By Tom Edrington

June 17, 2011 - Bethesda, MD (AHN)

You can start listing the big-name players that Pat Cantlay has outplayed for 36 holes at the 111th U.S. Open but it would be a very long list.

Cantlay, the 2011 NCAA individual champion, shot a four-under par 67 Friday at Congressional and he did it with an eye-opening 30 on the extremely difficult back nine.

To put it in perspective, that 30 was four shots better than championship leader Rory McIlroy, who has out-distanced the entire field.

Cantlay, who just finished his freshman year at UCLA, is only 19. He opened Thursday with a nervous 75 that put him in damger of missing the 36-hole cut.

He started slow on Friday and a double-bogey at the fourth hole put him in real jeopardy of going home early. But he rallied for a birdie that gave him a 37 going out then he went crazy over the brutal back nine.

Cantlay went on a nice run with birdies at 10, 11 and 12 then added two more at 16 and 17.

That 30 got him in with a 67 and only four amateurs in history have shot that in the U.S. Open.

At 142, he'll compete for the low-amateur prize and look forward to his first weekend at a U.S. Open.

Not bad for a 19-year-old.

 

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UCLA Star Pat Cantlay Beyond Solid With 67