Walton slips slightly at the finish

GAINING speed and firmness at the passing of every hour under a torrid sun, Oakland Hills stubbornly resisted all but the isolated onslaught when the 96th US Open reached the halfway stage here yesterday.

So it was that Payne Stewart, joint leader overnight, bogeyed the last for a 71 to cling precariously to the lead on 138, while Philip Walton lost his position as leading European with a second round of 73 for 142, two over par.

Though only four players are under par, dramatic progress was achieved by Ernie Els and Greg Norman, who moved to within a stroke of the lead. But from a European perspective, Sam Torrance captured the limelight when, by way of celebrating an MBE in the birthday honours list, he shot a splendid 69 to become the top European on 140 in this, his second appearance in the event.

Meanwhile, the overall closeness of the scoring meant that US Masters champion Nick Faldo remained very much in contention for back to back major victories when he birdied the short 17th for a 71. His finish certainly contrasted sharply with the horrendous bogey, triple bogey ordeal of the 1993 champion, Lee Janzen, who took four to get down from a greenside trap on the 18th.

The 10 shot rule, which allowed 113 players to survive in the 1991 British Open at Royal Birkdale, meant a remarkably high halfway cut of 148 - eight over par. Still, it failed to save Ireland's other competitor, Darren Clarke, who had two strokes too many after a second round of 73.

His chance eventually came down to a three and a half foot birdie putt on the 20 yard 17th where he hit a glorious six iron tee shot. Clarke hit a good putt but it slipped past the target and he went on to bogey the last.

"Obviously I'm disappointed" he said. "I knew what I had to do from the 13th, but I got a lot of bad breaks. If I had that putt at 17 again, I'd hit it on the same line."

So, Walton became the first Irishman to survive the halfway cut in the US Open since Ronan Rafferty at Medinah in 1990. And his prospects look good. When the mood takes him, he can be a wonderfully competitive player, as he proved in the Ryder Cup last September. And he appeared to have recaptured that mood as he started his second round as he had finished on Thursday - relaxed, but very much intent on business.

His first birdie chance came at the long second which he reached with two woods, but he three putted from the front fringe missing a second effort of eight feet. He then bogeyed the fourth where we had the rare sight of a wayward drive, into the left rough, from where his attempted recovery hit an overhanging branch.

But he recovered the shot two holes later, when a nine iron approach to the sixth finished eight feet from the pin and the putt went down for an overdue birdie. He was, in fact, creating chances at almost every hole, while marvelling at the huge crowds rushing around under a burning sun.

As it happened, the heat was to create serious problems for him on the homeward journey which he started at one over par for the round, having bogeyed the short, 220 yard ninth. There, he pulled a five wood tee shot into the bunker on the left from where Stewart made a double bogey on Thursday. But Walton limited the damage to a 30 yard recovery and two putts from 10 feet.

"From then on, my swing became a bit quick and I wasn't as comfortable as I had been on The front nine," he said afterwards. Through a combination of slow play and oppressive humidity, he appeared to lose his rhythm, particularly off the tee. In fact he would have suffered grievously, but for some superb scrambling in which the trusty broomhandle became a key weapon.

He needed a second putt of eight feet to make par at the 10th and recovered from a bunkered drive for another par at the 11th. But the course eventually hurt him at the 471 yard 14th where he hit a six iron approach into rough. Still, he regained the stroke at the next, when the same club left him within three feet of the pin.

Then came the fateful, 403 yard 16th which had brought such joy to Norman earlier in the day. For Walton, it led to a crushing, double bogey six. After pulling his drive into the rough as he had done on Thursday, he needed two hacks of a sandwedge to get the ball short of the green from where he took three more to get down.

But his spirit never faltered. Indeed he made an amazing par at the last where he drove into a bunker and with a wedge third shot of 125 yards, he made magnificent contact to leave the ball two feet from the pin. "The 16th was a bad blow but I didn't let it get to me," he said. "I could have been a few strokes better off but this is a game of patience. The way things went on the back nine, I've got, to be happy with my position."

Meanwhile, Norman swept back into the picture with typical spectacle. Given Walton's misfortune, it was bitterly ironic that the Shark should have carded a stunning eagle two at the 16th on the way to a brilliant 66 for a halfway total of 139 - one under par. The successful shot was an eight iron of 140 yards, over water at one of the most dangerous holes on the course.