• US Open, Round Two

Donald avoids fatal bite as brutal Merion bares teeth

Luke Donald took some punches from Merion on Friday, but stood strong © Getty Images

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On Friday the course at the US Open got even shorter, but the scores just got even higher.

If Merion's full, official distance of 6,996 yards was supposed to leave it at the mercy of modern golf's big hitters (the received wisdom heading into this week), then surely the 6,901-yard version that the United States Golf Association presented for Friday's second round was just asking to be ravaged.

Instead, in near-perfect golfing conditions (bar an occasional brisk wind that threatened to bring in some evening storms), just one of the morning players was able to make an impression against par - with Billy Horschel's 67 surely the envy of every other competitor in the field.

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Maybe by shortening the layout, the USGA was simply needling those who had crowed that Philadelphia's old classic deserved to be consigned to history. On Friday, as it has done for the last 100 years, the East Course was demanding nothing less than precision - and the players simply could not provide it.

Luke Donald has been one player lauded for his precision over the last few years, even if - in particular when it comes to his play off the tee - it is a reputation not entirely deserved.

But the Englishman is near the top of this US Open at the halfway stage because he, better than almost any other player, has managed to keep his ball in fairways and avoid taking on too much with his shots into greens.

"When I saw this place last week I thought it felt like a good fit for my game," Donald said afterwards. "This is a tough course, and it's obviously showing that you don't need a course to be ultra long to make it difficult."

It was easy for Donald to speak reverentially about the course after the event, but it was nearly all so different for the 35-year-old. In a commanding position as he reached the turn (having started on the 11th), he proceeded to try and do his best to erase all the good work of those previous 27 holes in the space of about five.

Four-under overall on the second tee and sitting pretty, Donald then bogeyed Merion's two par-fives, found a water hazard, and three-putted twice in the space of six holes - dropping four shots (a birdie at the third lessening the damage) in little more than the blink of an eye.

It looked like Donald was crumbling under the pressure. But this is the US Open; the former world No. 1 thought he was playing pretty well.

"The par-fives I didn't play well, but the other bogeys I didn't feel like I made too many mistakes," Donald said afterwards. "It's just a difficult golf course.

"The putts on six and seven, I thought I made both of those. Those pins have been tricky. The greens have been tricky to read all week."

That was the danger of Merion on Friday - and, presumably, for the remainder of the tournament. The USGA have done it again; this is a setup that will cost players shots with even the smallest of errors.

Anybody in doubt about that, and Merion's enduring status as a worthy host of any US Open, was set straight early on Friday, as Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy - playing two groups behind Donald - came through the treacherous stretch between the fourth and seventh.

Never have mid-range par-putts been cheered so vociferously, as both players conjured up impressive shots to keep going at holes that had already savaged other scorecards. At the fifth, perhaps the most contoured green on the course, the two slippery putts the pair holed were greeted with cheers that echoed around Merion.

Nearby competitors must have thought someone had made an eagle. Instead, the world's two best players had both just escaped with pars.

Both ended up staying where they started, three-over par after matching rounds of 70 … and both players were delighted about it.

"I just made a couple of mistakes out there today, but I really played well," was Woods' uncharacteristically earnest assessment. "Maybe I could have gotten one or two more out of it, but it was a pretty good day."

McIlroy added: "It was you guys [the media] saying that it was going to be scoreable - so you must be very good golfers! There were people saying 63, 64 [would be shot], I never thought that was going to happen.

"If you don't hit the fairways here, you're not going to score. If you do hit the fairways, it's still a big challenge."

Every player discovered that on Friday (except Horschel, who hit all 18 greens in regulation). Donald, McIlroy and Woods will return renewed on Saturday - daunted by the challenge they face, but perhaps buoyed by the knowledge that not a soul in the field will be getting much positive reinforcement as they try and navigate Merion from here on out.

"I'm excited to be in contention, and have a chance," Donald concluded. "You're going to make mistakes - I just need to try to minimise those mistakes over the next couple of days.

"Hopefully I can throw a good one in tomorrow and really be in the mix come Sunday."

By then, who knows what a 'good one' will entail. Organisers could easily stretch out the course another 100 yards, and find even more fiendish positions for some of these wicker baskets. 74 might suddenly become a good score.

But that's the nature (and the torture) of the US Open.

"At the end of the day, there's going to be a guy lifting the trophy," McIlroy, speaking the most sense of anyone, pointed out before heading off to recuperate. "It doesn't matter if he's plus five, minus five, or plus 16.

"He'll be lifting the trophy."

Tiger Woods clearly struggled at points on Friday - but was delighted with his round © Getty Images

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