PINEHURST, N.C. – Tiger Woods is making progress in his recovery from back surgery and starting to extend his swing, his agent said Tuesday.

Woods already has missed two majors this year while he recovers from a microdiscectomy on his back on March 31. He last played on March 9 at Doral, when he closed with a 78 despite the pain in his lower back. Woods has said he has no idea when he will be healthy enough to return to competition.

A report on Golf Channel’s morning show said he was taking full swings at the Medalist Golf Club in South Florida.

“Tiger is progressing like he expected,” Mark Steinberg of Excel Sports Management said in an email. “Feeling good each day. As each day passes and he feels that way, he lengthens the swing a bit.”

Woods is the tournament host next week for the Quicken Loans National at Congressional. It is not expected that he will play. The deadline to enter is Friday. This is the first year of title sponsorship for the Detroit-based company.

The next major is the British Open on July 17-20 at Royal Liverpool, where Woods won in 2006.

The last time Woods missed two majors in one year because of injuries was in 2011, when he sat out the U.S. Open and British Open to let his leg fully recover. That year, he returned at Bridgestone Invitational in early August, a World Golf Championship that has no cut.

In a promotional day for Quicken Loans last month, Woods said he was chipping and putting in a way that did not require rotation in his back. That was four weeks ago.

He also did not know how much time it would take for him to be ready for a tournament once he could take full swings with no pain.

“The more time you give me, I think the better I’ll be,” he said. “The great thing about what I’ve done so far and all my other previous surgeries is that I worked on my short game. Once I start expanding from there and start competing and playing, if I start spraying it all over the lot and not hitting it that great, at least my short game is solid. That’s one of the positives to it.”

Woods has slipped from No. 1 to No. 4 in the world ranking, and he is likely to fall a couple of more spots in coming weeks. He is at No. 207 in the FedEx Cup standings – having finished 72 holes only once this year – and the top 125 get into the playoffs that start Aug. 21.

The news comes one day after Martin Kaymer won the U.S. Open with the second-lowest score in history at 271. The overnight rating for NBC Sports was 3.3, down 46 percent from the previous year at Merion.

Île-Bizard, Que. – The second of three 2014 RBC Canadian Open Regional Qualifiers took place Monday at Elm Ridge Country Club with Montreal’s Beon Yeong Lee claiming medalist honours to earn a place in the field at the 2014 RBC Canadian Open at The Royal Montreal Golf Club, July 21-27, 2014.

Lee, a PGA Tour Canada member, fired a bogey-free 6-under 66 and will make his second trip to the RBC Canadian Open after qualifying in 2010.  He’s currently ranked No. 34 on PGA Tour Canada’s Order of Merit.

On Monday, a total of 105 players competed over 18 holes of stroke play at Elm Ridge Country Club with the top-15 percent of the field and ties (16 competitors and ties) advancing to the final Monday Qualifier to be held Monday, July 21st at Club de Golf St-Raphaël in Île-Bizard, Que.

Ben Silverman of Concord, Ont. finished in solo second at 4-under par to earn a trip to Final Qualifying, while five players shared third place at 2-under par including, Braeden Cryderman of Huntsville, Ont., Matthew McMahon of Brockville, Ont., Raoul Menard of Ange-Gardien, Que., Louis-Pierre Godin of Trois-Rivieres, Que. and Francis Berthiaume of Valleyfield, Que.

Rounding out the list of players advancing to the final Monday qualifier for the 2014 RBC Canadian Open were Montreal’s Lucas Greco, Peter Campbell of Baddeck, N.S., Remi Bouchard of Candiac, Que. and Ryan Sevigny of Stittsville, Ont., who finished in a tie for 8th at 1-under par.

Eric Laporte of St-Liguori, Que., Dave Levesque of Ste-Catherine, Que., A.J. McKenzie of Pierrefonds, Que., Billy Houle of St-Charles-Borromee, Que., Maxime Barre pf Granby, Que. and Mathieu Perron of St. Hubert, Que., also made it through after even-par 72’s.

BERLIN – Martin Kaymer’s historic victory at the U.S. Open has been largely met by indifference in his homeland.

Kaymer became the first champion from Germany with an eight-shot victory on Sunday, but his success barely caused a ripple at home, where attention was firmly focused on football.

Germany opens its World Cup campaign against Portugal on Monday, meaning Kaymer’s triumph could not have come at a worse time for attention. Chancellor Angela Merkel is in Brazil.

