South African Retief Goosen
jumped into a three-stroke lead while Tiger Woods continued to struggle when the
United States Open resumed on a soggy Southern Hills in Tulsa.
Goosen, level with 56-year-old
Hale Irwin when play was halted in mid-afternoon yesterday by a torrential thunderstorm,
set off again along with 88 others - Tiger Woods, Nick Faldo and Colin Montgomerie
included - at 7am today.
His first shot was a five-foot
birdie putt on the 225-yard eighth and after making that the 32-year-old European
Tour player also birdied the 374-yard ninth to turn in a brilliant five-under-par
30.
That was only one outside
the US Open record for nine holes, set and subsequently equalled by Neal Lancaster
in 1995 and 1996.
He needed to cover the inward
half in 'only' a two-under 33 to equal the major championship record of 63 and
when he made four at the 534-yard 13th that was still on.
Woods kicked off with a
similar length putt to Goosen's, but his was on the 10th green and it was for
a par to keep him three over.
Having double-bogeyed the
ninth just before the stoppage it was probably vital that Woods holed it to give
himself a boost - and hole it he did.
But he then went over the
green at the 12th, played a poor chip 15 feet past and bogeyed to fall nine adrift.
He had still to notch his
first birdie and even in the easier conditions - soft ground and no wind - he
did not manage it at the still-reachable 13th.
The world number one, seeking
his fifth successive major victory, did well to make a five. His second shot went
in the water just short of the green and he single-putted for his par.
Colin Montgomerie, playing
in the group ahead of Woods, birdied the hole by splashing out of a bunker to
five feet, then went joint sixth with a 15-footer on the 215-yard next.
That was followed by a bogey
five, however, and at level par he was five behind Goosen again.
Nick Faldo duplicated Woods
by double-bogeying the 374-yard and that left him two over.
Woods could have done with
yesterday's stoppage coming 20 minutes earlier.
He was one over par after
eight - perfectly acceptable on this demanding test - but then clipped a tree
with his pitch to the ninth and plunged in a bunker.
He swore out loud when he
saw the lie and played his shot before the ball of playing partner Jeff Quinney,
the American amateur champion, had stopped rolling.
Unable to hold the green
with his recovery from the sand he double-bogeyed it, then played the 10th as
though still in a fury before the siren sounded at a critical point in his bid
to get his act together.
The second round was starting
at 9am, but overnight clubhouse leader Irwin, the 56-year-old triple champion
- the oldest man in the field - was not teeing off again until nearly 3pm.
There was no chance of the
second round being completed before nightfall, which meant the cut would not be
determined until tomorrow morning.
Woods finally birdied at the
412-yard 12th to improve to three over par, but Faldo followed his six at the
ninth with another at the 374-yard 10th.
The two double bogeys had
sent him tumbling to four over par and suddenly the task was to survive the cut,
likely to fall at around five over.
