US OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP:NOTHING COMES easy in a major; but, in the US Open, where the test is more severe than anywhere else, the fickleness of a course like Torrey Pines - scenically set atop a cliff and seemingly demure to the eye, yet possessing devilish intent - can tease and torment to such an extent that even seasoned professionals can feel its wrath.
Yesterday, as the 108th staging of this grand old championship evolved, Pádraig Harrington - who had endured a terrible time in his opening round - revived his prospects with a 67, the best round of the championship, that bettered his opening round 78 by no fewer than 11 shots. His total of 146, three over, left him four shots adrift of clubhouse leaders Davis Love III and DJ Trahan and very much in contention going into the weekend.
Yet, on a day when Harrington was bestowed with favours, others suffered nothing but torment. For example, Ian Poulter endured a run of bogey, triple-bogey, par,double-bogey, double-bogey from the 11th. In that run, the Englishman had injured a wrist in seeing his score balloon out to 12-over par when his bogey putt on the 15th lipped out. It was a double bogey too far, and when he reached the 16th tee and saw there was a wait, he said his goodbyes to playing partners Luke Donald and Paul Casey and walked in.
Poulter wasn't alone in suffering trials and tribulations. Vijay Singh, for instance, four-putted the first - his 10th - in turning a potential birdie into a double bogey.
Still, the Fijian battled on, eventually signing for a 78 - for 149 - to at least survive into the weekend, while others to suffer were Kevin Streelman, who had shared the first round lead with Justin Hicks, but fell to a second round 77 to be on 145.
Love and Trahan defied the worst that the course threw at players, each producing rounds of 69 - for 141, one under - to claim the clubhouse lead, but among those players to fall by the wayside were Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson, Nick Dougherty, Colin Montgomerie and defending champion Angel Cabrera.
As Trahan, a journeyman pro seeking to hit the big time, put his quest for fame: "It's a major championship, this is what you try to play for all year. You've got four of these events that you hopefully qualify to play in and, if you can get yourself into contention, that's all you're trying to do. Give me a chance to win the tournament on Sunday. Somebody has to be up to the task, right?"
When he arrived on the 10th tee, his first, yesterday, Harrington's thoughts were simply on survival rather than entertaining any real aspirations for the title. He started the second round a shot better than holder Cabrera. By day's end, after firing a 67, Harrington had played his way on to the fringes of contention . . . while the Argentine had played his way out of the tournament.
For Harrington, it was an impressive fightback. "Yeah, a big turnaround," he admitted. "I knew I'd made four birdies yesterday (Thursday), and knew if I could go and make another four today and keep everything else tidier I was going to shoot under par. I figured I needed to get a score under par, a 69 was probably in my mind, to at least keep me in the tournament. You really don't know in this event, they have a 10 shot rule for a reason, and anyone within 10 shots can win."
In fact, Harrington went and did two strokes better than that. And, as the course pulled back favours on other players, the Irishman moved from his starting position of tied-112th to finish the day in the top-30 and very much in the hunt.
Ironically, despite improving on his first round score by 11 strokes, Harrington claimed that he "played better yesterday than I did today." Explain please? "I judge a lot of things on how I strike it, on how I hit it, and on how I swing it. I did all of those things well yesterday and didn't do them as well today.
"But, at the end of the day, it is how well you chip and putt that determines your score. Yesterday, where I chipped fine, I just got a lot of awkward and weird bounces on the greens. Today, I recovered much better."
He added: "My strategy was the same as it was yesterday . . . but the greens. When I dropped a (par) putt on 12 (his third), every thing was happy in my world whereas yesterday I was on the edge. Yesterday, I hit some good shots that ended up in bogeys and double bogeys and you're never very positive with that. I felt like I was never going to make a bogey on this golf course today.
"I kept my spirits up good yesterday, all through the round. Obviously when I finished, I was tired and fairly deflated actually. It knocked the stuffing out of me actually. But, during the round, I stayed positive and I came out today trying to stay positive and have a good attitude and to stay upbeat.
"I went out to hit the shots and go find the ball and then play from there rather than trying to work it all out. My attitude was the same, it's just that today I got on a nice run and yesterday I got on a bad run. Maybe in another week the two of them would have been average and I'd be shooting both scores around par rather than one high and one low.
"I hope I'm in contention . . . I don't want anyone going too far away, but certainly I am within range that another two 67s will do the job . . . in an ideal world, I would like to play like I did the first day and score like I did today. But to be honest, I'd settle for scoring like today."
