U.S. Open 2013: Merion stands up to golf's best

• Phil Mickelson and Billy Horschel share the clubhouse lead at 1 under par
• They are the only players in red figures
• The second round will be completed Saturday morning

ARDMORE, Pa. — All that talk about how easy the cozy East Course at Merion Golf Club was going to be for the U.S. Open has gone silent.

Merion, with her beefed-up rough and skeletal fairways, was downright vicious Friday with its collection of pin placements on the pitched greens, courtesy of the U.S. Golf Association. Throw in troubling wind and the softened par-70 layout coming in at less than 7,000 yards had players wincing and on edge as they completed the storm-delayed first round and played the second.

Only two players — four-time major winner and five-time U.S. Open runner-up Phil Mickelson and one-time PGA Tour winner Billy Horschel — are in red figures at 1 under par heading into the weekend at Merion, which has taken in more than 6 inches of rain the last seven days. World No. 1 Tiger Woods is four shots back as he tries to win his first major since 2008.

Mickelson, who grabbed the first-round lead with a 67, made his first and only birdie in the second round on his final hole to shoot 72.

"I just like being in the mix," said Mickelson, who missed two putts inside 3 feet but ended with a 30-footer for birdie. "The way I'm striking the ball … as good as the putter has been … I'm excited for the weekend.

"And I don't see how anyone will separate themselves from the field."

Horschel, after finishing his first round in the morning at 72, hit all 18 of the softened-yet-intimidating-greens in regulation — the first time he's done that on the PGA Tour — and fired a 3-under-par 67.

"I was not in the zone, trust me. This golf course, even though it's soft, is still a tough golf course," said Horschel, who won his first Tour title this year at the Zurich Classic. "I know what in the zone is for me. I don't get nervous, and I just see the shot and go. And I saw the shot (today) and I went with it, but I was still nervous with a lot of them.

"Your misses here can be bad if you miss in the wrong spots."

Five players are at level par, including Steve Stricker (71-69), Justin Rose (71-69) and Luke Donald, who overcame five bogeys in a six-hole stretch to shoot 72 in his second round. Also at even-par are Ian Poulter (four holes to play) and amateur Cheng-Tsung Pan (nine holes). Play was called because of darkness at 8:30 p.m. ET, with 68 players yet to finish the second round.

Play will resume at 7:15 a.m. ET. The top 60 players and ties advance to the final two rounds. Currently, the projected cut is 8 over.

Woods played seven holes to finish at 73 and then shot 70 to stand at 3 over.

Rory McIlroy also played 25 holes and also has rounds of 73-70.

"They've really tried to protect the golf course, with it being as soft as it is," Woods said. "And they've given us some really, really tough pins."

The scoring average for the second round stands at 75.17, more than five strokes over par. And don't expect Merion to ease up.

"U.S. Opens get harder as the week goes on," Donald said.

Woods said he played well despite a couple of mistakes and a nagging elbow injury he sustained in The Players Championship in May. He limited the details, only saying there is pain and he gave one of his standard answers, "It is what it is."

And so is the U.S. Open.

"Just keep grinding," Woods answered when asked about his approach for the final two rounds. "You just don't ever know what the winning score is going to be. You don't know if the guys are going to come back. We have a long way to go, and these conditions aren't going to get any easier. They're going to get more difficult. As the fairway starts drying out, the ball is going to pick up mud, and you're going to get bad breaks.

" … I got a couple (mud balls) that were dancing there in the air. If it dries out a little bit more, I'm sure that it will be sticking a little bit. And I don't know if they're going to set up the pins as difficult as they have."

Jim Furyk and Graeme McDowell, U.S. Open champions who played in the final group on Sunday of last year's national championship, found a lot of the wrong spots. They were a collective 29 over par and missed the cut.

"I thought the pins were very severe. I thought there was some hole locations that would have been unplayable, had they been dry and firm," Furyk said. "It's in the USGA's hands. It depends how they want to set it up. I think 5 under could win it, and I think 5 over could win it."

McDowell had seven double bogeys in two days. He had seven double bogeys all season heading to Merion.

"If you're not on your game 100%, this course will beat you up," he said.

But by the sounds of things, it will beat you up wet or dry.

"They can make (the greens) more difficult, and if we get weather like this, a little breezy, a bit of sunshine, it's going to dry the place out," McIlroy said. "It's going to be soft, but there might be a little more release in the greens, a little more release in the fairways. It makes it trickier.

" … I'm very happy, right in there for the weekend. I don't think I'll be too far away by the end of the day. I'm in a nice position."

So, too, is Donald, who said when he first saw Merion he thought it would fit his game. So far it has.

"The pins were a lot more tucked," Donald said. "They were tougher to get to. A few were on little hills or slopes. It's very difficult to make those putts when the ball is breaking so much. … I would love to be a couple better, but certainly I think come the end of Round 2, I'm going to be in a good place."

Donald was asked what the winning score will be come Sunday.

"I'd take a couple under right now," he said.