PINEHURST, N.C. – Brendon Todd carded a 3-under 67 to pull into sole possession of second place and was the nearest competitor trailing leading Martin Kaymer (65-65-130) by six strokes following second-round play in the 2014 U.S. Open on Friday.
Only one of three players in the field to finish with a bogey-free round, the three-time North Carolina 4A state champion who attended Green Hope High School (Cary, NC) earned some time to sleep in and a spot to play alongside the 36-hole leader on Saturday afternoon.
Todd made few mistakes, hit 13 of 14 fairways, landed the ball on 14 of 18 greens in regulation, and made 29 total putts to move up the leaderboard throughout the afternoon.
“It was obviously a really solid day,” Todd said immediately following walking off the course.
“From start to finish, I really felt pretty comfortable out there.”
After starting the tournament off at 1-under par, Todd (69-67) became the first player to shoot consecutive rounds under par in his first U.S. Open appearance since 2004.
The University of Georgia product was a part of the Bulldogs’ 2005 NCAA championship team and is not a stranger to earning wins as a young pro.
Todd recently captured his first PGA Tour win at the HP Byron Nelson Classic in May and also owns two wins on the Web.com Tour.
Playing with Kaymer who set a new U.S. Open 36-hole scoring record, Todd will follow a simple game plan to try and stay in contention to earn his first major title.
“Stick to your game and just keep playing good U.S. Open golf,” Todd concluded.
“If you can play each nine 1-under par, you’re probably doing really, really good. And if he comes back to us great, if he shoots 10-under again in the next two days, then he’s superhuman, so we’ll just have to try and wear him down.”