Former US Open champion McDowell ready to put brutal Merion rounds behind him

ARDMORE, Pa. — Graeme McDowell has already moved on to other majors.

He may as well. McDowell's is out of the hunt for a second career U.S. Open championship.

The 2010 champ was 7 over after a 77 on Friday in the second round at Merion Golf Club.

"I'm temporarily dejected," he said. "This game is not about your bad weeks. Of course, it's about the major championships, and you're trying to prepare yourself as well as you can coming into weeks like this.

"I'll shake it off and I'll get ready for The Open Championship in a few weeks' time. That's my next target. The Irish Open and the French Open between then. I'll be competitively sharp going into Muirfield and I'll continue to draw on this season."

McDowell had double bogeys on the 10th, 11th, 17th and 18th holes. He posted just three birdies in the second round.

"It's not the way I wanted to play the last couple of days," he said. "But this place is very hard."

PAN'S MOVE: Amateurs Michael Kim of Cal and Cheng-Tsung Pan of Taiwan were 2 under for their second rounds Friday and among those who didn't finish.

Pan must finish his round Saturday morning. He had two birdies and no bogeys to zip into a tie for third place at even par. Kim was 1 over so far and tied for eighth.

Pan is a 21-year-old junior at the University of Washington. He missed the cut in his other Open appearance in 2011, saying he was too excited and had too many distractions to play his best game.

This time, Pan said he embraced the pressure that comes along with a major.

"I feel I belong to that kind of place," he said. "I'm not saying I'm good enough, but I love this kind of feeling and the competition is great. I just want to be here always."

PHILLY FAVORITE: Phil Mickelson is a favorite at just about any course, particularly in the U.S. Open. Philadelphia is no exception.

"He brings the energy out there," Justin Rose said.

Rose, however, has his own support in town. Three years ago, he won the AT&T National just down the road at Aronimink.

"The Philly crowd has been great for me," Rose said. "They have been very supportive of me this week. But obviously Phil, the U.S. Open fan favorite, I think there's a lot of goodwill for him."

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Not for long.

He bogeyed Nos. 4-7 to totally spoil his round Friday. Donald was at 4 under Thursday before play was suspended, and finished with a 2-under 68 on Friday. He added a 72 in the second round to leave him even par for the tournament.

The English star had a run of five bogeys in six holes on his back nine in the second round.

"The greens have been tricky to read all week," he said. "They seem to be breaking a little bit more than I'm seeing, hence a couple of lip outs. But you try not to panic in U.S. Opens."

Donald, playing in his 10th U.S., has never won a major. The former world No. 1 played a pair of practice rounds last week at Merion to get used to the course. He even posed for a photo with David Graham, winner of the 1981 U.S. Open at Merion.

The 35-year-old Donald failed to make the cut last year in the U.S. Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco because of putting failures. He has never finished better than 12th in an Open (2006) and missed the cut three times since his 2002 debut. He was 45th in 2011 and 47th in 2010.

Donald and Lee Westwood are the only players to be No. 1 without having won a major.

He's glad to at least be in the hunt this year.

"I haven't played very well, but when I saw this place last week, I thought it was a good fit for my game," he said. "It's nice to come here and feel like I'm swinging pretty well and I've got a chance. So, hopefully, I can throw a good one in tomorrow and really be in the mix come Sunday."

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Pettersson had to check his backswing after an errant shot from No. 2 rolled his way and smacked his ball off its spot. Pettersson stopped his swing and backed off the ball, chuckling at the truly bizarre shot.

The wayward ball came from Brandon Crick. He had to hit from where the ball landed.

Pettersson placed his ball at its original spot. He probably wished his ball was whacked into the cup — he had a bogey on the par-5 hole.

"Luckily, I wasn't in my downswing, because if I would have missed the ball, it would have been, I don't know what the ruling would have been on that," he said. "But it might not have been good. I regripped and hit a decent shot after that."

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More that his performance on the course, the Scot was recognized for his foundation that helps pay for kids to get into sport. It started with golf and now includes soccer, rugby and some tennis.

"I wanted to do it before I won the Open, but I didn't think I was a big enough name and didn't think sponsors would be interested or the kids would want to participate in the events," Lawrie said. "All of a sudden, I win the Open. It's getting pretty big and growing every year, but I have to say a lot of people do a lot of good work."

Lawrie holds the major championship record for the largest comeback in the final round, making up 10 shots in the final round at Carnoustie in 1999, and beating Jean Van de Velde and Justin Leonard in a playoff.

"It's a huge honor," Lawrie said.

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He just failed to deliver a performance worth cheering for Friday.

Furyk, born in the nearby Philly suburb of West Chester and raised in Lancaster, shot a 9-over 79. Furyk, the 2003 U.S. Open champion, won't be adding a second one to the collection. He hadn't played Merion Golf Club since the 1989 U.S. Amateur.

"It showed," he said. "I didn't do a great job with my prep. I felt like I was ready coming here, but I obviously played very poorly. It was probably my worst putting performance in the last three or four years."

For years, Furyk hosted the one-day Exelon Invitational at various stops throughout the state. His event was the only professional golf event that the Philadelphia area had on a yearly basis.

He hasn't held the informal exhibition since 2009 and doesn't expect it to return. And he doesn't know when he'll play again in the area.

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