US Open: Ryan Fox narrowly makes cut as Pinehurst No. 2 takes ...

Ryan Fox has managed to make the weekend's play at the 124th US Open. Photo / Getty Images

As predicted Pinehurst No. 2 golf course has played even harder for the second round of the 124th US Open.

But top Kiwi men’s golfer Ryan Fox has managed to make the weekend’s play with a two-over 72, taking his tournament score to five-over and finishing the second round on the number of the cut line.

It was a rollercoaster start to the second round for Fox, who made four bogeys, one birdie and one par in his opening six holes, with the lone New Zealander in the field mixing birdies at 10 and 13 with six pars and a bogey on the back nine to earn his place on the weekend.

Four pars on the final four holes of his second round meant Fox stayed at tied 57th, 10 shots back from leader Ludvig Åberg, who carded a one-under 69 to hold a one-shot lead over Bryson DeChambeau, Thomas Detry and Patrick Cantlay.

Such is the difficulty of Pinehurst No. 2 with its lightning fast greens in the baking hot North Carolina sun that the likes of tournament favourites Viktor Hovland and Max Homa missed the cut and will not be teeing it up in the final two rounds. Tiger Woods also will not be taking part in rounds three and four, his seven-over tournament score seeing him miss the cut by two strokes.

World number one and overwhelming tournament favourite Scottie Scheffler faced a similar nervous wait to Fox to see if he would make the cut. His four-over 74 in the second round had him sitting in the same tie for 57th as the Kiwi.

Fox has now made the cut at all three majors played this year (US Masters, PGA Championship, US Open) and with it looking likely that even par will be a good score on the weekend, he has an opportunity to move up the leaderboard and push for a solid finish.

The course also played host to arguably New Zealand golf’s brightest moment in Michael Campbell’s historic 2005 US Open victory.