JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen overcame his ‘loose iron game’ to card a one-under 70 and remain in contention on day two of the US Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links, in California, on Friday.
Oosthuizen moved to six-under overall, after his first round 66, dropping one spot to third on his own. American Gary Woodland leads the way on nine-under, with England’s Justin Rose two behind on seven-under.
The 2010 Open Champion Oosthuizen had a frustrating round with an impressive seven birdies, but a costly six bogeys to keep his score around the level-par mark for the day. In fact, Oosthuizen had just a single par on his back nine on his final hole, the par five 18th.
“I'm not a big fan of bogeys, I had a lot of bogeys on my scorecard. But you miss these greens, it's so difficult around the greens in the rough,” said Oosthuizen after his round.
"And you can't control the ball. You basically are guessing what it's going to do. And all those loose iron shots, I had tough chips, and I ended up bogeying probably all of them.”
Overall, the 36-year-old was pleased to keep his name near the top of the leaderboard despite missing so many greens – a total of seven missed greens.
“I had a lot of loose iron shots today. To shoot one-under par the way I felt on a few shots I take a lot out of that round, a lot of good things.”
“But I've been really solid this week on them [the greens with the putter] and felt that I could see the lines pretty decent. I'm looking forward to the weekend.”
While Oosthuizen remained firmly in the hunt, a total of three South Africans made the cut after nine began the week.
Erik van Rooyen carded rounds of 71 and 73 for a two-over total in 56th place. He was joined by compatriot Justin Walters on the same score with identical rounds of 71 and 73.
Branden Grace finished on four-over with rounds of 75 and 71 to miss the cut by two. Justin Harding managed the same total with consecutive rounds of 73.
Amateur Jovan Rebula would be disappointed to miss the weekend after an impressive opening one-under 70, he followed that up with a 76 to on four-over.
Dean Burmester was a further stroke behind on five-over with rounds of 76 and 71. Ernie Els ended six-over with scores of 75 and 73, while Merrick Bremner shot rounds of 79 79 to end 16-over.