Dealing with The Nation Membership’s longest gap — the 616-yard fourteenth — MJ Daffue discovered himself making an surprising detour after his tee shot skewed left and settled on the hospitality deck.
Nonetheless in bounds, the South African might have taken the chance of a drop ball, however as a substitute lined up his 4-wood on the carpet, a lot to the delight of the group gathered to look at mere toes away.
With a tree, a concession stand, and a flock of spectators within the driving line, the margins for error have been nerve-rackingly small, but Daffue delivered emphatically, blasting his effort by the hole.
If the shot wasn’t already spectacular sufficient, it landed simply off the inexperienced within the tough. Nonetheless, an ungainly chip and missed putt meant that the 33-year-old was pressured to accept a bogey.
Quizzed on his resolution to not take a drop, Daffue admitted it was part-tactical, part-entertainment.
“I had a very good angle. I figured I used to be going to go left of the tree and it was a very good lie,” Daffue informed Sky Sports activities. “If I drop it I had a tough time attending to the subsequent degree on the green.
“We’re right here for leisure proper? So I figured why not entertain them a bit of bit?”
“It was actually a shot that simply suited my eye — I do significantly better after I generally have a hall or no goal and I’ve to search out one thing within the background. It was proper up my alley.”
‘It is an unbelievable feeling’
Ranked 296th on the planet and making his first main championship begin, Daffue has been one of many shock standout names throughout the primary two rounds in Brookline, as a lot for his {golfing} prowess as his showmanship.
4 birdies by the primary seven holes helped put Daffue three-under on the flip, however a stoop on the house stretch — culminating in a double bogey on the eighteenth — left him with a two-over 72 for the spherical.
At one-under total, Daffue appears sure to make the 60-man reduce to progress to the third spherical, however can already mirror on a landmark main debut and the flexibility to say a line “not lots of people can say.”
“Saying you led the US Open, it is an unbelievable feeling,” Daffue informed reporters. “It is clearly not the vacation spot, it is a step in the direction of the objective.
“I do not suppose my objective is to win this week. My objective is simply to be the very best I could be, and if the very best I could be and the very best I can play is sweet sufficient for that, then I’ve achieved what I needed to attain.”
