Big day for lefthanders at U.S. Open

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — If there is a horse you like, or a particular race, see what Scott Langley thinks. If you need to pull numbers for a Lotto ticket, let Langley pick ‘em. If you can’t decide between red or black at the roulette table, let Langley choose. In short, if you are doing anything that requires a certain amount of positive mojo right now, don’t make a move without consulting Langley. The dude is unconscious. Playing in a U.S. Open golf championship that is befuddling many of the best players in the world, Langley continued his remarkable roll with another magical moment on Friday at Pebble Beach. The University of Illinois senior-to-be played the toughest section of the golf course in 4 under par to complete a second-round 69 and punch his pass to a Monterey weekend. Granted, it’s going to be a little expensive, but worth it. Definitely worth it. “It’s a lot, it’s pricey coming out here,” said Langley, 21, who is a public course product. “But it’s the experience of a lifetime and I think my parents would say the same thing.” Langley’s 36-hole score of 144 is just 2 over par in a championship that features only five players under it. Not only is he the low amateur, by 3 strokes, he easily cleared the cut line of 7 over par. Since bogeying five of the first eight holes on Thursday, the St. Louis Parkway South product has covered the last 28 incorrigible holes of coastal California in 3 under par. And if not for an uncharacteristic five-foot miss for birdie on No. 18 at day’s end, he would be in even better shape. “I hit exactly the putt I wanted,” said Langley, who seems to have Freon running through his veins despite the imposing surroundings. “But it was a great round when I needed it today. I really turned it around on the back nine.” An amateur has not won this par-protecting championship since Johnny Goodman in 1933. Would it be nuts to suggest Langley, who is tied for 13th and just 5 shots from the lead with 36 holes to play, could do the unimaginable? Of course it would, but then Langley has been specializing in nuttiness. The force is with him. He is “the one.” His middle name is Midas. His last name is Hobbs. “You got to tell yourself — because you can get caught up in the situation and what’s going — you have to tell yourself to approach it like any other tournament,” Langley said. “Don’t really focus on your score too much and try to hit shots when you can.” More often than not, he can. If Albert Pujols “is not a machine,” maybe Langley is. On Friday, he hit 15 of 18 greens and 12 of 14 fairways. Over two rounds, he has required just 55 putts, and he is among the leaders in the championship for fewest putts. The performance, impressive as it is, is simply an extension of the karma he began harvesting when he beat St. Louis amateur stud Skip Berkmeyer in a match-play championship at Old Warson Country Club. Langley then captured the NCAA Tournament individual medal honors in Chattanooga, Tenn. on June 4. Four days later, he carded 66-66 to beat 18 others for the only spot available at the U.S. Open sectional qualifier at Country Club of St. Albans. A St. Louis amateur had not made the cut at a U.S. Open since 2011 U.S. Walker Cup captain Jim Holtgrieve stayed four days at the 1978 Open at Cherry Hills Country Club in Colorado. Three years earlier, after he also won the NCAA Tournament individual title, Belleville native Jay Haas finished low amateur and tied for 18th overall at the 1975 U.S. Open at Medinah. Hoping to make Holtgrieve’s Walker Cup lineup, Langley had the cut foremost on his mind this week. Now that he has accomplished that goal — which might go a long way toward fulfilling his Walker Cup wish — he can enjoy the weekend with nothing to lose. “It’s been fun, but I’m pretty tired,” Langley said. “I’m going to sleep like a baby tonight. I look forward to the next two days, now that I have the cut behind me. Now I can just really look toward putting myself in a position to finish the tournament. I’m looking forward to getting off to a good start and making some birdies.” And who knows what Langley might do with a good start? Again on Friday, Langley started slowly, making two bogeys on the front and turning at 6 over for the week. But he sprinted to birdies at Nos. 10, 11, 13 and 14 to start the back nine. After a bogey flinch at 16, he rebounded with a shot at the par-3 17th that nearly went in the hole for an ace. He tapped in for a fifth birdie on the backside. None of this surprises another Illinois golfer, Steve Stricker, who practiced with Langley on Tuesday. “The kid is a really a nice kid, to begin with,” Stricker said. “And his game is strong. I’m happy for him. He’s a good putter, he’s playing with a lot of confidence, it’s nice to see.” Langley wasn’t the only lefty to enjoy the day. While Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell holds the 36-hole lead at 3 under, following a second-round 68, Phil “Lefty” Mickelson was the talk of the tournament. Roaring back from an opening-round 75, Mickelson came flying out of the chute with birdies on three of the first four holes and five of the first eight on his way to a 5-under 66. The 2010 Masters champion, and four-time major winner, has finished second in five of the last 11 U.S. Opens. Now he finds himself in prime position to make another stab at his elusive tormentor. “Well I’m in a good spot,” Mickelson, 40, said. “I don’t look at the leaderboard, I don’t look at other players. I look at par. And this is the only tournament really in professional golf to date that brings out Bobby Jones’ old saying of ‘playing against Old Man Par,’ because if you just can stay around par you’re going to be in the tournament on Sunday. That’s kind of the goal.” McDowell is 2 strokes better than Mickeslon and three others at 1 under for the championship. They include resurgent South African Ernie Els, who also fired a second-round 68, Japanese 18-year-old Ryo Ishikawa and Dustin Johnson. Els has won two U.S. Opens, in 1994 and 1997. But “Big Easy” has not been a factor more recently. His last top-10 was a tie for ninth in 2004. Still, he loves the golf course, where he finished second to Tiger Woods, albeit by a distant 15 strokes, in the 2000 U.S. Open. Ageless Tom Watson carded a second-round 71 to move to 7 over par and make the cut. The 60-year-old Watson, the 1982 Open winner at Pebble Beach, is probably playing in his last U.S. Open.