Live leaderboard: Round 2 of Genesis Open

MAMARONECK, N.Y. - Justin Thomas could have shot anything in the second round of the 82nd U.S. Open at Winged Foot on Friday. On a course where you must hit the fairway, he hit just three of them. The putts weren't dropping. He was 5 over for his first 10 holes. It was all slipping away. And then it wasn't. In a bounce-back that may have saved his chances for a second major title, Thomas birdied the long par-3 third hole and went 1 under the rest of the way for a 3-over 73 that left him 2 under, just two back. "Every single person in this tournament is going to go through a stretch where they get a bad run, especially here," he said. "... I wasn’t driving it well and then had a couple putts that easily could have gone in that kind of just stayed out. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Winged Foot fights back in Round 2 "But I just stayed positive" he added, "and kept fighting because I know that a 3 over is better than a 4 over, and today easily could have been a 6 or 7. I’m proud of myself for how I hung in." The second round brought significantly more wind, which sped the course up and made things considerably more difficult. Tiger Woods, one of Thomas' playing partners, struggled to a 77, and he wasn't even close to the worst of the casualties. Sung Kang shot 86, while Davis Thompson, the Georgia amateur who briefly held the first-round lead, shot 78 to miss the cut by one. It was that kind of day; the course bit back. Wayward with the driver, Thomas paid the usual price for inaccuracy at Winged Foot. He and his caddie Jimmy Johnson rolled with it, though, trusting that things would start to turn. "He knew and I knew that we were close to getting something and at least making some pars or throwing in a birdie or two," Thomas said. "He just kind of says to me, ‘Stay patient. Good things will happen. We’ve just got to keep playing our game.' And that’s what we did." Thomas found something with his tee shot at the third, his 12th hole of the day. He later called it the turning point. "I mean, that birdie on three was pretty sick," he said. "I mean, a 5-wood in there, 228 into the wind, and then just it was a really, really tough putt. I mean, I’m sure you could see with kind of the sun hitting the greens they weren’t exactly rolling true, but that’s how poa annua is and everybody has to deal with it in the afternoon. "That was a very quick double breaking putt," he added, "and that was nice. After playing No. 2 perfectly and just having it lip out, to birdie that hole almost feels like an eagle." Exhausted and out of daylight, he was due for some dinner and rest. He'll have some work on the driving range to do in order to straighten out the driver Saturday, but isn't overly worried. And at just two back, he likes his position. "It’s a better position than I’ve been in a U.S. Open before," he said. "This isn’t exactly a place where you go out and try to shoot 6 or 7 under to catch up."

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KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – World No. 1 and reigning FedExCup champ Dustin Johnson has missed consecutive major cuts in the same year for the first time in his career after he failed to make the weekend at the PGA Championship. Johnson backed up his 4-over 76 from round one at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course with a 74, leaving the Carolina local to miss out on weekend play by a single shot at six-over. RELATED: Full leaderboard | DJ sees promise with new driver shaft Gusty winds proved difficult for many players with the scoring average hitting 75.15 over the opening two rounds. Teeing off on the 10th hole, Johnson’s second round started positively with an opening birdie but he dropped five shots in 11 holes during the middle of his day. A late reprieve appeared possible when he eagled his third to last hole but the 24-time PGA TOUR winner backed it up with another bogey. Johnson wasn’t the only big name to struggle. Fellow major winners Justin Thomas, Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott also missed out by a shot as did multiple time TOUR winners Marc Leishman and Xander Schauffele. Thomas produced a brilliant 37-foot birdie on the brutal par-3 17th setting up a birdie or bust final hole scenario. Despite a brilliant drive and approach to 16-feet his birdie putt burned the edge and his week was over. Schauffele was 4 over on his final eight holes and five-time TOUR winner Leishman finished double bogey, bogey to earn the weekend off. Former world No. 1 Jason Day thought he’d missed the cut after the morning wave when he posted in at 5 over only to see the high winds help his chase for a spot in the US Open at Torrey Pines alive. Day entered the week at 65th in the world rankings, his lowest spot since 2010, needing to move inside the top 60 to earn a ticket to the US Open to be held at San Diego’s Torrey Pines – a venue where he won two of his 12 PGA Tour titles. In what turned out to be a prophetic exchange, U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau reminded Day what could happen as the two crossed paths Friday. Day was packing up his bag as DeChambeau headed out to prepare for his afternoon tee time. “Don’t do what I did. It was an expensive mistake,” DeChambeau joked to Day in reference to his mercy dash during the Wells Fargo Championship two weeks ago. The big-hitting bomber thought he had missed the cut and flew from North Carolina to Texas only to find out on arrival he was still alive, leaving him to fly back again. Good thing the Australian listened.

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