By early Friday afternoon, no one was talking about first-round leader Andrew Landry.
The buzz in the air was the bogey-free round put up by Dustin Johnson, a 67 that saw him have his way with Oakmont.
Once again, Johnson is off to a great start at the U.S. Open. He was five-under par after the first day at Chambers Bay last year, only to end up broken-hearted on the 72nd hole.
The rains cleared, the sun was shining and there were more low scores.
Johnson was tied for second with Lee Westwood, who used just 26 putts to post 67.
Sergio Garcia came in with 68 early Friday afternoon to join Shane Lowry at two-under.
In all there were an amazing 11 scores under par after the first 18 but the real Oakmont was beginning to take shape as the course began to dry out. Johnson and the rest of the Friday morning players were heading back out after a short break.
While Johnson thrived, the biggest name of the second wave staggered in with a 76. That was world’s No. 1 Jason Day who managed to make only one birdie on the day and hit two bad bunker shots at the par four seventh that led to a double-bogey six.
Phil Mickelson made it hard on himself when he missed a three-footer for par on his final hole and ended up with 74.
The plan was to play until dark and the early Thursday players will be back early Saturday morning to complete the second round.
“We wanna be in groups of two going off number one on Sunday and we’ll get there,” said Mike Davis of the U.S.G.A. who sets up the golf courses for competitions.
