Golf: Kiwis facing Bethpage cut

All three New Zealand golfers at the US Open were facing the cut yesterday.

The best of the three after the first round, David Smail, said he was "devastated" after plunging out of contention during the second round after, at one stage, being tied for 14th.

Smail was all smiles after finishing the first round in style with birdies at the final two holes for an even-par 70 at Bethpage. After a break of barely an hour, he returned for the second round, but it was a different player in the same body as he ran up bogeys at the first three holes.

Smail dropped three more shots, slipping to six-over after 14 holes when play was halted for the day in fading light. However, there was a glimmer of hope, because he will have a short birdie putt at his 15th hole, the par-four sixth, when play resumes today.

He still has a chance of making the halfway cut, which seems poised at present at five-over par.

"I really wanted to play well this week and it's just not happening," Smail said. "This morning was good but I went out this afternoon and hooked my first two tee shots and then at the next hole I hit it right down the middle into a sand divot, with 215 yards left to the hole.

"The right things aren't happening but I hit it to a metre at the sixth (his 15th hole) so hopefully I can make that. I need a good finish."

The first round also looked promising for Doug Batty - the unknown golf pro without a tour who surprised everyone, including himself, by winning a qualifying spot.

Batty's first round 4-over 74 kept him just above the cut line but he shot two double bogeys and two bogeys (with a lone birdie) in the six holes he managed to play in the second round. His nemeses were the 12th and 13th holes which he has so far played in a total of six over par (he started on the 10th tee yesterday).

If the fairytale looked to be fading for Batty, the ongoing nightmare of Michael Campbell continues. The winner of the tournament in 2005 shot six bogeys, one birdie and a double-bogey for a disappointing 7-over finish in 124th place, equal with Batty (although Campbell has not yet started his second round).