ERIN, WIS. – Perhaps Erin Hills' history should have informed expectations. A man who wanted to build the course is in jail for murdering his wife, and the man who adopted his dream went broke and was forced to sell.
During Wisconsin's first U.S. Open, Erin Hills has raised suspicions that it may host ghosts older than its clubhouse. A 94-year-old spectator died in the stands on Friday, a blimp crashed nearby on Thursday, there has been an E. coli scare at a water station, and an anonymous bunch of golfers have carved up the course the way ancient glaciers carved up this land.
Most major venues secretly pray for a renowned champion to stamp the course with legitimacy. Erin Hills may be handing the trophy on Sunday to someone who will require a name tag.
By the end of the second round Friday, four players shared the lead at 7 under and 12 were within two shots of the lead, and the top 18 featured zero players who have won a major.
The leaderboard is as dense as Gouda, promising an unpredictable weekend that well could lead to a first-time major winner in a seventh straight major.
"Any time you're up there toward the top, you want to keep playing well, but you're wondering, 'Am I going to keep playing well?' " said Brian Harman, one of the leaders. "That's why four days of golf is very tough. Everybody goes through the same emotions throughout the week.''
On another benign day, Rickie Fowler wasted a chance to keep or lengthen his lead. He began the day at 7 under and gave back a shot. Harman, Paul Casey, Frank Shuttlesworth, Tommy Fleetwood and Brooks Koepka finished the day tied for the lead at 7 under, and if you didn't realize that one of those names — Shuttlesworth — was made up, you are forgiven. Casual golf fans don't know who Harman or Fleetwood are, either.
Casey would have been at Hazeltine National last fall as a member of the European Ryder Cup team if he had kept his membership with the Euro tour, but he didn't. Harman is a 5-8 short hitter from Georgia who hadn't made a cut in a major since 2014.
