Jason Preeo of Highlands Ranch was a better golfer than Tiger Woods. Well, he was Friday at the U.S. Open, at least.
Preeo, the golf coach at Valor Christian High School who was playing in his first tournament with PGA players, shot a 1-under-par 70 at Pebble Beach in the second round, moving to 3-over for the tournament — one shot ahead of Woods.
“It’s not that I’ve been uncomfortable, but the longer you play, you settle in more and more,” Preeo said.
He easily made the cut for today’s third round, which collected the top 60 golfers, plus ties. His first-round 75 on Thursday left him tied for 66th. He jumped 50 spots to 16th on Friday.
“I hit just a little bit better today,” he said. “My speed on the greens was better. And we just had better conditions in the morning; the greens were better. Not a lot better, but just enough.”
Preeo will tee off today at 3:20 p.m. MDT (paired with Jason Allred) six strokes behind the leader, Graeme McDowell at 139.
“Today was exciting,” Preeo said. “I had a little bit of everything. I had some squirrely shots, but then I made some saves.”
