Thomas Detry’s roller coaster Friday round included leading the tournament outright for several minutes along with four double bogeys throughout the day.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

June 14, 2025

Thomas Detry certainly got the honest United States Open at Oakmont experience on Friday.

The 32-year-old’s roller coaster ride of 18 holes finished with a 3-over-par 73 but saw him begin with a double bogey, eventually share the lead of the tournament for several minutes and only record six pars throughout second round action.

Detry, 2015 Big Ten Conference Player of the Year selection at Illinois, is currently just five strokes off the lead after 36 holes and sits in a four-way tie for eighth place.

“You're trying to be smart and mistakes out here just come so quickly,” Detry said after posting a 2-over 142. “You sort of uncommit on a shot, sort of uncommitted on another shot, and then you sort of pay the price right away…I've been playing some really, really good golf for the last two days, to be honest.”

Detry’s scorecard tells the story of a roller coaster that included a hole-out eagle, five birdies, four double bogeys (including three on his final five holes) and a pair of bogeys.

“It's little things like that. I just need to be so disciplined on every single shot, and I've felt like I have been, but maybe just that one bit where I was just trying to be a little bit more aggressive on a putt and then leave yourself another three- or four-footer,” Detry said.

After a three-putt double bogey on his opening hole, No. 10, Friday afternoon, Detry responded with a birdie-bogey combination before he stood 141 yards away in the fairway on the 368-yard, par-4 14th hole. Detry registered the third eagle of the championship on a non-drivable par 4 when the Belgian holed out his approach shot to take him back under-par for the championship. Detry’s short-iron approach landed perfectly over the greenside bunker and then two-hopped into the cup after just barely touching the flagstick.

Detry is currently third in the field in strokes gained on approach shots this week and fourth in the field in strokes gained off the tee.

“It was a nice bounce back with birdie on the second, and then after that hole-out, that was a nice way to put me back into the tournament. After that I put some really good golf together,” Detry said.

Detry’s only issue that has kept him over-par for the first 36 holes is the putter as he currently stands 142nd in the 156-player field in strokes gained putting despite hitting 26 of 36 greens in regulation this week.

At one point on Friday afternoon, Detry got to 3-under for the tournament where he was tied for the lead with Sam Burns and J.J. Spaun but then made back-to-back double bogeys on No. 5 and 6 to fall back into a pack near even-par.

“Those last couple of double bogeys towards the end of the rounds were just I feel not really deserved,” Detry said. “The greens are sort of tough to read. It's getting dark. Just little mistakes are just so costly out here.”

It is the second straight year Detry is in the hunt to win a U.S Open after he found himself just one shot back and tied with the eventual 2024 winner Bryson DeChambeau after 36 holes.

Former Illinois All-American Jackson Buchanan’s professional debut will ended with him missing the 36-hole cut. Buchanan has one hole, the 18th, left to play but is 10-over-par for the tournament and the cut line is likely to fall at 7-over. Buchanan was among a handful of players still on the course when a weather and darkness delay caused a pause to the end of the second round at 7:15 p.m. CST. Buchanan made just two pars on his opening nine holes that totaled 40 and will card a second-round 76 with pair at the par-4 finishing hole when play resumes early on Saturday morning. If Buchanan makes par on No. 18 to finish his tournament, his 10-over 150 total will match DeChambeau and better former major championship winners such as Justin Thomas, Justin Rose and Shane Lowery.

Former Illini star player Brian Campbell, who posted his first career win on the PGA Tour earlier this season, carded a 78 to go with his first-round 79 to finish his fourth-ever U.S. Open missing the cut by  shots.

Detry and the rest of the top of the leaderboard are chasing Burns after he recorded a 65 that saw him vault up 32 spots after 2-over 72 start on Thursday afternoon. Burns, a five-time PGA Tour winner who is ranked 22nd in the world, finished the third-lowest round in any U.S. Open held at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania nearly a full hour before the afternoon wave of players teed off on Friday.

“Honestly, I didn't really ever think of much of a score,” Burns said. “The golf course is really too difficult to try to figure out what's a good score and what's not. You're really just shot by shot and trying to play each hole the best you can.”

Among players currently in the Top 10 of the leaderboard, Burns is the only one near the top of the 156-player field in strokes gained putting this week.

“I think mentally wise there's no just kind of gimme hole,” Burns said. “There's no hole where you can get up there and just hit it and not really pay attention to what you're trying to do. I think it requires a lot of focus on every shot, and even when you're in the rough and you're trying to get it back in the fairway, it's just every shot is difficult. So really you're very focused and putting a lot into every shot mentally, and I think over time that's just pretty taxing.”

After 10 players finished the opening round under par, we’re now down to just three (Burns, first-round leader J.J. Spaun and Viktor Hovland) in red figures after 36 holes.

Hovland, playing alongside World No. 1 player Scottie Scheffler and World No. 4 Collin Morikawa for the first two rounds, put together a hot streak over his first eight holes that included a chip-in eagle on the 305-yard 17th hole to get him to 3-under for the championship. He then proceeded to double-bogey No. 2 followed by consecutive birdies on No. 4 and No. 5, only to give those strokes back with bogeys on a pair of par-3s (No. 6 and No. 8).

“I was 4-under at one point myself, and it does feel like, man, if you're just executing and you're getting some nice bounces and you're making some putts, you can definitely shoot a low score,” Hovland said. “But you're just not very far off before you're making a bogey or a double bogey, and that can happen multiple holes in a row.”

The cut came likely to come at 7-over 147 saw multiple major champions earn spots still with an outside chance to get in the mix this weekend including Scheffler (4-over 144), Rory McIlroy (6-over 146), Brooks Koepka (2-over 142), Jordan Spieth (5-over 145), Jon Rahm (4-over 144), Morikawa (4-over 144) and Xander Schauffele (146), who has now made 66 consecutive cuts in PGA Tour co-sponsored events which is the tour’s longest current streak.

“At the U.S. Open I don't think you're ever out of the tournament,” Scheffler said. “Put together two decent days, I may be in 25th or 30th place or something like that after today, and like I said, by no means is that out of the tournament.”