McIlroy sits one off Morikawa and Dahmen in battle of Brookline

• Second-round 69 puts Northern Irishman one off leaders
• Jon Rahm also four under par after posting fine 67

From warring factions to a war of attrition. A US Open broke out at the US Open on Friday, with that welcome sense of familiarity supplying at least a brief distraction from all matters to do with a breakaway tour. Every golfer in a wonderfully congested field, even those who made the cut by the skin of their chinos, will have reasonable aspirations of winning the penultimate men's major of the year.

As Brookline bared teeth, the best in the world clung on for dear life. Rory McIlroy needed three attempts to find the green from thick fescue adjacent to the putting surface at the 3rd. The Northern Irishman's converted double bogey putt, from 22ft, could prove hugely significant as this major hurtles towards a conclusion. Minimising errors can matter more than swashbuckling golf in this domain.