• US Open, Round Two

McDowell surges into lead at Pebble Beach

Graeme McDowell clenches his fist © Getty Images

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Graeme McDowell's rich vein of form continued as he claimed the halfway lead after the second day of action at the US Open.

The Ulsterman raced to the Wales Open title earlier this month, and now he finds himself two shots clear of the field in California at three under.

"The win has been a huge springboard for me, a springboard of confidence, springboard for a good summer," he said. "I'm trying to use the momentum that I had in Wales. I feel very relaxed and very under control of what I'm doing.

"I'd be lying if I hadn't thought about picking up the trophy on Sunday afternoon. But I'm trying to be very realistic about it. I'm not seeing the battle as being with the rest of the field. I'm seeing the battle with myself and the golf course."

It might have been an even more promising situation for McDowell, who found six birdies across the testing course, but he suffered a bogey on his final hole of the day.

McDowell is ahead of a four-strong group at one under that includes world No. 2 Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Ryo Ishikawa and Dustin Johnson.

Two days on from his 40th birthday, Mickelson, who will assume the world No. 1 ranking with a victory here, made huge strides up the leaderboard as he fired six birdies and one bogey in a five-under-par 66 to tie the record for the second lowest round in US Open history at Pebble Beach.

"I think today was a day to take advantage of it," Mickelson said of the improved scoring conditions. "Am I surprised? If you asked me (on Thursday) I would probably say yeah.

"I'm in a good spot. I don't look at the leaderboard, I don't look at other players, I look at par. I was four over yesterday and I got it to under par, but it doesn't matter who is up on the leaderboard or what's going on, somewhere around par is always going to be in it.

"This is so much fun and I don't want the weekend to end. I want to keep playing. I can't wait for tomorrow's round."

Johnson is steadily forging a reputation as a specialist at Pebble Beach, having won the last two AT&T pro-ams played at the venue. "I'm very comfortable off the tee here," Johnson, who signed for a 70 on Friday, said.

"So I drive it pretty well, and in these greens, they're really small. But if you're hitting good quality shots, you can get it close to the hole. And I just feel like I got a good game plan to play this golf course."

Johnson's clinically efficient statistics make ominous reading for the rest of the field - he has hit 20 of 28 fairways in the first two rounds, as well as 27 of 36 greens.

Lee Westwood, whose 71 leaves him at three over, needs to mirror Johnson's ruthlessness if he is to continue his run of top-three finishes at major tournaments. The Brit's scorecard was sullied by a couple of ugly sixes, and he has struggled for rhythm ever since bogeying the first hole he played at the tournament this year.

The same is true of Tiger Woods, who is insisting he was still well in the hunt for a fourth US Open - despite finding himself seven shots shy of the lead at the halfway point. The world No. 1 is at four over after a 72 in which he again had difficulties on the greens he described as "awful" at the end of day one.

"I'm right there in the championship,'' he said. "I just need to make a few more birdies, a few more putts on the weekend and I'll be right there. "I feel good. I'm right there. As we know, the U.S. Open is only going to get tougher. They put some water on it last night and that's probably the last drink they'll get. So it'll firm up.''

Woods might be in the hunt, but Rory McIlroy resoundingly is not - he won't be around for the weekend after seven bogeys on the second day left him ten over par through 36 holes.

Overnight leader Paul Casey looked to have squandered the hard work he put in on the first day when he found a triple-bogey eight early in his round, but he remains firmly in contention at level par after fighting back to card a two-over 73 that featured three birdies.

Ian Poulter showed his battling qualities to fight back from a dreadful start to leave himself in a tie for tenth at one-over. Two bogeys in the Englishman's first three holes wiped out the hard work of his first round, before a triple-bogey eight at the 14th - the fifth hole of his round - dropped the world No. 8 to four-over-par. Poulter recovered his composure to play his final 13 holes in three-under-par and retain genuine ambitions of breaking his major duck.

With the ten-shot rule imposed, the cut-line fell at seven-over-par, meaning the likes of Rory McIlroy, Ross Fisher, Simon Dyson, Oliver Wilson and 2006 Champion Geoff Ogilvy all failed to secure a weekend stay.

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