PAUL CASEY MOVED into contention for his first Major as he pulled level with overnight US Open leader Rickie Fowler on seven under par.
The Englishman had to battle for his one-under round of 71 as he endured a nightmare eight on the par five 14th, shooting over the back of the green and seeing one of his five strokes from there roll back to his feet.
One off the lead at the start of play, Casey bogeyed the following hole too, but did exceptionally well to erase the heavy blots on his scorecard with five straight birdies as he made the turn to pull level with Fowler (who has just teed off his second round) and he got home with five straight pars.
Rory McIlroy enjoyed birdie run after the turn, but little else about his US Open as he prepares to leave Milwaukee after rounds of 78 and 71 put him five over par with the projected cut sitting at one-over par.
After starting the day at +6, McIlroy made little headway on his front nine and slumped to three straight bogeys after the turn which meant his hot streak of four birdies over his final six holes was all too little too late.
Shane Lowry looks like he will just make that cut after his two-over round of 74 on day two. The Offaly man hit four bogeys on his front nine, but managed to sandwich his only bogey after the turn between birdies on the 13th and 16th to put him back to just one over par ahead of the weekend.
England’s Danny Willett, after a nine-over-par round of 81 yesterday, withdrew from the tournament early with a back complaint.
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Conor McGregor would beat Mcilroy in a round of golf
bad cut to miss for rory after all his talk.. then again he probably didn’t give a fiddlers
@Paddy Kavanagh: too much talk and not able to back it up at the moment
and amazingly rory will be the favourite going into the open championship.