Ludvig Åberg leading by one at halfway mark

Rory McIlroy, Tony Finau and Matthieu Pavon lie two shots off the lead on three under.

Just a year after turning professional, Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg is playing in just his third major tournament and holds a one-shot lead at the halfway stage of his US Open debut.

Åberg added a 69 to his opening 66 at Pinehurst to finish five under par, a shot ahead of Belgium’s Thomas Detry and the American pair of Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Cantlay.

Rory McIlroy, Tony Finau and Matthieu Pavon lie two shots off the lead on three under, Pavon dropping shots on his last two holes on Friday.

The last player to win the US Open on their tournament debut was amateur Francis Ouimet in 1913.

“I think a US Open is supposed to be hard,” Åberg said. “It’s supposed to be tricky and it’s supposed to challenge any aspect of your game and I feel like it’s really doing that.

“But I’m super fortunate with the way that things have turned out over the last couple days and hopefully we’ll be able to keep it up.”

Scheffler made the halfway cut on the mark of five over par following a second round of 74, while former Open champion Francesco Molinari did so in amazing fashion with a hole-in-one on the ninth, his last hole of the day.

McIlroy had hoped to exploit ideal conditions and fresh greens on Friday morning but hit a mediocre chip from short of the green on his opening hole, the par-five 10th, and was unable to convert the birdie putt from 12 feet.

That was McIlroy’s first five of the week – he had birdied both par fives on Thursday – and another soon followed on the 11th when he was unable to get up and down after a slightly pulled approach span back off the green.

McIlroy also bogeyed the par-three 15th and the Northern Irishman’s day looked set to go from bad to worse when his birdie putt on the 17th rolled past the hole and off the front of the green, but he promptly chipped in for an unorthodox par.

A first birdie of the day finally arrived on the third and McIlroy made a vital save on the fifth after seeing Scheffler and Xander Schauffele both run up double-bogey sevens after needing two attempts to find the putting surface from the native area left of the green.

McIlroy’s approach had also ended up in the same area but he wisely cut his losses with a more conservative third shot across the green and two-putted for par, although he ended the day with a bogey on the ninth.

“Obviously it didn’t go quite as well as yesterday, but I feel like the golf course played a little more difficult, even though we were off in the morning,” McIlroy said.

Rory McIlroy, with hand on hip, waits to play a shot in the US Open
Rory McIlroy was satisfied to remain in a good position after a second round of 72 in the US Open (George Walker/AP)

“Overall I felt like I did a pretty good job at keeping some of the mistakes off the scorecard. I wish I had converted a couple more of the chances. Hit the ball pretty well. I think only missed one fairway. So I had plenty of opportunities.

“Wasn’t quite as good with the putter today but still overall in a great position going into the weekend.”

DeChambeau finished second in a US PGA Championship which featured record low scoring last month, but insisted he was ready for a completely different challenge at Pinehurst.

Bryson DeChambeau lines up a putt in the US Open at Pinehurst
Bryson DeChambeau insists he would relish a ‘diabolical’ challenge in the US Open (Matt York/AP)

“Even though it was a morning round, it actually started to get pretty firm already, which is a sign that they want this golf course rolling by tomorrow and Sunday,” the 2020 champion said.

“I’m excited for the test and challenge and I think it’s going to continue to evolve, especially with the conditions being as hot as they are.

“If the wind picks up, it’s going to be diabolical.”

Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin birdied the 18th to make the cut on the mark on his major championship debut, but Robert MacIntyre, Viktor Hovland and Justin Rose all missed out by a shot.

