Woods can’t get his game rolling

In his early years at the Masters, Tiger Woods played a different course from the rest of the field. He was essentially alone in hitting wedges and nine-irons into par-fives.

Now Woods is playing a different course from the leaders of the U.S. Open.

While they feast on the ideal conditions, Woods has struggled to make birdies and save pars.

His problem? Putting.

“I’m hitting it well enough,” Woods said after a second-round 69 left him 11 shots behind leader Ricky Barnes. “I just need to make a few more putts.”

It’s true. Woods hit 10 of 14 fairways in his second round and 14 of 18 greens in regulation. That should have been good enough for a 67 or 68.

But as third-round play began, he ranked 43rd in the field in putting. He needed 61 putts in his first two rounds.

“The greens are so bumpy and so slow,” he said. “And you don’t want to run the ball past the hole, trust me. It’s a little tough coming back.”

If Woods somehow can rally for victory, it will match the largest surge in U.S. Open history. Lou Graham rallied from 11 down to catch Tom Watson in 1975 at Medinah.

Woods’ largest 36-hole comeback came at the 2005 Masters. He trailed by six but beat Chris DiMarco in a playoff.

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Barnes storming

Barnes didn’t want his career highlight to come in 2002, when he won the U.S. Amateur. But he hadn’t done anything else noteworthy until Saturday, when he broke the Open record with a 36-hole score of eight-under 132.

“I’ve grown up,” the 28-year-old Stockton native said. “I thought after my college career that I’d be out here [on the PGA Tour] right away. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t really [ticked] off the first two, three years. . . . But the only guy I can blame is the guy in the mirror. And that’s why I love this sport.”

Barnes had made the cut in only one of four U.S. Opens before this one.

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Tap-ins

Padraig Harrington hit into some fescue behind the 17th green. After finding his ball, Harrington came across another one and tossed it to an applauding gallery. . . . Eleven players have won both the U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur but only one -- Woods -- since the 1974 Amateur.