US Open second round underway after Fowler, Schauffele make hot starts

LOS ANGELES : Americans Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele will look to build on their record-breaking starts to the U.S. Open as the second round began on Friday at the Los Angeles Country Club.

They produced matching eight-under-par 62s on Thursday, the lowest round in U.S. Open history, after 2014 runner-up Fowler poured in a tournament-record 10 birdies and world number six Schauffele avoided a bogey all day to take a share of the lead.

Fowler will tee off at 1:32 p.m. PT (2032 GMT) on Friday, alongside 2013 champion Justin Rose of England and Australian Jason Day, who last month broke a five-year winless streak at Byron Nelson.

Both Rose and Day will have their work cut out, after carding a six-over par 76 and three-over par 73, respectively.

Schauffele tees off at 1:54 pm PT (2054 GMT) with Norwegian Viktor Hovland and Masters winner Jon Rahm of Spain, who each start the day seven back from the lead.

LIV Golf's Dustin Johnson starts the day two strokes back with American compatriot Wyndham Clark, while American Brian Harman and 2011 winner Rory McIlroy were tied in fifth place, three strokes back from the top of the leaderboard.

The tournament is the first major since the bombshell announcement that the PGA Tour and rival circuit LIV would form a unified commercial entity. A report on Thursday indicated the U.S. Justice Department would review the plans.