Wu leads group of four amateurs to make U.S. Open cut

A 17-year-old is playing the weekend at Pebble Beach. That would be Michael Thorbjornsen, the 17-year-old from Wellesley, Mass., who gained entry into the U.S. Open by winning last year’s U.S. Junior.

After rounds of 71-73, Thorbjornsen is T-56. More importantly, perhaps, he became the second-youngest player to make the 36-hole cut at this event. He is six months older than Beau Hossler was in 2012 when he made the U.S. Open cut.

In addition to Thorbjornsen, three other amateurs will play the weekend after 15 started this tournament.

#USJuniorAm champion Michael Thorbjornsen came to the #USOpen ready to compete! pic.twitter.com/ypNdqiTPdc

— USGA (@USGA) June 14, 2019

Brandon Wu, who will finish up his academic career at Stanford soon, is 2 under after rounds of 71-69 and leads the low-amateur race. He is also inside the top 20.

“That's something that's very attainable I think,” Wu said of low-amateur honors. “So, yeah, I'm happy with the position I'm in. I know it's going to take two more good rounds to end up with that honor. But I'm confident I can do it.

After his first-round heroics, U.S. Amateur champion Viktor Hovland came back with a 73 and at even par, is tied for 32nd. Duke’s Chandler Eaton is also on that number.

“The U.S. Open at Pebble Beach is about as good as it gets,” Eaton said. “But, yeah, I mean for an amateur, for me, it's cooler just to see how my game stacks up to these guys. And I've proved that -- you know, obviously I'm going to make the weekend. So it means a lot. It means that I can compete.