By Frank Pingue
OAKMONT, Pennsylvania (Reuters) -Defending U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau and record six-times runner-up Phil Mickelson were the high-profile players to miss the halfway cut at Oakmont Country Club on Friday.
DeChambeau, who was bidding to become the first repeat U.S. Open champion since Brooks Koepka in 2018, carded a seven-over-par 77 in the second round that left him at 10 over on the week and three shots outside the projected seven over cut line.
The big-hitting DeChambeau, a fan favorite who went close at the year’s first two majors, looked to be in a decent spot after the opening round but made three consecutive bogeys late in his front nine on Friday and could not recover.
Mickelson, in the last year of a five-year exemption into the U.S. Open for winning the 2021 PGA Championship, finished eight over on the week in his latest bid to complete the career Grand Slam of golf’s four majors.
Four of the top 10 players in the world ranking missed the cut, a group that in addition to DeChambeau included Justin Thomas, Ludvig Aberg and Sepp Straka.
Other notables to miss the cut included 2019 British Open winner Shane Lowry and former U.S. Open champions Justin Rose, Matt Fitzpatrick and LIV Golf’s Dustin Johnson.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue; Editing by Will Dunham)
