Viktor Hovland was pleased he was able to recover from being "U.S. Opened" midway through his second round to shoot a 68 and head into the weekend under par at Oakmont Country Club.
The Ryder Cup star got off to a brilliant start at the third Major Championship of the year on Friday, following up birdies at the tenth and 12th with an eagle on the 17th before bouncing back from his first bogey of the day at the 18th with a birdie on the first.
But he ran into trouble at the second, finding the rough off the tee before hacking into a bunker, where his ball landed up against the lip.
He managed to get it out and onto the fairway but could not send his approach shot near the hole and had to settle for a bruising double bogey to slip from three under par to one under.
Instead of continuing to go in the wrong direction, the Norwegian rediscovered his earlier form almost straight away, making back-to-back birdies at the fourth and fifth, before bogeys on the sixth and eighth left him one under at the halfway stage.
With only a handful of players under par after 36 holes, Hovland is in a strong position going into the weekend in Pennsylvania.
Speaking about his experience at the second, Hovland said: "Yeah, that was frustrating.
"I obviously played really well up until that point and didn't want to miss it left off the tee, so I kind of over-sliced it a foot in the rough, and I was expecting a lie that I could just chase up the green there, but couldn't even cover the bunker, and then it's up against the lip.
"I did a good job just to get it out in the fairway, and then hit my wedge shot too short and actually made a nice two-putt for a double bogey.
"And I just told (caddie) Shea (Knight), 'Yeah, I just got U.S. Opened right there'. There's not much you can do about it.
Through two rounds, Viktor Hovland has made 10 birdies and an eagle.
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) June 13, 2025
He's currently at -1 sitting in T5.#USOpen pic.twitter.com/FRcrljKDBi
"At least I was playing really well up until that point, so you've just got to go back to what you were doing before.
"For some reason I've just been in a really nice mental state this week. Both my rounds have been very up and down.
"I feel like a couple of times if it would have happened at another tournament, for example, I could have potentially lost my mind there a little bit.
"But I felt like I kept things together very well."
