FARMINGDALE, N.Y. --- Sixty players -- the lowest number possible -- made the 36-hole cut for the U.S. Open on Saturday, with 11 players one stroke away from being able to play the final two rounds at Bethpage Black.
Peter Tomasulo, who missed the cut at Torrey Pines last year in his first Open by two strokes, was among those who missed this year by one.
There were plenty of big names heading home, too, including former major champions Padraig Harrington, Ernie Els, David Toms, Justin Leonard and Michael Campbell.
Harrington, the reigning British Open and PGA Championship winner, finished at 12 over, while Ernie Els, the 1994 and 1997 U.S. Open champion, missed the cut for just the third time in 17 Open appearances, finishing at 15 over, one shot better than Campbell, the 2005 Open champion.
Paul Casey, ranked No. 3 in the world, was 10 over.
Harrington shot consecutive 76s to miss the cut in a major for the first time since the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont. The British Open and PGA champion hasn't broken 70 on the PGA Tour since a first-round 69 in the Masters.
"I don't have any shape at the moment," the Irishman said. "When you're not playing well, it's not easy to play with no shape. That's something for me to look into. I've only got half the fairway to look at because I don't know which way it's going to go."
WESTWOOD HO!: Lee Westwood was third in last year's Open, his third top 10 finish in nine appearances.
One of the players stuck with the label of "best not to have won a major," Westwood started this Open inauspiciously with 2-over 72, then jumped into a tie for seventh after 36 holes with 66.
Westwood had six birdies, including three in a row to start the second round, and two bogeys to move up the leaderboard and into contention.
AMATEUR HOUR: Nick Taylor led the three amateurs who made the cut by tying a record that was last matched in 1971.
Taylor, a rising senior at the University of Washington and the 2009 Pac-10 player of the year, shot 5-under 65 at Bethpage Black on Saturday, the third time an amateur shot a round that low in an Open.
Taylor's 138 total left him six strokes off the lead and had him as low man among the 14 amateurs in the field.
DOUBLE DIP: Ricky Barnes, the leader after 36 holes, is trying to become the 12th golfer to win the U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur titles, a list that includes some of the sport's greatest names.
Bobby Jones won four Opens -- all as an amateur -- and five Amateurs, while Jack Nicklaus won four Opens and two Amateurs and Tiger Woods won three Amateurs to go with his three Opens. Others who have the career double include Francis Ouimet, Arnold Palmer, Gene Littler and Jerry Pate.
HERE'S MUD: The topic of having to play a golf ball with mud on it has been a hot one since the rain started falling Thursday morning.
Graeme McDowell, who started the third round at 1-over 141, has one of the better philosophies about the subject.
"There's mud and there's wet and there's stuff on your golf ball from time to time," he said Saturday. "Like I say, you've just got to club up a little bit and hope the ball stays on the planet."
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