Some of the congratulations he did receive even had a football flavor.

Germany and former Cologne forward Lukas Podolski was one of the few to recognize Kaymer’s “legendary performance” in a tweet. The German Olympic Sports Confederation also tweeted its congratulations.

Thankfully, the World Cup was only once every four years. Kaymer, a Cologne fan, will just have to do it again as defending champion.

For the first time in more than 60 years, the British Open is headed across the Irish Sea.

The R&A announced Monday that golf’s oldest championship will return to Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland for the first time since Max Faulkner won in 1951. That was the only time it was held outside Scotland or England since the Open began in 1860.

“We have every confidence Royal Portrush will prove to be an excellent venue in every way,” R&A chief executive Peter Dawson said. “There is passionate support in Northern Ireland and we expect there will be huge interest.”

Dawson said it was the “worst-kept secret,” although one mystery remains – the year.

To bring the links course up to modern standards of a major championship, the R&A has recommended using the golf architecture firm Mackenzie & Ebert to create new 17th and 18th holes. Royal Portrush club members would have to sign off on the proposal, though that is likely to be a formality.

The next available date is 2019. Dawson said it could be “a year or two longer than that.”

“It has been more than 60 years since the Open was played here, and it’s been too long,” Dawson said. “And we’re very excited to be coming back.”

For years, there has been a quiet push to bring the Open back to Portrush and the movement picked up momentum with the success of three players from Northern Ireland. Graeme McDowell won the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Darren Clarke captured the British Open a year later at Royal St. George’s. Rory McIlroy won the U.S. Open in 2011 and then the PGA Championship in 2012.

Throw in Padraig Harrington, and Irish golfers won seven of 22 majors during one stretch.

What really caught Dawson’s attention was when Royal Portrush staged a wildly successful Irish Open in 2012, which attracted some 130,000 fans for the week. And then Martin Ebert suggested the right changes to the links course to make it all work.

More than just a golf course, the Open now requires room for such amenities as a television compound and a tented village. Dawson said the R&A would be investing several million pounds (dollars), without giving a more detailed estimate.

“No Open venue is immune from the march of time,” he said. “They all move and they all have to keep up. This isn’t any different from that, except that it hasn’t had an Open for a long time.”

Portrush also has held the Senior British Open six times, and is hosting the British Amateur this week.

The British Open this year is being played at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, which had gone 39 years until it returned to the rotation in 2006 with a popular win by Tiger Woods. Turnberry off the Ayrshire coast in Scotland went 17 years without an Open, despite a history that include the famous “Duel in the Sun” between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus. That required work on the roads to alleviate traffic.

Dawson said the work involved to get Royal Portrush in shape for an Open “is a little bit more.”

“That perhaps reflects the time gap,” he said. “It’s over 60 years since the championship has been here. The requirements of a modern championship are very different from what they were then. But it’s something that’s manageable.”

PINEHURST, N.C. – The man who drove NBC Sports analyst Roger Maltbie’s golf cart during the third round of the U.S. Open is facing four charges after an incident with a state trooper on the course, a North Carolina State Police spokeswoman said Sunday.

According to a police report, Tommy Lineberry was charged with felony assault on a law enforcement officer, felony hit and run, driving while impaired, and resisting, obstructing and delaying a law enforcement officer.

Spokeswoman Pam Walker said the 59-year-old Lineberry, from Wilmington, was released from the Moore County jail Saturday night after posting bail.

Lineberry didn’t immediately return a telephone message seeking comment.

The trooper said Lineberry ignored instructions to stay put, then hit the officer with his golf cart.

Maltbie was walking Saturday with the final group of Martin Kaymer and Brendon Todd. Lineberry’s job is to drive Maltbie to get in position for the next shots.

An Associated Press reporter who witnessed the incident heard Lineberry tell the trooper, “I’m supposed to get the cart to Roger.”

“When a state trooper tells you to stop, THAT’S what you’re supposed to do,” the trooper responded, inches from Lineberry’s face.

The trooper was holding traffic behind a walkway as the players teed off on the 11th hole. He told Lineberry that the cart struck his leg. The trooper asked for any the names of witnesses, and three people in the gallery immediately handed him their business cards.

The trooper ran after and then collared Lineberry, quickly placing him in handcuffs.

PINEHURST, N.C. – Martin Kaymer returned to the elite in golf with a U.S. Open victory that ranks among the best.

