It’s not Alex Smalley or Cameron Young. But there are golfers with Triad connections within striking range after two rounds at the U.S. Open.
Wake Forest native Akshay Bhatia and former Wake Forest golfer Alex Fitzgerald are two of only 21 players to match or break par at the halfway point at windy Shinnecock Hills.
Bhatia and Fitzgerald each have even-par 140 totals, seven strokes off the pace set by Wyndham Clark. Bhatia shot even-par 70 in each round with six birdies and six bogeys. The 11-player logjam at 140 includes Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.
Fitzgerald shot 69 Friday with four birdies and three bogeys. Neither he nor Bhatia have any of the 97 double-bogeys or worse recorded in the first 36 holes.
Though seven behind, Bhatia and Fitzgerald are only three shots out of second place. So if Clark falters, they are in position to contend for the lead.
Other N.C. players to make the cut include Pinehurst rookie Jackson Van Paris, Hickory native J.T. Poston and Wake alum Young at 142, recent Wake graduate Michael Brennan at 143 and Caleb Surratt of Indian Trail at 144.
Alex Smalley of Jamestown shot 76 with no birdies in the first round, and finished with six bogeys, five birdies and a double-bogey while shooting 73 to miss the cut with 149. Smalley tied for second last month at the PGA Championship.
