Nick Taylor Through Two U.S. Open Rounds

The memories are coming fast and furious these days for this University of Washington Husky Junior, recenly selected the Pac-10 Player of the Year. At the  beginning of this week Taylor learned that the R&A, golf's governing body, had elevated him to the No. 1 ranking among amateur players in the world.

American Ricky Barnes holds a slim lead at the U.S. Open today---or now---but there are still players who have yet to complete two rounds over the soggy Bethpage Black course in Farmingdale , NY. One of those is London, ON native Andrew Parr,

While we wait for the field to catch up and the second round cut to be made, here is a statistical view of how Canadians have done so far through most of two rounds.

Mike Weir (Bright's Cove, ON)
1 . . . . 33-31—64   
T3 . . . 37-33—70 . . . 134

Nick Taylor (Abbotsford, BC)
T52 . . 40-37—73
T6 . . . 33-32—65 . . . 138

Stephen Ames (Calgary, AB)
T81 . . 36-38—74
T14 . . 31-35—66 . . . 140

Andrew Parr (London, ON)
T81 . . 37-37—74

No sooner had Taylor completed eight holes from Thursday's rain-delayed opening round  than he was off and slogging through his next 18 which took him from a tie for 52nd all the way up the leaderboard to his current status, tied for sixth.

Surprised to be in the top 10, Nick?

“Yeah. After six holes, I was 4-over, and on eight I made about a 12-footer for par. At that point, I would have never guessed I’d make a bunch of birdies, but I was hitting it well, just wasn’t making any putts. I’d say I was different (in the afternoon round) — the course wasn’t that much different. The pins were a little easier on some greens. It played pretty soft and there was virtually no wind. I just didn’t make anything in the morning, and in the afternoon I made a bunch of putts.”

And here are the rest of the numbers:

Round 1 . . . 2 birdies, 3 bogeys
Round 2 . . . 7 birdies, 2 bogeys
Greens In Regulation . . . 18 of 36
Fairways Hit . . . 21 of 28
Sand Saves . . . 4 of 8
Putting Stroke Avg . . . 1.36
Driving Avg . . . 268.5

 Editor's Note:

Play was halted Saturday afternoon just as third round play was beginning.

At the midway point of the rain-delayed championship, the unexpected leader – Ricky Barnes – is a guy with more U.S. Open appearances as an amateur (three) than as a pro (two). The 2002 U.S. Amateur champion and ’09 PGA Tour rookie carded a 5-under-par 65 for a 36-hole U.S. Open-record total of 132 (eight under).

One stroke behind Barnes is Lucas Glover, who hadn’t made a cut in three previous U.S. Open appearances, but carded the second 64 of this Open for a 133 total.

Canadian Mike Weir, bidding to become the first left-handed U.S. Open champion, sits in third place at 133.

The group at 138 includes Nick Taylor, whose 65 tied the 18-hole Open scoring mark by an amateur.

“My 66 last year at nationals (NCAA Championship) was a really good round,” said Taylor, who missed the cut last year at Torrey Pines. “This one is way up there. The course is pretty soft which makes scoring a little easier, but a 65 in any event is unreal.”

Andrew Parr finally finished this second round -- shooting 72 and missed the cut by one.