A forgotten star for two years while building a complete game, Kaymer turned the toughest test of golf into a runaway at Pinehurst No. 2 on Sunday to become only the seventh wire-to-wire winner in 114 years of the U.S. Open.

Kaymer closed with a 1-under 69 – the only player from the last eight groups to break par – for an eight-shot victory over Rickie Fowler and Erik Compton, the two-time heart transplant recipient and the only player who even remotely challenged the 29-year-old German.

So dominant was Kaymer that no one got closer than four shots over the final 48 holes.

Only a late bogey kept Kaymer from joining Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy as the only players to finish a U.S. Open in double digits under par. He made a 15-foot par putt on the 18th hole, dropping his putter as the ball fell into the center of the cup, just like so many other putts this week.

“No one was catching Kaymer this week,” Compton said, who closed with a 72 to earn earned a trip to the Masters next April. “I was playing for second. I think we all were playing for second.”

This U.S. Open really ended on Friday.

Kaymer set the U.S. Open record with back-to-back rounds of 65 to set the pace at 10-under 130. He began Sunday with a five-shot lead, and after a 10-foot par save on the second hole, Kaymer belted a driver on the 313-yard third hole. The ball landed on the front of the green and rolled to the back, setting up a two-putt birdie.

“He kind of killed the event in the first two days,” Henrik Stenson said. “He went out and shot two 65s and left everyone in the dust.”

Fowler, in the final group of a major for the first time, fell back quickly on the fourth hole. He sent his third shot from a sandy path over the green and into some pine trees and had to make a 25-foot putt just to escape with double bogey. Fowler played even par the rest of the way for a 72.

Compton birdied the eighth hole and got within four shots until he took bogey on the par-3 ninth, and Kaymer followed with an 8-iron to 4 feet for birdie.

Kaymer finished at 9-under 271, the second-lowest score in U.S. Open history next to McIlroy’s 268 at Congressional in 2011.

He won his second major – the other was the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in a three-man playoff – and this one wasn’t close.

“Martin was playing his own tournament,” Fowler said.

Kaymer joined Seve Ballesteros, Ernie Els, Woods and McIlroy as the only players to win two majors and be No. 1 in the world before turning 30 since the world ranking began in 1986. He is the fourth European in the last five years to win the U.S. Open, after Europeans had gone 40 years without this title.

It’s a rebirth for Kaymer, who reached No. 1 in the world in February 2011, only to believe that he needed a more rounded game. His preferred shot was a fade. Kaymer spent two hard years, a lot of lonely hours on the range in Germany and his home in Scottsdale, Arizona.

He fell as low as No. 63 in the world until going wire-to-wire (with ties) at The Players Championship, considered the strongest and deepest field in golf.

But the big payoff came at Pinehurst No. 2.

“I didn’t make many mistakes the last two wins that I had in America – especially this week,” said Kaymer, who moves to No. 11 in the world.

Kaymer has as many majors as Bernhard Langer, the two-time Masters champion and a mentor to Kaymer. Langer sent him text messages earlier in the week.

“We’ve almost a German Grand Slam – almost,” Kaymer said. “I hope it will make Bernhard proud. I’m sure it will make all of Germany proud.”

The biggest challenge for Kaymer was tuning out the crowd, with enormous support for Fowler, who enjoys pop star qualities in America. The fans clapped when Kaymer’s ball bounded off the back of the green, and even when a superb shot from the native weeds on No. 4 rolled off the front of the green.

He marched along, dropping a shot on No. 7 with a shot left of the green that made him play away from a bunker to avoid a score worse than bogey, and another on the par-5 10th when a shot from the sandy area sailed over the green, and he used putter to send the next shot back toward the fairway.

But after back-to-back birdies, including a 30-footer on the 14th, the only question left was the margin.

Woods still holds the most dominant U.S. Open win – 15 shots at Pebble Beach in 2000. McIlroy won by eight shots on rain-softened Congressional in 2011, winning with a record score of 16-under 268.

“I’m wondering how he did it,” McIlroy said. “Obviously, if you limit the mistakes, you might end up a couple under for the week. But to do what he’s doing … I think it’s nearly more impressive than what I did at Congressional.”

Kaymer’s father was home in Germany, where he said Father’s Day was celebrated a few weeks ago.

“I didn’t get anything for my father that day,” Kaymer said. “So maybe this works.”

