Contenders or Pretenders? Breaking Down the Leaderboard at the U.S. Open's Halfway Point

Rickie Fowler leads the U.S. Open, but several challengers are lurking, and many look like serious threats in Los Angeles this weekend.

LOS ANGELES – On Friday afternoon, the sun broke out as the overnight leaders started their second rounds at the U.S. Open. With birdies on five of his first eight holes, Rickie Fowler announced that after a record-setting 62 on Thursday that he wasn’t backing off of his assault of the North course at the Los Angeles Country Club. By dinnertime, Fowler had held on to a one-shot lead over Wyndham Clark after a 2-under par 70, which included eight birdies and six bogeys.

The Murrieta, Calif., native has never quite lived up to the hype that launched him to superstardom in 2010 when as a 21-year-old rookie he made the U.S. Ryder Cup team. For a time it was almost assured that he would win many majors. In 2014, he finished in the top five in all four major championships, including a tie for second at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst. Over the next four years, he had four more top-five finishes, including a second at the 2018 Masters, where he birdied six of his last 11 holes to finish a shot back of the winner, Patrick Reed.

Some of his closest friends on the PGA Tour—Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson—have gone on to win multiple majors, while he’s lingered on the periphery as one of the most popular players, but no longer among that list of the best players to never win a major.

Xander Schauffele is at the top of the list and after a 70 on Friday, he is two shots off the lead heading into the last two rounds. As a seven-time PGA Tour winner, the 29-year-old San Diego native is accustomed to being on leaderboards and carrying expectations of competing in the majors. In just 21 major appearances, he’s had 10 top 10s. It won’t be a surprise if he wins this U.S. Open. Players of his stature are expected to win these tournaments.

It’s the kind of pressure, perhaps, that’s kept Rory McIlroy winless in the majors since 2014, when he took both the Open Championship and the PGA Championship. “No one wants me to win another major more than I do,” said McIlroy after a second-round 67 that left him two shots back of the leader. "The desire is obviously there. I've been trying and I've come close over the past nine years or whatever it is, and I keep coming back. I feel like I've showed a lot of resilience in my career, a lot of ups and downs, and I keep coming back. And whether that means that I get rewarded or I get punched in the gut or whatever it is, I'll always keep coming back.”

A couple of shots back of McIlroy is Dustin Johnson, the winner of the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont. Since the 20-time PGA Tour winner left the PGA Tour last year for LIV Golf, he’s been mostly out of mind in the golf world, lavishing in the wealth and obscurity of the new tour. But he’s still one of the best players in the world, and come Sunday he should have a presence on the leaderboard. On Friday he showed grit and determination after fighting back from a quadruple bogey on the second hole of his round with five birdies to finish with an even par 70.

Pretenders or Contenders?

We know what the aforementioned players can do in the majors and at the U.S. Open, but what about those players who have never sniffed success in the majors? The leaderboard heading into the weekend at LACC has several of these players who are PGA Tour winners but don’t have strong resumes in this championship.

The U.S. Open is full of so-called unheralded winners. Who can forget how Jack Fleck beat Ben Hogan in the 1955 U.S. Open using a set of Ben Hogan irons? I don’t want to put Wyndham Clark and Harris English in the category of Fleck, who was a Davenport, Iowa, driving range pro, but they aren’t exactly world-beaters on the PGA Tour. Maybe that’s what makes these players dangerous. English had a little pep in his step when I spoke to him on Wednesday. He told me he didn’t believe any player had an advantage this week. Throw out the resumes, he told me, and let’s play golf. On Friday he kept that promise to himself by shooting a 4-under 66 to get in position to win his first major championship.

In Clark’s mind, his win in May at the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow prepares him for this stage. “It's an elevated event with some of the best players in the world that are here,” he said on Friday. “That's a major championship golf course, and it demands a lot of the same things this does and a U.S. Open would demand, which is all parts of your game being on.”

What About a Rookie Winner?

O.K., you might not take the idea seriously of a rookie winning the U.S. Open. But at 5 under par and five shots off the lead after a 68 on Friday, Sam Bennett might have the audacity to win.

In April, the 2022 U.S. Amateur champion proved that he wasn’t afraid of the limelight of the majors with a 16th-place finish in the Masters. He struggled on the weekend with rounds of 74 and 76, but he started this championship with two 68s. "I feel like I belong, and I'm comfortable on this stage," Bennett said after Thursday's round at the U.S. Open.

Long Shots ... With a Shot

Farther back in the pack are the likes of Scottie Scheffler and Tony Finau at 5 under and 3 under for the tournament. They are both winners this season and with two good rounds on the weekend they can vault up the leaderboard, particularly now that Fowler and Schauffele didn’t run away with the championship on Friday. Cam Smith, the 2022 British Open winner, is at 4 under for the championship and always dangerous. “I think I just got to keep the ball in the fairway and just keep hitting it into the centers of greens,” Smith said.

Come the weekend at LACC, these players in contention may well heed Smith’s advice if they want to hoist the U.S. Open trophy on Sunday night.