Andrade Struggles in Round 2

By Brady Garthee

USGA Boatwright Intern

NEWPORT – Round of a lifetime for Billy Andrade is followed by one to forget.

Andrade’s first round was one that every golfer would dream of, posting 6-under-par, one shot back of the leaders, six birdies and bogey-free.

Andrade was in the driver’s seat going into Round, but all of the lights on his dashboard ended up flashing.  

Simply put, “Today was tough.” 

Andrade went on to bogey holes 3, 11, 17 and 18. On top of that, a costly double-bogey on No. 7. With more boxes than circles on the scorecard, Andrade is now on the backfoot and looking to get back to where he was Thursday.  

Having the late-early sequence of tee times for the first two rounds, Andrade admitted that it would be difficult to follow up Thursday’s round with one nearly identical. 

“It’s always hard to — especially when you go late-early. We were here at 7 p.m. You got to get to bed and be back here at 6:30 in the morning for an early time, and I just didn’t have it.” 

But Andrade still is optimistic about his chances going into the weekend. 

“There's still 36 holes to go here, and anything can happen, and I’m in the mix. Go out tomorrow and shoot another low one, and I’m right back in it,” he said. 

With the leader Hiroyuki Fujita entering the weekend at 11-under-par, Andrade will need plenty of heroics and certainly needs to replicate the 6-under-par first round he compiled to have a shot at winning the U.S. Senior Open in his backyard.