UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. (AP) -- Rory McIlroy went out in 33 on Saturday and was 2 over for the tournament after his first nine holes, poised for a possible charge up the leaderboard at the U.S. Open.
His inability to make putts on the back nine at Chambers Bay left McIlroy back where he started.
''Whenever you start to miss a couple you start to get a little tentative,'' McIlroy said after his even-par round of 70. ''You start to doubt yourself. You start to doubt the greens a little bit. And then it just sort of - it snowballs from there.