US Open: Dreamer McDowell tries to stay realistic as Casey keeps in touch

Published on Saturday 19 June 2010 11:17

US OPEN leader Graeme McDowell will start his third round at Pebble Beach trying to temper his dreams of major championship glory with a heavy dose of realism.

The European Ryder Cup star from Northern Ireland tops the 110th US Open leaderboard at three under par after winning his private duel with the famous California links last night as he shot a three-under-par 68.

McDowell now leads by two strokes from two-time champion Ernie Els, double Pebble Beach winner Dustin Johnson, Japanese teenage sensation Ryo Ishikawa and four-time major winner Phil Mickelson.

Yet while he can picture making his breakthrough in the majors this weekend, 30-year-old McDowell is also aware that both the challenging Pebble Beach course and the rest of the field could easily come back to humble him.

"I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about picking up the trophy on Sunday afternoon," McDowell said last night. "I think that's only natural.

"But I'm trying to be very realistic about it as well.

"I'm really trying to put no expectations on myself this weekend because, A, I know there's a lot of great players out here, and B, this golf course is extremely difficult.

"So I'm not seeing the battle with the rest of the field, I'm seeing the battle with myself and the golf course."

Despite the reality check, McDowell added that he had never felt in such great form.

"I really, really feel like I'm playing the golf course really disciplined," he said.

"I feel like all facets of my game are in good shape. I'm probably as ready to go into the weekend of a major as I've ever been.

"Is this weekend my weekend? I have no idea, but I'll certainly be giving it my best shot, 100 per cent.

"If I get a sniff on Sunday afternoon I'll be ready for it."

Paul Casey believes he is on the right track to contend with his Ryder Cup team-mate McDowell after a second-round 73 that included a triple-bogey eight at the 14th and left him three strokes back of the lead.

"Nobody's going to go away with this," England's Casey said. "So I'm completely fine with where I'm at and I don't feel like I've got to do anything out of the ordinary, just stick around par, see what happens.

"I do like my position but it's about eliminating mistakes and I've done a pretty good job of that.

"Graeme is three under so there's a lot of golf left yet. Maybe there's some more treacherous 14th holes to contend with and who knows what happens.

"I mean, I feel like I played very good golf over two days and I've racked up some birdies and racked up a big number as well.

"So anything's possible. We've got a long way to go."

McDowell's Northern Irish compatriot Gareth Maybin will join him in the weekend's final rounds having made the cut on the number at seven over par thanks to an eagle at the 18th to close his second round.

The Belfast golfer scored a three on the famous par-five closing hole after hitting a rescue club from 235 yards to around 15 feet from the flag and one-putting from there for a 75.

"I knew I had to do something special to even have a chance of making the cut," Maybin said. "So I hit driver off the tee and hit a pretty good rescueto about 12 feet."

US OPEN SECOND ROUND SCORES

US Open Championship, Pebble Beach (USA unless stated, par 71):

139 Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 71 68

141 Phil Mickelson 75 66, Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 70 71, Dustin Johnson 71 70, Ernie Els (Rsa) 73 68

142 Jerry Kelly 72 70, Brendon De Jonge 69 73, Paul Casey (Eng) 69 73, Alex Cejka (Ger) 70 72

143 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 71, K J Choi (Kor) 70 73, Ian Poulter (Eng) 70 73

144 Scott Langley 75 69, Tim Clark (Rsa) 72 72, Gregory Havret (Fra) 73 71

145 Jason Dufner 72 73, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 74 71, Jason Allred 72 73, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 74 71, Shaun Micheel 69 76, Justin Leonard 72 73, Jason Preeo 75 70, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 70 75, Ross McGowan (Eng) 72 73, Lee Westwood (Eng) 74 71

146 Tiger Woods 74 72, Seung-yul Noh (Kor) 74 72, Lucas Glover 73 73, David Toms 71 75, Matt Kuchar 74 72, Matt Bettencourt 72 74, Fred Funk 74 72, Vijay Singh (Fij) 74 72, Luke Donald (Eng) 71 75, Scott Verplank 72 74, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 73 73

