The feat of the dayand perhaps of the tournament, bears the signature of Francesco Molinari. The blue he makes the cut at the 2024 US Open thanks to a hole-in-one on the par-3 9th, his 36th and final hole. A par wasn’t enough, a birdie wasn’t enough: two strokes earned on a hole were needed, the only way to play even on the weekend was to hole the tee shot. And so the Turin player became the first player in history to make the cut in this tournament with an ‘ace’ on the last hole of the second round. In all of this Ludvig Aberg is in command, which is already rewriting history, and could do so even more on Sunday (the only player to win the title on his first appearance was Francis Ouimet in 1913).
The Swede, born in 1999who has been professional for less than a year, he already plays like a veteran and he is absolutely an established star. In a very complicated Pinehurst, his solidity from tee to green and quality in the short game put him in the lead with an overall score of -5closing the second day in 69 shots after the opening 66. Three birdies and a bogey on an extremely prepared coursewith greens and exit slopes on which it is practically impossible to stop the ball near the flag. Suffice it to say that I am just 15 under par after 36 holes, and the cut actually fell 5 strokes over par; however typical US Open scores.
Second position to be divided by three at -4: Thomas Detry, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Cantlay. The Belgian is one of the best of the day with his 67, and after the three birdies from one to five (he who started from the tee of ten) he even took the lead on his own, only to give up for a moment in the final, losing two shots in the last three holes. The winner of the US Open four years ago is one of the few to complete both rounds under par, with a game that, despite the declarations, is always aimed at attack and results in four bogeys and five birdies for a partial of -1. Closes on Friday in 71 Cantlay, leader after the first day, who makes a few more errors than in the opening round, especially with the putt, but after the two shots lost on the eighth he is very good at not giving up and remaining absolutely in contention.
The person who will fight this weekend to win a Major ten years after the last one is Rory McIlroywith the Northern Irishman having more difficulty than on his debut, but he contained the damage and with 72 in the second round he was tied for third. For him there are two shots off the head, just like for the American Tony Finau (today solid 69) and the transalpine Matthieu Pavon. The Frenchman was in the lead with Aberg until the 9th, his last hole of the day, where he unfortunately stumbled into a double bogey which will not let him sleep peacefully. Eighth position solo for the Japanese Hideki Matsuyama, with the total score of -2. The Japanese was the best on Friday at Pinehurst, finding a round in 66 bogey frees, a fact that has occurred less than ten times on this course in 4 editions in the last 25 years.
He closes the top-10, in ninth place, with a total score of -1 a squad of seven players who are anything but left out of the fight for victory: the Korean Tom Kim (68), English Tyrrell Hatton (71), Swedish Tom Widing (68), the Canadian Corey Conners (70), and the Americans Xander Schauffele (69), Akhsay Bhatia (71) e Zac Blair (69). Said of the magical conclusion of ‘Chicco’ Molinari, he is the only Italian to make the cut, with the Turin native thus playing his eighth weekend in fourteen appearances in the US Major. Who knows, maybe this ‘hole in one’ might bring some sparkle back to the blue game?who perhaps needed a rush of adrenaline to try to make sense of a couple of years of absolute hardship.
Even today the script seemed to be the same as in recent years, good level but too many errors, which translate into missed shots that take the target further away. The three left on the field from 2 to 8 are clear, with the birdie opportunities instead wasted. Today the putt, the historic Achilles’ heel, often saved the only Italian Major winner, while the irons on the green were a problem. All canceled by the fabulous conclusiona hole in one (53rd in US Open history and 4th on hole nine) that will be remembered in history. Edoardo Molinari and Matteo Manassero will not be in the match in the last two rounds.
The first, after having made people dream in the first lap occupying the top areas of the rankings for a long time, life gets complicated in the last holes on Thursday and in the second eighteen drops in distance. For him in the end a day ended in 77 shots, just one birdie compared to five bogeys and a double bogey; which translate into a +9 overall and 113th place. Era the Manassero tournament has already been compromisedwho after yesterday’s +9 defends better today, but still scores a +5 for a total of +14 and 149th placed upon returning to a Major after eight years.
