Major debutante Tom McKibbin makes the cut to play the weekend at the U.S. Open

MAJOR DEBUTANTE: With a 16-foot putt on the 18th hole, major debutante Tom McKibbin qualified to play the weekend at the U.S. Open. Pic: Brian Lawless/PA Wire.

With a 16-foot putt on the 18th hole, major debutante Tom McKibbin qualified to play the weekend at the U.S. Open.

McKibbin ground out a 1-over 71 late Friday on an increasingly crispier Pinehurst No. 2 to make the cut on the number at 5-over par in the 21-year-old Northern Irishman’s first career major start. He’s in through the weekend along with Rory McIlroy (3-under) and Shane Lowry (5-over).

McKibbin started the afternoon at 4-over, and after a bogey at 8 the strain of playing on the cut line became a reality. When he failed to get up and down from off the back left side of the par-4 12th, he fell below the projected cut line for the first time.

Needing a birdie coming down the stretch, he hit five of the last six greens in regulation but failed to give himself any chances shorter than 32 feet on 13, 14, 15 and 16. He converted a clutch up and down on the par-3 17th to send him to 18 with one last chance.

On the last, he hit a nice drive down the right side of the fairway and hit 9-iron from 145 yards to the back of the green to leave himself 16 feet, 2 inches for a must make. He poured it in, as veteran caddie David McNeilly raised both arms over his head in celebration.

“I could have got frustrated but I waited right to the end,” McKibbin said. “I knew the cut would be 4- or 5-over and I’d have to birdie one of the last four holes. I didn’t want to push too much and that the 18th was probably the only realistic birdie chance.

“I hit a good drive to get it on the fairway and have a putt at it. I hit a three-quarter nine-iron from 150 to around 16 feet. It was about a foot outside the right, and it stayed right for a long time before it snapped in at the end.” 

Séamus Power wasn’t so fortunate in his fightback attempt. Power got off to a miserable start with bogeys on 1, 2 and 3 to wipe out his first-round recovery to an opening 71. He righted the ship with a birdie at the fifth, but the relentless test of Pinehurst No. 2 took it’s toll on a six-hole stretch from 7 to 12 when he went 6-over, including crippling doubles at 8 and 10.

Power fought back with birdies at 12 and 13, but he parred in from there for a 6-over 76 that left him 7-over and ineligible to play the weekend.