Among those who congratulated Kaymer on the 18th green was Sandra Gal, a German player on the LPGA Tour. The Women’s U.S. Open takes over Pinehurst No. 2 on Monday.

PINEHURST, N.C. – Not even Martin Kaymer was immune from a Pinehurst No. 2 course that restored the reputation of a U.S. Open.

He threw enough counterpunches Saturday to leave him on the cusp of his second major.

On a broiling day with some wicked pin positions that yielded only two rounds under par, Kaymer rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to salvage a 2-over 72 and take a five-shot lead into the final round.

Only one player in U.S. Open history has lost a five-shot lead in the final round, and that was 95 years go.

“I didn’t play as well as the first two days, but I kept it together,” Kaymer said.

That was all that was required on a day when the U.S. Open finally looked like the toughest test in golf. Kaymer hit a 7-iron from the sandy area left of the fairway on the par-5 fifth hole to set up a 5-foot eagle putt, and his birdie on the final hole put him at 8-under 202.

Only the names of challengers changed, but they were sure to stir up the crowd – and the emotions.

Erik Compton, a two-time heart transplant recipient and perhaps the most remarkable story on the PGA Tour, rolled in a 40-foot putt on the 11th hole for one of his six birdies in a round of 67. He was tied at 3-under 207 with Rickie Fowler, a fan favorite of young American golf fans, who also had a 67.

Fowler will play in the final group of a major for the first time.

Only six players remained under par, and considering no one has come from more than seven shots behind in the final round to win a U.S. Open, they might be the only ones left with a realistic chance to catch the 29-year-old German.

Dustin Johnson and Henrik Stenson each shot 70 and were at 2-under 208. Brandt Snedeker had a 72 and was another shot behind.

Asked how much that birdie mattered on the 18th hole, Kaymer said, “One shot.”

“If you’re four shots, five shots, six shots, if you play a golf course like this, it can be gone very quickly,” he said. “You could see it today. So the challenge tomorrow is to keep going and not try to defend anything. So we’ll see how it will react tomorrow, how the body feels and how I handle the situation.”

Kaymer had his way with a softer, more gentle Pinehurst No. 2 by becoming the first player to open with 65s to set the 36-hole record at 10-under 130. Some players wondered what tournament he was playing.

There was no doubt what it was on Saturday.

“They’ve set it up so that no one can go low,” Retief Goosen said after a 71. “Some of the pins look like they’re about to fall off the greens.”

Toru Taniguchi shot an 88. Brendon Todd, playing in the final group with Kaymer, had a 79.

Phil Mickelson had a 73 and was 13 shots out of the lead. He’ll have to wait until next year to pursue the only major keeping him from the career Grand Slam. Adam Scott, the world No. 1, made bogey on all but one of the par 3s and was 11 shots behind.

Kaymer nearly joined the parade of players going the wrong direction.

He ended an amazing streak of 29 holes without a bogey by failing to get up-and-down from short of the second green. Trouble really was brewing on the fourth hole, when he pulled his tee shot into the trees and couldn’t play his next shot.

The ball settled in a washed-out section of sand, next to a 6-inch pile of pine straw. He took a one-shot penalty only after learning he could move the pine straw as loose impediments before he took his drop.

“It’s all loose. How should I know what’s not loose,” he asked USGA President Tom O’Toole.

He punched out to the fairway and holed a 15-foot putt to escape with bogey. In the sandy area again on the next hole, Kaymer ripped a 7-iron from 202 yards that caught the front portion of the green and stopped pin-high for his eagle.

His long birdie putt on the par-3 sixth rolled off the back of the green for another bogey, and Kaymer dropped two more shots with three-putt bogeys, one of them from just off the green at No. 15. He also saved par with two putts from off the green, and the birdie was big.

Mike Brady is the only other player to lose a five-shot lead. That was in 1919 at Brae Burn Country Club in Massachusetts. He shot 80 in the last round, and Walter Hagen beat him the next day in a playoff.

Compton has never won on the PGA Tour, though just playing is a victory for a guy on his third heart. Compton had a heart attack and drove himself to the hospital before his most recent transplant seven years ago.

“I think that my attitude suits a U.S. Open-style course because I don’t ever give up,” Compton said.

Compton, Brendon de Jonge and Kevin Na were the only players to reach 4-under par in their pursuit of Kaymer. Only Compton managed to stay close. De Jonge bogeyed four of his last seven holes, while Na took two double bogeys in the last five holes.

