PINEHURST, N.C. (PGA.com) -- It was perfect day for scoring. Unless you were playing Pinehurst No. 2, which once again protected par as if it were gold in Fort Knox.
But if your name was Peter Hedblom, it was as close to perfect as one can get here.
Hedblom defied all odds Friday by shooting 4-under 66, the lowest U.S. Open round ever recorded at Donald Ross' famed layout. That he did so after his golf clubs were lost on his Saturday flight from his native Sweden and didn't arrive until Tuesday made his effort even more remarkable.
"Golf is so strange," Hedblom, whose effort got him into the weekend at 3-over par, said in the understatement of the year. "You come up here some weeks and everything is perfect. You feel good and you shoot 75. And then today, I didn't feel that good. I was just trying to hit the easiest shot to get it on the green, and that worked today."
He was one of the few who left Pinehurst on Friday feeling things worked for them.
The day began in cool, cloudy conditions that normally would signal that scores would be low. But this is Pinehurst No. 2, where good shots turn into double-bogeys and great ones sometimes leave a player shaking his head.
It played somewhat easier than on Friday, when only nine players broke par. Stress the somewhat, however, as only 14 managed to do so in the second round.
Phil Mickelson entered the day just two shots out of the lead, then proceeded to butcher his first nine holes in 41 strokes en route to a 7-over 77 that sent him tumbling down the leader board. Only three times in 56 career U.S. Open rounds has Mickelson posted a higher score, the last coming with his 79 at Oakmont in 1994.
Ernie Els, after opening with an encouraging 71, was five shots worse Friday with seven bogeys and one lone birdie. And Tiger Woods somehow scraped together a 71 despite four bogeys and 34 putts.
Seven players posted rounds of 80 or higher, including Chris DiMarco, who made eight bogeys and two double-bogeys on the way to an 82 that sent him packing.
The lowest total score through 36 holes was 2-under-par 138, and three players shared the honors -- first-round co-leader Olin Browne, who shot 71; two-time and defending champion Retief Goosen, who shot even-par 70; and Jason Gore, a Nationwide Tour player who played a masterful long bunker shot on No. 9, his final hole, to save his stellar 67.
Mark Hensby crafted together a nifty 2-under 68 to sneak up the leader board at 1-under, where he was tied for fourth with South Korea's K.J. Choi, who shot 70.
"I don't think you can really distance yourself at this event,'' Goosen said. "It's going to be a tough, grinding weekend out there, so it's just who is going to make the least mistakes.''
Fittingly, Goosen seemed most in control of his game among the three leaders.
"If you don't hit the ball properly, you're in trouble,'' Goosen said. "I felt I could finish 4- or 5-under," but didn't, because of two bogeys in his closing five holes after recovering from a bogey on the fifth hole, where he missed the green with a 9-iron.
Browne also put together a second straight solid performance, though his Friday 71 was more of a scramble than was his airtight opening 67. His one big second-round hiccup was a double-bogey on the par-3 sixth, where, from the front bunker, he needed four chips to get within 25 feet of the flag before draining a 25-footer for a double that could have been even worse.
"This game is all about staying in the present and hanging in there as long as you can,'' he said. "I've got no fingernails left today, man. I was hanging all day long.''
Gore, the third member of the lead trio, is also the biggest surprise. A longtime presence on the Nationwide Tour, he actually led the 1998 U.S. Open at the Olympic Club -- because he birdied the first hole while playing in the first group of the first day. He went on to miss the cut, though, and hadn't made it back to a U.S. Open until this year.
"This is my second time I've led the U.S. Open, so I'm quite comfortable now,'' Gore said with a big smile on his face.
Mickelson's fall from grace was most shocking.
"Well, it's a tough course to turn things around on because you just can't make birdies," Mickelson said. "The more you try to make birdies, the more bogeys you're going to make. I wasn't really trying to make birdies, I was just trying to salvage pars and had a tough time doing it. It's a tough golf course."
Vijay Singh, on the other hand, made a second straight solid trip around a Pinehurst No. 2 Course that turned more difficult by the hour. The Fijian, in search of his fourth major championship, began the day at even par, then birdied two of his first four holes on the back nine to improve to 2-under, but gave those shots back while posting a three-birdie, three-bogey 70.
"I hit the ball really good," said Singh. "I drove it really where I wanted to and hit my iron shots -- a lot of times I played away from the flags to the front part of the greens, but the putts were the problem today."
As they were the first day. Had Singh been able to putt a lick the first two days, he would be leading the event. On Thursday, he needed 33 putts and on Friday he used 35.
"Just the pace of the greens were a little slower than what I thought it was going to be," Singh said. "Everybody in my group had problems with the pace of the greens as well."
Nobody had more problems than Mickelson.
With co-leaders Browne and Rocco Mediate yet to tee off, Mickelson had a chance to post a solid score and put some pressure on everybody else. Instead, Lefty put all the pressure squarely on himself as he jumped onto a bogey train that sped wildly out of control. Starting on the back nine, Mickelson parred his first two holes then proceeded to bogey six of next seven holes to fall to 6-over for the tournament.
The culprit was an uncharacteristically cold putter. He missed short putts at Nos. 15 (3 feet), 16 (5 feet) and 17 (6 feet), where he three-putted. Adding insult to injury, his tee shot on No. 18 stopped behind a pine tree near a concession stand and he had to take relief, leading to another bogey.
After the turn, Mickelson got a shot back with a birdie at the par-4 third. But then he shot himself in the foot once again with a bogey at the par-4 fifth.
"Probably the biggest thing was the putting, though, because I had been putting pretty well," said Mickelson, who used 33 putts. "I hit them on line, I just didn't either read them right or get the speed right."
Mickelson's playing partner, Adam Scott, took advantage of the conditions, making birdie putts of 15 and 20 feet on the way to an even-par 35 over the back nine. Scott, however, played the front nine in 1-over for a 71 that left him at 1-over for the tournament.
Also playing well were Michael Campbell and Sergio Garcia. Campbell made five birdies and four bogeys for a 69 that left him at even par for the tournament, while Garcia also shot 69 to join Campbell, Singh and Lee Westwood (72) at even par.
Mickelson wasn't alone in his inability to capitalize on the conditions. Bob Estes made three birdies to briefly make it into a first-place tie at 3-under, but a double-bogey on No. 5 dropped him back down.
And Mediate, the first-round co-leader, faded to a 74 that left him at 141, three shots behind the leaders. Even so, he and many of the players behind him are still firmly in contention on a championship course where no lead is safe and where there is no such thing as breathing room.
"Everybody is going to confront a catastrophe out here somewhere,'' said Browne. "This course will whip your butt, plain and simple, every single shot.''
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