147 Nick Watney 76 71, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 75 72, Steve Wheatcroft 74 73, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 75 72, Sean O'Hair 76 71, Jim Furyk 72 75, Russell Henley 73 74, Bo Van Pelt 72 75, Camilo Villegas (Col) 78 69, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 75 72, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 77 70

148 Matthew Richardson (Eng) 73 75, Eric Axley 75 73, Ben Curtis 78 70, David Duval 75 73, Rhys Davies (Wal) 78 70, Erick Justesen 74 74, Ricky Barnes 72 76, Steve Marino 73 75, Robert Allenby (Aus) 74 74, Craig Barlow 73 75, Ryan Moore 75 73

149 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 73 76, Ty Tryon 75 74, John Mallinger 77 72, Toru Taniguchi (Jpn) 73 76, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 74 75, Peter Hanson (Swe) 73 76, Mike Weir (Can) 70 79, Pablo Martin (Spa) 73 76, Jason Gore 76 73, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 73 76, Steve Stricker 75 74, Kent Jones 73 76, Chris Stroud 77 72, Zach Johnson 72 77, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 75 74, Gareth Maybin (NIrl) 74 75, Davis Love III 75 74, Tom Watson 78 71, Stewart Cink 76 73, Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn) 72 77, Kenny Perry 72 77, Yuta Ikeda (Jpn) 77 72, Jim Herman 76 73, Robert Gates 75 74, Brandt Snedeker 75 74

The following players failed to make the cut:

150 Hugo Leon 73 77, Adam Scott (Aus) 77 73, Hudson Swafford 76 74, Ross Fisher (Eng) 74 76, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 79 71, Tom Lehman 76 74, David Frost (Rsa) 73 77, Simon Dyson (Eng) 76 74, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 80 70, Azuma Yano (Jpn) 74 76, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 75 75, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 74 76, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 73 77, Morgan Hoffmann 75 75, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 75 75

151 Kenny Kim (Swe) 78 73, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 74 77, Brian Gay 78 73, Oliver Wilson (Eng) 75 76, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 77 74, Simon Khan (Eng) 76 75, J J Henry 79 72, John Rollins 74 77, Marc Leishman (Aus) 77 74, Rich Barcelo 77 74

152 Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 75 77, Gary Woodland 76 76, Steve Allan (Aus) 78 74, Heath Slocum 75 77, Hunter Mahan 78 74, Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 75 77, Ben Crane 80 72, Paul Goydos 76 76, Jon Curran 75 77

153 Michael Sim (Aus) 77 76, Gary Boyd (Eng) 78 75, Paul Sheehan (Aus) 80 73

154 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 79 75, Charles Warren 75 79, Kaname Yokoo (Jpn) 76 78, Brian Davis (Eng) 80 74, Andrew Putnam 76 78, Byeong-Hun An (Kor) 79 75, John Senden (Aus) 80 74, James Morrison (Eng) 78 76, Jerry Smith 78 76, Bob Estes 77 77, Joseph Bramlett 79 75, Rocco Mediate 77 77

155 Ben Martin 78 77, Kent Eger (Can) 76 79, Harrison Frazar 78 77, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 76 79, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 77 78

156 Kevin Na 80 76, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 80 76, Daniel Summerhays 79 77, Y.E. Yang (Kor) 73 83

157 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 80 77, Travis Hampshire 81 76, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 78 79

158 Erik Compton 77 81, Soren Hansen (Den) 78 80, Kevin Phelan 83 75, Dan Mccarthy 80 78, Deane Pappas (Rsa) 81 77, Stephen Ames (Can) 74 84

159 Derek Lamely 78 81

161 Michael Campbell (Nzl) 78 83

163 Alex Martin 79 84

164 Mark Silvers 82 82

165 Blaine Peffley 86 79

166 Bennett Blakeman 81 85