UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. -- Phil Mickelson's career Grand Slam quest took a substantial hit Friday as he managed just a single birdie in a round of 74 to fall 8 shots off the U.S. Open lead held by Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed.
Mickelson, who was 3 under par through his first nine holes of the tournament, played the following 27 holes in 6 over at Chambers Bay to complete 36 holes at 143, 3 over par.
"It was a tough day, it wasn't that far off,'' said Mickelson, who was just 4 shots back of the lead when the second round began. "I had three 3-putts and struggled on that surface area near the hole and I couldn't get the ball in. And I didn't quite hit it as well as yesterday, but it wasn't that bad.
"It was controlled misses that were reasonable misses, but I just didn't get the ball in the hole. I'll have to come out tomorrow and kind of get a good game plan and figure out how to shoot something in the mid-60s to get back in it. Very difficult for anybody to run away with it. But I'm going to have to hopefully get conditions in the morning that are a little bit easier and then progressively get more difficult for the leaders because that's really my only chance to catch up.''
Mickelson needed 35 putts after hitting 13 of 18 greens Friday and struggled when he did have opportunities. He said he had no problem with the course but hinted at the problems with the greens that have been a big subject of conversation during the week.
"There's nothing about it that's unfair. It's a totally fair setup,'' said Mickelson, who would complete the career Grand Slam with a U.S. Open victory. "Plenty of room to hit it. Tee to green, I think it's an excellent test. The surface area around the hole is a bit challenging for everybody. So I've got to cut myself some slack, because everybody is facing the same challenges. But I do need to find a way to get it in the hole.''
Mickelson visited Chambers Bay nearly three weeks ago and said he was aware then that the greens would be a challenge.
"Yeah, you could tell it was going to be an interesting week,'' he said.