• US Open: What They Said

Woods & McIlroy confident, Horschel inspired

Adam Scott struggled horribly on the greens © AP

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After shooting one of the better rounds of the day, a level-par 70, Tiger Woods (+3 overall) was more than happy with his work. He said: "I played well. I just made a couple of mistakes out there today, but I really played well. Maybe I could have gotten one or two more out of it, but it was a pretty good day."

For the second day in succession, Rory McIlroy matched Woods' score.

"I'm very happy," McIlroy said. "Right in there for the weekend. I don't think I'll be too far away by the end of the day. Yeah, I mean, in a nice position going into the last two days."

The third member of their group, Adam Scott finished seven-over par after struggling on the greens. He said: "I was a little disappointed with the way I played today. Like I said, I just lost my rhythm early this morning when it was a bit cold and windy and just fought with it all day long and the putter kind of cooled off. So I would have liked to make some putts and then you're always happy."

Billy Horschel was the clubhouse leader at one-under par, after a stellar second round of 67. He hit every green in his second round, crediting the long day for his solid play.

"It was a good day. Obviously it was a long day in 29 holes," he said. "But as I was telling people earlier in the week, I knew the weather was going to be bad Thursday, that there may be delays, I may not finish my round on Thursday, but I liked it better where I could play one round and go right into the next round, instead of playing Thursday and all the delays and wait all day today and get nine holes in.

"I feel better when I play more and more holes. I feel more comfortable and get better rhythm."

Luke Donald is well placed at level-par, although he did not look quite as composed as on Thursday during his second round 72. He noted: "It hasn't changed a whole lot. The wind direction is different, which makes some holes harder, some holes a little easier. I think it balances itself out.

"But US Opens get harder as the week goes on. The pins today were a lot more tucked. They were tougher to get to. A few were on little hills or slopes. It's very difficult to make those putts when the ball is breaking so much."

Graeme McDowell missed the cut after a desperate two days. He said: "I'm disappointed, of course. It's not the way I wanted to play the last couple of days. But this place is very hard."

John Senden is well placed at one-over. Asked about the poor scoring at Merion, the Australian said: "I think it's because of the difficulty when you miss. The rough is so long here compared to any other event I've played, any other US Open.

"There was nowhere near the height of rough at Olympic. I played Shinnecock. I played Pebble, and one other one, Congressional, and I think that it's just, you know, it's just demanding. There's a lot of slope, a lot of tilt on the greens. And if you hit good golf shots, you get rewarded because of the softness. But if you miss, you really are scrambling."

Scotland's Russell Knox was well-placed, until a second round 75: "It's not often you flush it and shoot five-over. It was as tough a course as I've ever played. This morning I played nice and holed some nice putts and this afternoon I holed nothing."

Matt Goggin struggled similarly, finishing two-over after a 74 on Friday. He said: "The only thing harder than 30 holes of US Open golf on one day is 31 holes. This is hard. Mentally it's very difficult. Any bad tee shot and you're just grinding trying to make a par."

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