Sport

Early starters struggle at Oakmont

Paul Casey was looking to make up for a dreadful opening to the US Open in a hurry

Fri Jun 15 2007 - 01:00

Paul Casey was looking to make up for a dreadful opening to the US Open in a hurry. Among the early starters for the second round at Oakmont, Casey birdied three of his first five holes to improve to four over par.

An opening round of seven-over 77 left Casey plenty of work to do and it appeared he was up to the task. He briefly reached four under for the day on the 17th but the Ryder Cup star gave a shot back on the 18th with his first bogey of the day and he remains four-over for the tournament.

American Kevin Sutherland was currently the only other player under par for his second round, a birdie on the 14th -  his fifth hole - taking him to three over.

Ian Poulter, Kenneth Ferrie and Lee Westwood were also out early on Friday but were not having the same success as Casey. Both Poulter and Ferrie bogeyed the first hole and things quickly got worse as the duo ran up double bogeys on the third.

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Poulter also bogeyed the fourth but hit back superbly with back to back birdies to lie four over par.

Westwood played his first four holes in three over to fall to five over for the tournament. Starting on the 10th, Westwood got off to a stumbling start with a bogey and dropped shots at the 12th and 13th as well.

Phil Mickelson, who battled a wrist injury and a wayward driver to a 74 in the first round, carded his first birdie of the tournament on the par-five fourth to improve to three over but struggled thereafter to fall to eight over.

First-round leader Nick Dougherty tees off his second round shortly after 6pm from the 10th tee. Graeme McDowell and Padraig Harrington, both on three-over, are out at 5.52pm and 6.14pm respectively.

Dougherty was one of only two players to finish under par on Thursday, his 68 giving him a one-shot lead over Argentina's Angel Cabrera.

Tiger Woods was in a large group at one over. The world number one, looking for his third US Open title, starts at 6:36pm along with defending champion Geoff Ogilvy and reigning US Amateur champion Richie Ramsay.

Ogilvy opened the defence of his crown with a 71 and Ramsay shot 78 on Thursday.