) 73 81, Darron
Stiles 74 80, Anthony Wall (Eng) 73 81, Robert Allenby (Aus) 75 79, Sergio
Garcia (Spa) 79 75, Warren Pineo 82 72

155 Ricky Barnes 76 79, Chris Stroud 80 75, Kyle Dobbs 77 78, Davis Love III 75
80, Martin Laird 76 79, Tom Gillis 77 78, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 79 76

156 Michael Berg 81 75, Luke List 77 79, Jason Kokrak 76 80, Geoffrey Sisk 77
79, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 81 75, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 75 81, Nathan Green (Aus)
74 82

Adam Spiers (Can) 78 78, Michael Block 79 77, 157 Stephen Marino 79 78, Tim
Petrovic 78 79, Craig Kanada 72 85, Rhys Davies (Wal) 74 83

158 John Koskinen 78 80, Frank Bensel 79 79, Adam Scott (Aus) 76 82, Colin
Montgomerie (Sco) 76 82, Todd Fischer 79 79, Todd Hamilton 81 77, Robert
Karlsson (Swe) 77 81, Rich Beem 73 85, John Kelly 74 84, Lee Williams 80 78

159 Trip Kuehne 79 80

160 Jeff Golden 82 78, Miguel Rodriguez (Arg) 84 76, Andy Matthews 79 81,
Johnson Wagner 77 83

161 Jason Allen 80 81

162 Chris Condello 79 83

163 Philip Pettitt 81 82, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 78 85, Mike Small (Eng) 86 77,
Martin Ureta 80 83, Alex Prugh 82 81, Steve Elkington (Aus) 84 79

164 Brett Quigley 78 86

165 Todd Rossetti 78 87

167 Sam Walker (Eng) 78 89, Allen Doyle 81 86

168 Ryan Palmer 84 84, Jacob Rodgers 85 83