The second round of the U.S. Open came to conclusion at 3.30pm on Saturday,almost 24 hours later than expected.The heavy rains drowned the course on Thursday morning and play was suspended just after 10am until Friday.

As a result the first wave of players played a good part of their round in very bad conditions .Meanwhile the second wave of the draw played their first and part of their second on Friday in perfect golf conditions So it is obvious that the weather,combined with the luck of the draw,has made a natural selection at the top of the leaderboard.

Don’t be mistaken,talent has still a lot to do when you find yourself on the first page of the classification of the U.S. Open but many of the favorites were hurt by the events and find themselves many shots off the lead going in the last two rounds.

Ricky Barnes is the leader at 8 under par, with two rounds of 67 and 65,which the best score ever after 36 holes at the U.S.Open. Lucas Glover is 2nd at 7 under,shooting 64 on his second round matching Mike Weir’s best of the tournament on Friday. Mike Weir is 3rd at 6 under with an even par second round following his 64. David Duval,Peter Hanson and Azuma Yano(Japan) are tied at 3 under in 4th place.

Now, I don’t think that any of the golf specialists has put even ONE of those names in the top 6 of the leaderboard after 36 holes at the U.S.Open.That shows how messed up this competition is right now but so is golf and players have to take the good with the bad. At 2 under a group of 5 players are tied for 7th place:Englishmen Lee Westwood and Ross Fisher,Todd Hamilton and Sean O’Hair from the U.S. and the surprising amateur from Canada Nick Taylor.Westwood is the best at this stage of the players who played on Thursday. Ryan Moore,Phil Mickelson,Steve Stricker and Gary Woodland at 1 under complete the list who managed to stay in red figures. Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott are level par,Ceoff Ogilvy and Jim Furyk(past champions) are at 1 over as well as Retief Goosen(twice winner).

Tiger Woods and Angel Cabrera at 3 over(11 shots off the lead) wuould have to equal the biggest come back ever to take the title.

At 5.30pm Saturday the third round started,who is going to win this strange U.S.OPEN?

A lot of players finds themselves in contention in spite of the gap between the top 3 and the rest due to the conditions of the course.As long as there is no wind the soft greens give the opportunity to shoot low rounds and quite a few are capable to do it. Also the pressure is building up and I think that the 6 players at the top ,not used to be in that position(at the exception of Mike Weir but he hasn’t won for a long time) are going to feel it.

I would watch Lee Westwood,Sean O’Hair,Steve Stricker and Phil Mickelson(if he can stay focused) and from further back Geoff Ogilvy or Jim Furyk.

The race is on but at 7pm play has been stopped again due to the rain.

It’s crazy, isn’it?