Red numbers a rarity in second round at Merion

ARDMORE, Pa. – Phil Mickelson had played the first round of the U.S. Open on very little sleep. He appeared more refreshed for the second round but it was his putter doing the dozing.

Mickelson searched all afternoon, and into the early evening, Friday at Merion Golf Club for the elusive birdie that would get him back under par. Finally, with the horn having sounded marking the end of play for the day, Mickelson peered through the twilight and watched his 20-foot birdie putt at the 18th find the bottom of the cup.

Mickelson's birdie, only the seventh of the day at the wicked 501-yard closing hole, closed out a 2-over-par 72 and a first-place tie for the 36-hole clubhouse lead with Billy Horschel at 1-under 139. Horschel, in his third season on the PGA Tour, hit all 18 greens and fired a 67 that matched Mickelson's opening round for best score of the championship.

A total of 68 players did not complete the second round because of darkness. They will return to the course Saturday morning to finish before the field is cut to the low 60 scores and ties for the third round. The horn sounded at 8:27 p.m. Eastern time and players were allowed to finish the hole they were on.

Difficult hole locations throughout the East Course combined with some more wind to send scores higher than Thursday. With Mickelson and Horschel the only players under par at the end of Friday, other players moved into the mix such as Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, who shot 70s and stood four strokes back, each at 143.

Mickelson was almost as sharp with his ball-striking as he was in his opening round, which he played shortly after arriving in the wee hours of Thursday from his daughter's graduation in suburban San Diego. But he couldn't get any putts to drop, and the three bogeys on his card through 17 holes looked rather unseemly.

Finally, he bagged the birdie and left Merion all smiles, involved again in the hunt for his first U.S. Open championship after five frustrating second-place finishes.

"It was a nice way to finish," Mickelson said. "I let a lot of birdie opportunities slide early and in the middle of the round. I fought hard to stay in there and hit a lot of good quality shots and made a lot of good pars. On 18, when you don't really expect to get one, I put the ball in a good spot and was able to roll one in. It felt good."

Mickelson said he "struggled with a lot of short putts." He said all the play on Friday, which included contestants finishing the rain-delayed first round before going off for Round 2, left the soft greens a little bumpy.

"When the greens are very fast like this and you have soft greens that get indentations and spikes and so forth, it's very hard to make putts because you can't hit them firm enough to hold the line," he said.

"Hopefully [Friday] will be an anomaly on the greens and I'll get it back [Saturday]. I've been playing well. Today should not have been an over-par round as well as I played."

Playing in only his second career major, Horschel, 26, is familiar with Merion, having played here in the 2005 U.S. Amateur. He became a first-time winner on the PGA Tour in April by capturing the Zurich Classic in New Orleans.

Horschel rolled in four birdie putts, including a 30-footer on the 11th, and made one bogey, a 3-putt at the short 13th. As well as he played, he brushed off a suggestion that he was in "the zone."

"I was not in the zone, trust me," he said. "The golf course, even though it's soft, is still a tough golf course. I know what the zone is for me. I don't get nervous, I just see the shot and go. And I saw the shot and I went with it, but I was still nervous with a lot of them."

Some proven talent was in the chase pack. Steve Stricker, who played in the same group with Mickelson, and Justin Rose each had a 69 to join Luke Donald (72) in a tie for third at even-par 140.

"I played solid today," said Stricker, the 46-year-old from Wisconsin ranked 13th in the world but still seeking his first major championship. "I had a lot of opportunities. I missed a couple I thought I could have made."

Ian Poulter and amateur Pan Cheng-Tsung were at even par and will complete their rounds Saturday, as were three of the five golfers at 1 over.

Mickelson doesn't mind, as long as he's in the hunt.

"I just like being in the mix," Mickelson said. "I'm very excited about the opportunity this weekend."