Birdie putt from Tiger Woods from 28 feet brushes the edge of the cup. My that was close. Another well played hole from the three-time winner of this tournament.

Also pars for Will Zalatoris, who can't believe his card is still birdie free and Matt Fitzpatrick, who gets up and down with ease.

Image source, Reuters

Collin Morikawa is going backwards as he skews wide from six feet on the par-three 16th.

Back-to-back bogeys for the two-time major winner.

Playing partner Brooks Koepka needs to sink from five feet to avoid the same fate - and does.

Tony Finau had comfortably the toughest entry onto the green from his third shot on the par-five fifth, but good course management and a clever chip shot into the slope was a gamble that paid off, leaving him with a birdie putt from five feet.

Johnson's putt off the edge of the green has really good distance on it and he manages to put his putt inside Finau's approach.

Aberg opts to chip on and has a birdie putt from 11 feet. He takes it. Up and down superbly and his latest birdie moves him to six-under-par and as the sole leader.

Finau then takes his birdie chance, as does Johnson. A brilliant hole for all three.

Fresh from his bogey the 2022 US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick miscalculates on the seventh tee and ends up a good 30 yards behind his playing partners.

Not ideal and his effort to force the issue sees his ball hit the front slope of the dance floor and waltz back down. Tiger and Will Zalatoris both have birdie chances here.

What a start for Matthieu Pavon.

The Frenchman played the 10th perfectly to roll in from seven feet before draining a lengthy putt from 30 feet on the 11th.

But he can't quite stay on the birdie train on the 12th, as he rolls in for par.

On the long par-five fifth, Tony Finau, Ludvig Aberg and Dustin Johnson are all up and around the green after two shots.

Aberg is just off the back edge, with Johnson pin high but slightly to the right.

Finau is comfortably the worse off of this three-ball and will need to chip on from the back left of the green.

A par, what else, for Patrick Cantlay on the par-five fifth. He leaves his birdie attempt short, and at two feet and eight inches that's actually the longest par putt he's had so far.

Remarkable.

Immediate chance for Tiger Woods to get that dropped shot back but his putt from 13 feet darts left early on him on the par-three sixth.

Matt Fitzpatrick, who catches the left slope of the green can't get close from the sand and it costs him a stroke as his par putt drifts right.

The behemoth par four 14th has got the better of Collin Morikawa and Brooks Koepka who depart the green with bloody noses from their first bogeys of the round

Well played to Justin Thomas though who shows them how it's done by rolling in from 25 feet to get his day back to level par.

South Korea's Seonghyeon Kim is through seven holes so far on his second round.

At even-par, he looks more than safe of making the weekend, for now at least, but has dropped a shot today with bogey on the par-four fourth.

It felt like Tiger Woods and co were on the fifth forever but he trudges off with bogey, with a slightly mishit tee shot into the rustic scrub heavily contributing to that.

Only a glorious chip into a few inches prevented Will Zalatoris suffering the same fate, with the American also scrambling all over the place there but Matt Fitzpatrick played that perfectly and tapped in for birdie after a lagged eagle attempt.

A solid start from England's Robert Rock, 47, who retired in 2022 to run his teaching academy but attempted and succeeded in qualifying for this year's US Open on a whim.

He apparently didn't even play a practice round before competing at Walton Heath, and hadn't played a competitive round in two years.

Anyway he's through the first hole safely with a par and apparently has former Coventry City captain Carl Baker, also a keen golfer, on his bag.

In his only Open Championship, at St Andrews in 2010, Rock had to come back on the Saturday morning to finish his second round after bad weather, scraping through to the weekend and finishing in a tie for seventh.

Breaking news: Patrick Cantlay missed a fairway - don't worry though, normal service was resumed as the fifth is a par five so he dug it out of the native area and then found the green in regulation.

He's got 34 feet for birdie.

Two miscues off the tee at 14 for Brooks Koepka and Collin Morikawa.

It just looks really hard trying to plot a way out of that thick grass that flanks these fairways.

Like playing from the scratchy grass between the flagstones down your local rec.

Hideki Matsuyama after carding a four-under-par and bogey-free round of 66: "Actually if I have the great match, I feel it's a great test for all the players. I feel like I was playing really great today.

"It's very difficult obviously. Really had difficulty on this golf course. But I was able to have a good par save. So hopefully I can keep that momentum through the weekend.

"I feel like my short game is really good. Feel like there's plenty of adjustment to my iron game. Hopefully I can adjust that through the week."

A first real test for Ludvig Aberg on the par-four fourth hole, stopping short by a good 35 yards with his approach to the green.

He chips on well but still has the best part of 12 feet to go with his par save attempt. Up the hill, Aberg gets it to go to retain his lead.

Tony Finau has a birdie putt, but it is from 61 feet, right at the back of this very long green. Putting the first into eight feet, his second for par is just wide, dropping a shot with a bogey.

Dustin Johnson's third shot is off the green. It is not too far, but rather than chipping on, goes for the putt and is perhaps regretting that decision after a pretty short effort.

He is left with an awkward par putt on the slope from 13 feet and does not take it, also leaving with a bogey.

Image source, Getty Images

Rory McIlroy gave a great insight into just what the US Open challenge is this week - finding landing spots on these greens...

"it just requires a lot more thought. Even though I hit a great drive up the 8th hole, I had 151 adjusted to the hole.

"I'm trying to land it 146. I can't land it 144 because it's not going to get up there. I can't land it 148 because it's going to go over the back of the green.

"You just need to have a lot of precision."

Few are better than Collin Morikawa when his irons are dialled in and he's demonstrated his class on the 13th.

A terrific shot leaves him 10 feet for birdie. Now can he get his round going? Nope, he's hit it straight past.

Don't think you can miss those and catch the leaders round Pinehurst.

Rinse and repeat for Patrick Cantlay, as even though he hated his second shot it still found the green and still left him with around 20 feet for a birdie.

Again, it didn't go in, but again he left himself just inches for par - it's a remarkably consistent start from the American.

Erstwhile Ryder Cup colleagues Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia both drop shots after promising starts.

Rose is unable to drop in par-saving putt from five feet on the second after making birdie from a similar distance on the opening hole, while the Spaniard bogeys the 12th after driver malfunction sends him into the native area to the right, off the tee.