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Pos.PlayerTo ParR1R2Total
1Ludvig Åberg-56669135
T2Bryson DeChambeau-46769136
T2Thomas Detry-46967136
T2Patrick Cantlay-46571136
T5Rory McIlroy-36572137
T5Tony Finau-36869137
T5Matthieu Pavon-36770137
8Hideki Matsuyama-27266138
T9Tom Kim-17168139
T9Tyrrell Hatton-16871139
T9Xander Schauffele-17069139
T9Akshay Bhatia-16871139
T9Tim Widing-17168139
T9Corey Conners-16970139
T9Zac Blair-17069139
T16Billy HorschelPar7367140
T16Sam BurnsPar7367140
T16Stephan JaegerPar7070140
T16Sergio GarciaPar6971140
T16Russell HenleyPar7070140
T21Taylor Pendrith+17170141
T21Frankie Capan III+17170141
T21Seonghyeon Kim+16972141
T21Nicolai Højgaard+17269141
T21Sam Bennett+16972141
T21Nico Echavarria+17269141
T27Brian Harman+27171142
T27Sepp Straka+27072142
T27Jackson Suber+26973142
T27Chris Kirk+27171142
T27Adam Scott+27072142
T27Denny McCarthy+27567142
T27Emiliano Grillo+27072142
T27Min Woo Lee+27369142
T27Davis Thompson+27072142
T27Isaiah Salinda+27072142
T37Mark Hubbard+37469143
T37Adam Svensson+37370143
T37Christiaan Bezuidenhout+37271143
T37Harris English+37073143
T37Jordan Spieth+37271143
T37Martin Kaymer+37073143
T37Brian Campbell+37370143
T37Gunnar Broin(a)+37568143
T37Cameron Smith+37172143
T37Matt Kuchar+37271143
T37Daniel Berger+37370143
T37Si Woo Kim+37172143
T37Neal Shipley(a)+37073143
T37Aaron Rai+36974143
T51Wyndham Clark+47371144
T51J.T. Poston+47371144
T51Keegan Bradley+47470144
T51Collin Morikawa+47074144
T51David Puig+47668144
T51Austin Eckroat+47272144
T57Greyson Sigg+57669145
T57Tommy Fleetwood+57075145
T57Scottie Scheffler+57174145
T57Cameron Young+57372145
T57Shane Lowry+57471145
T57Ben Kohles+57768145
T57Brendon Todd+57471145
T57Luke Clanton(a)+57669145
T57Brandon Wu+57471145
T57Tom McKibbin+57471145
T57Dean Burmester+57471145
T57Justin Lower+57273145
T57Max Greyserman+57174145
T57Matthew Fitzpatrick+57372145
T57Francesco Molinari+57372145
T57Brooks Koepka+57075145
T57Sahith Theegala+57768145
T57Ryan Fox+57372145
CUT-----
T75Jason Scrivener+67472146
T75Brandon Robinson Thompson+67274146
T75Robert MacIntyre+67076146
T75Viktor Hovland+67868146
T75Max Homa+67175146
T75Nick Dunlap+67373146
T75Eric Cole+67373146
T75Ben James(a)+67571146
T75Jackson Buchanan(a)+67670146
T75Taisei Shimizu+67175146
T75Frederik Kjettrup+67274146
T75Justin Rose+67373146
T75Bryan Kim(a)+67274146
T88Kurt Kitayama+77374147
T88Peter Malnati+77473147
T88Rico Hoey+77770147
T88Seamus Power+77176147
T88Parker Bell(a)+77770147
T88Omar Morales(a)+77374147
T88Tiger Woods+77473147
T88Adam Hadwin+77473147
T96Chesson Hadley+87573148
T96Eugenio Chacarra+87573148
T96Taylor Moore+87672148
T96Nick Taylor+87474148
T96Jason Day+87177148
T96Tom Hoge+87573148
T96Erik van Rooyen+87672148
T96Alex Noren+87375148
T96Will Zalatoris+87573148
T96Ryo Ishikawa+87672148
T96Rickie Fowler+87177148
T96Webb Simpson+87573148
T96Richard Mansell+87870148
T109Victor Perez+97574149
T109Hiroshi Tai(a)+97574149
T109Joey Vrzich+97673149
T109Sung Kang+97475149
T109Logan McAllister+97079149
T109Chris Petefish+97772149
T109Dustin Johnson+97475149
T109Edoardo Molinari+97277149
T109Robert Rock+97079149
T109Cam Davis+97772149
T109Mac Meissner+97277149
T120Beau Hossler+107476150
T120Gary Woodland+107278150
T120Sungjae Im+107476150
T120Takumi Kanaya+107674150
T120Ashton McCulloch(a)+107575150
T125Wells Williams(a)+117576151
T125Brendan Valdes(a)+117675151
T125Sam Bairstow+118467151
T125Adam Schenk+117972151
T125Gordon Sargent(a)+117378151
T125Andrew Svoboda+117576151
T125Harry Higgs+117675151
T125Michael McGowan+117774151
T125Carter Jenkins+117378151
T125Casey Jarvis+117378151
T125Justin Thomas+117774151
T125Willie Mack III+117180151
T137Jake Knapp+127577152
T137Byeong Hun An+127478152
T137Adrian Meronk+127676152
T140Grant Forrest+137776153
T140Santiago de la Fuente(a)+137875153
T140John Chin+137578153
T140Lucas Glover+137479153
T140Jim Herman+137479153
T145Mackenzie Hughes+147282154
T145Maxwell Moldovan+148074154
T145Matteo Manassero+147975154
T145Stewart Hagestad(a)+147975154
T149Chris Naegel+158174155
T149Phil Mickelson+157976155
T149Carson Schaake+157976155
152Colin Prater(a)+177978157
T153Otto Black+197980159
T153Riki Kawamoto+197782159
T153Rikuya Hoshino+197881159
156Charlie Reiter+208080160
Updated: June 15, 2024
US Open 2024
Date: 13th June - 16th June, 2024
Location: Pinehurst Resort & Country Club (Course No. 2), Village of Pinehurst, NC
Purse: $21,500,000