McDowell soars as Woods struggles

PEBBLE BEACH, California (AP):

Phil Mickelson shot a 4-under 31 on the front nine at Pebble Beach yesterday to climb back into contention in the second round of the US Open.

In search of the second leg of the 2010 Grand Slam, Mickelson bounced back from a first-round 75. He strung together birdies on five of seven holes on the front, capping it with a 15-footer on 8, before giving one stroke back with a bogey on No. 9.

He added another birdie on No. 11, and on a day when nobody was taking charge, the run vaulted Mickelson up the leaderboard, two shots behind leader Graeme McDowell and tied for second with seven holes to play before the weekend.

The US Open record for nine holes is 29, last shot by Vijay Singh in 2003. Mickelson had 30 in reach but couldn't save par after a drive into the rough on No. 9. Still, his front nine put him on pace to shoot the best score of the tournament so far.

McDowell and Ernie Els each shot 68 in morning action yesterday. Els, in search of his third US Open title, ended up at 1-under 141, two shots out of the lead, and tied with Dustin Johnson and Ryo Ishikawa.

Made for scoring

Trying to break through after a record five second-place finishes at the US Open, Mickelson attacked the easiest holes on the course on a day that was made for scoring, even if very few could take advantage. Early cloud cover gave way to partly cloudy skies with light winds and temperatures in the high 50s. Greens that Tiger Woods called "awful" after a sunny, dry round on Thursday, appeared to be running more true.

Not that it helped Woods much.

Opening on the back nine, he chipped in on No. 11 for his first birdie of the tournament, but if things were looking up, it was only for a brief while. He bogeyed both the par-3s on the back, missed an eight-foot putt for birdie on No. 18, blocked a tee shot into a bunker on No. 2 and hooked one into the fescue on No. 3.

It added up to a 1-over 72 and a slide down the leaderboard - seven shots behind McDowell. Woods, of course, feels he still has a chance.

"I just need to keep progressing and keep moving my way up the board," he said. "It's a long haul. The US Open is not going to get easier as the week goes on, especially on the weekend."

Anything is possible with Woods, but clearly, this is not the same player who won the last US Open at Pebble, back in 2000, by a record 15 shots. Back then, it was his name, not Mickelson's, carved into the sand down below. But so much has changed. He and Mickelson came into the US Open as co-favourites, and in the first round, neither managed a birdie.

Both broke that streak yesterday, but where Mickelson found his game on Day 2, Woods kept struggling.

After opening the tournament by hitting 10 straight greens in regulation, he got wild. Since that start, he has gone 13 for 26, and though the greens were better during a morning round yesterday than they were Thursday afternoon, he missed a series of makable putts, including the one on 18 and a 12-footer on 6 that slid by.