PINEHURST, N.C. – Now that’s more like it.

After two days of lower-than-expected scores, the U.S. Open finally showed its bite at Pinehurst No. 2 on Saturday.

Japan’s Toru Taniguchi shot 88. Russell Henley soared to an 82. Boo Weekley struggled to an 80.

With no rain to soften the perilous turtleback greens and devious pin placements making it tough to get anywhere close to the flags, the storied course produced the sort of portly numbers that had been expected from the beginning of the tournament.

Martin Kaymer was set to tee off in the final group with a six-shot lead after posting consecutive 5-under 65s. That gave him the lowest 36-hole score in Open history and was tied for the lowest at any major championship

It was hard to envision him going that low again in these conditions, considering the greens were firming up even more on a warm, sunny afternoon. No one broke par among the first 18 players to finish.

Matthew Fitzpatrick, the only amateur to make the cut, settled for a 78 after shooting 71-73 over the first two rounds. He said the tee placements were also making things tough.

“A couple of tees are forward, but the ones that are forward on, they really don’t make too much difference,” the 19-year-old said. “But there’s a few that are back, and they make a big difference.”

The only player who seemed to be enjoying himself: Kenny Perry, who holed out an eagle from the waste area at No. 14.

Kaymer appeared to be playing an entirely different course over the first two days, making 11 birdies and only one bogey.

Brendon Todd was the closest challenger, Kevin Na and Brandt Snedeker faced a seven-shot deficit, and only nine other players went into the third round closer than 10 strokes behind.

The six-shot lead at the midway point tied the U.S. Open record first set by Tiger Woods at Pebble Beach in 2000 and matched by Rory McIlroy at Congressional three years ago. Woods wound up winning by 15 shots. McIlroy won by eight.

“I played Congressional and I thought, `How can you shoot that low?’ And that’s probably what a lot of other people think about me right now,” Kaymer said.

Phil Mickelson steadied his putting stroke a bit, playing the first 13 holes Saturday at even-par – a solid round on this day, but likely not the sort of score he needed to get in contention for his first U.S. Open title.

Lefty has been the runner-up in this championship a record six times, denying him the only title he needs to complete a career Grand Slam.

PINEHURST, N.C. – Masters champion Bubba Watson avoided major mistakes, putted well and seemed more comfortable in his second run through Pinehurst No. 2 at the U.S. Open.

Too bad it came a day late.

Watson shot an even-par 70 on Friday, not enough following an opening 76 that ultimately cost him a shot of playing on the weekend.

“It’s easy today,” Watson joked. “After you’re out of it, it’s kind of easy just to go around and play golf.”

Watson finished at 6-over 146 to miss the cut by a stroke.

Jason Dufner, Luke Donald, Charl Schwartzel and Hunter Mahan – – done in by a two-shot penalty for playing the wrong ball on his ninth hole – also dropped out after finishing at 6 over. Dufner has missed the cut in two straight majors after winning the PGA Championship.

Watson won his second green jacket in three years in April – his second PGA Tour victory this year – then led late at the Memorial before faltering and finishing third. He arrived at Pinehurst hoping to become the first player since Tiger Woods in 2002 to win the year’s first two majors.

But he never gave himself a chance, his stay cut short by Thursday’s miserable round of five bogeys and one double-bogey – a performance that had Watson lamenting that the course “is better than me right now.”

He got off to a better start Friday on a layout softened by overnight rain with birdies on two of his first three holes. He was more accurate hitting fairways and greens while also making more putts than a day earlier, but three bogeys in four holes just before the turn did him in.

Watson tied for fifth at the U.S. Open in 2007 at Oakmont, but has missed the cut three times since.

“The greens are very difficult,” Watson said about Pinehurst. “For me personally, I don’t like the look of it. The targets are really small to try to hit the greens. You’ve got to hit the ball really straight I believe to hit it in the 10-foot circles on each green. So for me, it’s just a very difficult course.”

Donald was worse off than Watson after a 7-over 77 in his first round. He was much better Friday with only one bogey and a 69, but missed the U.S. Open cut for the second time in three years.

Meanwhile, Schwartzel – paired with Watson and top-ranked Adam Scott – went the opposite direction. After an even-par 70 on Thursday, he had five bogeys and two double-bogeys en route to a 76 on Friday.

