Golfing News

You knew that Phil Mickelson wouldn’t stay out of contention in a U.S. Open on the West Coast for very long.

The lefty, who can wrest the No. 1 spot in the Official World Golf Ranking from Tiger Woods with a win or a top-3 finish and a low finish by Woods, played Pebble Beach like the Masters champion he is on Friday. He opened with five birdies on his first eight holes and carded a sterling 66 to get to 1-under par and two off the lead posted by Graeme McDowell early in the day.

“I got the putter going early. It was a good feeling,” Mickelson said post-round. “I had a lot of birdie putts that were uphill.”

While Mickelson was making a batch of clutch pars coming down the stretch, Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen was finishing strong, closing with a birdie-eagle-par-birdie stretch for an even-par 71 and a 1-over total.

Defending champion Lucas Glover matched his 73 from Thursday and is 6-over par.

Overall on Friday there were five rounds in the 60s, two more than Thursday.

Leader Graeme McDowell will play in Saturday’s final pairing with Dustin Johnson. They will follow Ernie Els and Ryo Ishikawa, who will be behind Mickelson and Alex Cejka.

Seven-over 149 was the cut line. Players slamming the car trunks tonight include Miguel Angel Jimenez, Ross Fisher, Adam Scott, Geoff Ogilvy and Aaron Baddeley.

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