Sam Burns surged into the lead at the U.S. Open after a superb five-under 65 in the second round, in which defending champion Bryson DeChambeau missed the cut.

Oakmont served up another attritional day on Friday as only three players were left under par at the halfway stage of the major.

Burns made six birdies and just one bogey in the second round, with his 65 the third-lowest score of all time in an Oakmont U.S. Open, behind only Johnny Miller's 63 in 1973 and a 64 in 1994 from Loren Roberts.

That left the American one shot clear of J.J. Spaun, who could not repeat his opening-round heroics after carding a two-over 72.

"I think today was just kind of getting mentally ready to come out and try to put a good round together," Burns said.

"I feel like I’ve been playing well coming off last week and into this week, and my round yesterday. Really just trying to get yourself in position out here and give yourself as many looks as you can."

Viktor Hovland occupies third spot after the second day at Oakmont, having impressed with a two-under 68 to make it one-under for the tournament.

"Super impressive," said Hovland, referring to Burns' effort. "I was four under at one point myself, and it does feel like, man, if you’re just executing and you’re getting some nice bounces and you’re making some putts, you can definitely shoot a low score.

"But you’re just not very far off before you’re making a bogey or a double bogey, and that can happen multiple holes in a row."

Lowest round of the tournament ... so far!@Samburns66 cards 5-under 65 (T2) @USOpenGolf.pic.twitter.com/GQ2D0wCwcU

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 13, 2025

The world's top two players, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, battled to make the weekend, and both did enough.

PGA Championship winner Scheffler scraped through with a 71, mixing four birdies with five bogeys to finish on four over par, seven shots off the lead.

McIlroy recovered from a woeful start where he double-bogeyed two of his first three holes to shoot a 72, birdieing the last to finish at six over par.

However, Ludvig Aberg, Patrick Cantlay and Wyndham Clark all came in an eight-over, narrowly missing the cut line by one shot.

Min Woo Lee and Tommy Fleetwood were a further shot back as other big-name exits, along with Dustin Johnson and Akshay Bhatia, whose tournament is over after going 10-over. 

DeChambeau triumphed at last year's U.S. Open at Pinehurst but also missed the cut following a seven-over 77 in the second round, leaving him 10 shots behind par for his title defence.

And even further back, Justin Thomas departed at 12-over for the tournament after carding back-to-back 76s to miss the U.S. Open cut for a third consecutive year.

"I'm frustrated because I feel like I should be playing way better in majors, but I haven’t, so clearly I need to do something differently," Thomas said. "It’s easy to be bummed or not too positive at the moment, but I’ve had a really solid year and played really well."