Casey on the up

Paul Casey was looking to make up for a dreadful opening to the US Open in a hurry today.

Among the early starters for the second round at Oakmont, Casey birdied three of his first five holes to improve to four over par.

An opening round of seven over 77 left Casey plenty of work to do today and it appeared he was up to the task.

He birdied the 10th, his opening hole, and after a par on the 11th carded his second birdie of the day on the long par-five 12th.

Ian Poulter, Kenneth Ferrie and Lee Westwood were also out early on Friday but were not having the same success as Casey.

Both Poulter and Ferrie bogeyed the first hole and things quickly got worse as the duo ran up double bogeys on the third.

Poulter also bogeyed the fourth but hit back superbly with back to back birdies to lie four over par.

Westwood played his first four holes in three over to fall to five over for the tournament.

Starting on the 10th, Westwood got off to a stumbling start with a bogey and dropped shots at the 12th and 13th as well.

The trio of Englishmen were not the only ones struggling early on at Oakmont as some of the world's top names also had their hands full.

Adam Scott started with a triple bogey seven on the first while Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk were two over after six and five holes respectively to stand three over.

Phil Mickelson, who battled a wrist injury and a wayward driver to a 74 in the first round, carded his first birdie of the tournament on the par-five fourth to improve to three over.

First-round leader Nick Dougherty tees off his second round shortly after 6pm from the 10th tee.

Dougherty was one of only two players to finish under par on Thursday, his 68 giving him a one-shot lead over Argentina’s Angel Cabrera.

Tiger Woods was in a large group at one over. The world number one, looking for his third US Open title, starts at 6:36pm along with defending champion Geoff Ogilvy and reigning US Amateur champion Richie Ramsay.

Ogilvy opened the defence of his crown with a 71 and Ramsay shot 78 on Thursday.