ARDMORE, PA. – Their toil over, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy shook hands and hung together on the green, both survivors.
Across Merion's 10th green, their playing partner, Adam Scott, wasn't done yet. He had a putt to make.
And he missed it.
That kind of afternoon for the world's third-ranked player, and much of the U.S. Open field. But No. 1 and 2 walked off together to sign their cards, sharing some words and a few laughs, neither complaining about getting away from the second round of the Open at 3 over par.
"Long day, and I'm hungry," Woods said after going even par over 25 holes, completing his first round and also shooting an even-par 70 in the second round.
McIlroy matched Woods' 70. "I'm very happy," McIlroy said. "Right in there for the weekend. I don't think I'll be too far away by the end of the day."
Scott had begun the day at 3 under, six strokes ahead of Woods, but the Masters champion managed three bogeys and a double in his morning seven holes, then shot 75 in the afternoon, putting him at 7 over. Getting overaggressive, Scott hit one ball out of bounds on the 15th and almost hit a second, except it settled in the rough a foot inbounds.
All day, Woods showed a fuller understanding of how to attack Merion. He didn't attack it. A number of times, Woods was behind his playing partners, hitting irons off tees while they chose hybrids or 3-woods. He was willing to hit longer irons into greens, understanding he would more likely be putting from 20-30 feet than from inside 10 feet.
