Codswallop

The second round of the 2007 US Open at Oakmont has concluded and no players are below par! Angel Cabrera is leading at even par with Bubba Watson is a stroke further back. Interestingly both these guys are huge hitters. Bubba is leading the pga tour in driving distance while Angel is currently ranked fourth on the european tour. I would have thought Oakmont favoured the accurate player. Interestingly they are both having good putting days. Bubba is 4th in the stats and Angel 16th. They also have another thing in common, they both play ping golf equipment.

As for the Aussies only half made the cut. The best is Badds who is tied for second at +2. If you consider Aaron Baddeley opened the tournament with a double bogey he has played as good as anyone over the first two rounds. The big disappointment is Adam Scott. At number 4 in the world he really should be able to put in a better performance. When you look at the other top players their bad days aren't nearly a woeful as Adam's. Look at his final round last week, you just wouldn't see Tiger doing that. The defending US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy looked to be loosing it for a while there but righted the ship finishing at +6 so isn't totally out of it.

Australian Leaderboard

• +2 Aaron Baddeley
• +6 Geoff Ogilvy
• +6 Stuart Appleby
• +10 Marcus Fraser
• +10 Nick O'Hern
• +10 Mathew Goggin

The following players missed the cut

• +14 Andrew Buckle
• +14 Robert Allenby
• +16 Robert Pampling
• +16 Nathan Green
• +18 Adam Scott
• +23 Steve Elkington

Round one is over and there is only two players under par. Nick Dougherty is leading after a 2 under 68 followed by Angel Cabrera at 1 under. As for the Aussies defending champion Geoff Ogilvy is leading the charge at plus 1.

The Aussie leaderboard stands as follows

• +1 Geoff Ogilvy
• +2 Aaron Baddeley
• +2 Marcus Fraser
• +3 Andrew Buckle
• +4 Stuart Appleby
• +4 Nathan Green
• +5 Robert Allenby
• +6 Nick O'Hern
• +6 Adam Scott
• +7 Mathew Goggin
• +11 Robert Pampling
• +14 Steve Elkington

There are 12 Aussies teeing off tomorrow in the US Open including defending champion Geoff Ogilvy.

In order of world ranking the Aussies are
4. Adam Scott
8. Geoff Ogilvy
23. Nick O'Hern
24. Aaron Baddeley
25. Robert Allenby
26. Stuart Appleby
29. Rod Pampling
89. Nathan Green
113. Andrew Buckle
164. Mathew Goggin
171. Steve Elkington
277. Marcus Fraser

There are a few notable exceptions. Richard Green's win last week pushed him up to 37 in the world rankings however it came a little too late to get automatic entry. I'm also disappointed not to see Peter Lonard in the field either. Twelve starters though is not a bad effort for a country of our size and gives good indication of the strength of Australian golf.

After a sizzling second round 62 Adam Scott leads the Aussie charge at the Memorial. And what a charge it is, with Aussie occupying the top three positions. Rod Pampling is in second position on -11 with Badds a further shot back. Geoff Ogilvy is also sitting in the top 10 on -7 and Nick O'hern is tied for 12th. With the good form shown in recent weeks things are looking good for the Aussie contingent at the upcoming US Open, where Geoff Ogilvy is defending champion.

Let's finish off with the shot of the day. A spectacular hole bunker shot by Nick O'hern.

The Aussies are off to a good start at the memorial with both Rod Pampling and Nick O'Hern sharing the first round lead at -7 with Badds a further shot back.