Dufner, who missed the cut by six shots at the Masters, had 11 bogeys over two rounds and shot 74 on Friday. He had tied for fourth in the past two U.S. Opens.

Then there was Mahan.

A year after playing in Sunday’s final group, Mahan was penalized when he and Jamie Donaldson each mistakenly played the other’s ball in the 18th fairway following their tee shots. That two-shot penalty dropped Mahan below the cut line.

John Wood, Mahan’s caddie, took the blame because he was the first one to reach the ball.

“You can’t imagine yourself doing something colossally as stupid as that, but I did it,” Wood said. “I won’t forgive myself very soon after this.”

Donaldson also missed the cut, shooting 81 on Friday after an even-par first round to finish at 11-over 151.

PINEHURST, N.C. – At least Phil Mickelson probably won’t face another close call at the U.S. Open.

The six-time runner-up and zero-time champion slipped well off the pace Friday with a 73 that left him at 3 over – 13 strokes behind record-setting leader Martin Kaymer.

It’s mostly because of his putter.

After ditching the claw grip in favor of a more traditional one, Mickelson missed a series of putts that would have put him at least a little closer to Kaymer.

“The hole looks like a thimble to me right now,” Mickelson said. “I’m having a hard time finding it.”

Now, at a tournament where everybody’s seemingly playing for second, he’s facing quite a climb to claw back within striking distance on a Pinehurst No. 2 course that 15 years ago was the site of the first of his many second-place finishes.

Teenage playing partner Matthew Fitzpatrick called Mickelson “the master” of “getting out of trouble” and that ability certainly will be put to the test this weekend.

“I feel like I’m playing well enough to win the U.S. Open,” Mickelson said. “Except for putting.”

Mickelson has been saying his putting could use some tweaking. He’s 100th among PGA Tour players in total putting this year after finishing 11th in that stat in 2013.

So in an attempt to get his stroke back, he switched to a claw grip for the Open.

Even after he shot even par during the first round, he said he wasn’t sure how long he’d stick with it.

All of 18 holes, it turned out.

“I felt like I identified what I was struggling with, and I thought it was my eye line had gotten well over the golf ball,” Mickelson said. “So as I moved the ball away and put my eyes over the ball instead of over the top, I felt like that’s how I putted last year, so I went back to my regular grip.”

Reverting back to the conventional grip for Round 2, Mickelson got off to an encouraging start with birdies on consecutive early holes.

Then came the pesky par-3 sixth that “shook me a little bit.”

Mickelson plopped his tee shot onto the green, but three-putted for a four after his short par attempt hugged the lip of the cup before spinning out.

Two holes later, he pushed his short putt wide left and settled for bogey – the second straight day he bogeyed both holes.

“After that,” he said, “I was really fighting it.”

He added bogeys on two holes he birdied a day earlier – on the par-5 10th, and on the 14th after spinning another short par putt around the lip of the cup.

He ended his round by missing an 11-foot par putt on the 18th and tapping in for his fifth bogey.

“Whenever you putt well and you make short ones and you make those 5-, 6-footers and you’re running a couple of 20-footers in, the game feels easy,” Mickelson said. “You don’t put pressure on yourself to hit it close. You can hit more of the middle of the greens. Your ball striking then becomes a lot easier. Your targets are a lot bigger.”

Because that hasn’t happened here yet, it sure looks like when Mickelson turns 44 on Monday, he’ll still be one victory shy of the career Grand Slam.

The three-time Masters champ, 2005 PGA Championship winner and 2013 British Open champion began his run of runner-ups at this course 15 years ago when it staged its first Open.

He was preparing for a playoff with the late Payne Stewart when Stewart sank a memorable 15-foot putt for par and the win – and a statue of Stewart in that moment stands just beyond the green on 18.

Mickelson led by a stroke heading into the last hole at Winged Foot in 2006 but finished with a double bogey. Last year, at Merion he led during the final round but finished two strokes behind Justin Rose.

But after the way his putter struggled in Round 2, second place doesn’t sound too bad.

Besides, he’s only seven strokes behind Brendon Todd for second.

“I’m not overly optimistic. Obviously I’m not in good position, but more than that … you can’t fire at a lot of the pins,” he said. “You’ve got to make 25-, 30-footers, I’m just not doing it. I’m not going to give up. You just never know. I’ve had rounds that kind of clicked. … Tomorrow, I need to shoot 6- or 7-under par to have a realistic chance.”