Tiger Woods, the defending champion and 7-4 favourite to win a fourth US Open championship before it rained on his parade on Thursday, avoided an ignominious exit after two rounds at Bethpage Black, the public Golf course on which he was the only player to finish under par when he won his second national championship in 2002. Former American amateur champion Ricky Barnes held the lead after adding a second-round 65 to his opening 67 for an eight-under-par aggregate of 132, a record score at a US Open after 36 holes and 11 strokes better than Woods, who fired 69 after a shocking finish in his first-round 74.

A double bogey on the 15th and two more bogeys on the 16th and 18th pushed the world No 1 towards unfamiliar territory. He has missed the cut only once as a pro in the US Open and that was in 2006, when he shot successive rounds of 76 just six weeks after the death of his father, Earl. He began his second round on the 10th hole by pushing his drive towards a fairway bunker. His ball got caught up in the first cut of rough and from there he managed to play a good recovery shot to the back of the green and two-putt for par. He missed a birdie putt on the 11th and pulled a mid-iron into a greenside bunker on the 12th - one of three par-four holes measuring more than 500 yards - which necessitated a solid up-anddown to remain at four over before he made his first birdie on the par-five 13th.
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