Tiger Woods gets on track, Brendon de Jonge still leads US Open at Pebble Beach

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Woods makes first 2 birdies at US Open

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Tiger Woods made his first birdie at the U.S. Open without even using his putter Friday, then made another one in more traditional fashion to stay in contention in the second round.

Starting on the back nine, Woods left his approach shot short on the par-4 11th, but chipped the ball up and in for the first birdie of the tournament. He made another birdie on the par-5 14th after hitting his approach to six feet. He made bogeys on both the par-3s on the back nine, but missed an 8-foot birdie try on 18 and finished the back in even-par 36 to stay at 3 over for the tournament.

But nobody was pulling away from him on a cloudy, breezy morning on the Monterey Peninsula.

Brendon de Jonge of Zimbabwe became the first player to reach 4 under, but gave back two shots and was tied for the lead with Graeme McDowell and Dustin Johnson, who has won the last two PGA Tour events at Pebble — the AT&T National Pro-Am, played each February.

Pebble, of course, is much different in June than in February, and Day 2 of the U.S. Open was proving that, once again.

First-day co-leader Shaun Micheel made an early birdie to get to 3 under but dropped four shots to fall to 1 over.

Another co-leader, Paul Casey, made an 8 on No. 14 after his approach shot hit the crown of the green and spun back more than 100 feet, completely off the putting surface. His ensuing chip did the same and rolled all the way back, coming to rest at his feet. He hit his fifth shot over the green, then needed three to get down from there — a brutal few minutes for the ninth-ranked player in the world and a sign of how Pebble Beach can eat up almost any player in the field.

Tom Watson, trying to prevent this from being his last round at the U.S. Open, made a birdie on No. 6 and another on 10 was at 5 over. The 1982 champion, who almost won last year’s British Open, earned a special exemption to Pebble Beach this year at age 60.

Phil Mickelson had an afternoon tee time, hoping to improve on his 4-over 75 that also didn’t include a birdie.

Mickelson had an adventurous day at Pebble on Thursday, one of the lowlights coming when he bounced a ball off the rock wall on No. 18 and watched it careen far into the ocean.

The 18th was providing plenty of drama on Friday, as well.

Sergio Garcia hit his ball into the vegetation down near the beach and picked his way down to hit back into the fairway. He made six and was 5 over at the turn. Lee Westwood hit his tee shot into the edge of a bunker and had to take an unplayable lie and drop further back in the bunker. Westwood, the world’s third-ranked player and still in search of his first major, made six and turned at 3 over, tied with Woods and five shots off the lead.

Others playing in the afternoon included K.J. Choi, Mike Weir, Ian Poulter and Rafael Cabrera-Bello, all of whom shot 70 to start the day one shot out of the lead and hadn’t fallen any further back with half the field on the course Friday morning.