Phil Mickelson couldn't capitalize on favorable weather conditions at Pinehurst. Jamie Squire/Getty Images
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PINEHURST, N.C. (AP) -- Even under cloudy skies with hardly any wind, there was no relief from the treachery of Pinehurst No. 2 on Friday.

Phil Mickelson shot his worst round at a U.S. Open since 1994, but figured he still had a chance at winning, as player after player struggled simply to make par amid the tight, dry fairways and the severely sloping greens.

Tiger Woods started his second round in the afternoon, after the sun finally came out, and shot 2-over through his first nine holes to stand at 2-over for the tournament. Frustrated after leaving his par putt short on No. 9, he scraped his putter along the green, leaving a nasty scuff mark.

First-round leader Olin Browne remained at 3-under, one shot ahead of defending champion Retief Goosen, K.J. Choi and Lee Westwood and two shots ahead of first-round co-leader Rocco Mediate; all were about halfway through their rounds.

Mickelson bogeyed six of his first nine holes en route to a 7-over-par 77 that stood as his worst round at the Open since 1994 at Pebble Beach, the year he turned pro.

But after looking at the scoreboard -- and the course conditions -- he wasn't counting himself out.

"I think 36 pars might have an outside chance of winning and that's what I'm hoping for," he said.

Nobody has won the U.S. Open with an above-par score since Andy North in 1978, although Mickelson's early prediction that it could happen again this year was looking more and more possible.

"I think even-par has a good chance," said Vijay Singh, who stood exactly there after his second straight even-par round. "If it blows, it's going to go higher than what you would think, but I think even par is going to have a good chance."

None of the 84 players from the original field of 156 who had completed 36 holes as of Friday afternoon were below par.

Among the very few success stories Friday was that of Sweden's Peter Hedblom, who shot 4-under 66 -- the best U.S. Open score ever at Pinehurst No. 2. He was 3-over for the tournament.

"You come up here some weeks and everything is perfect; you feel good and you shoot 75," Hedblom said. "And then today, I didn't feel that good, but every shot I tried to hit was the simplest shot for me."

Pretty much everyone else struggled.

At one point, Mediate took the lead at 4-under, but he quickly gave it back with three bogeys in four holes, including one in which he had to bunt out of the high, prickly wiregrass on the right side of the 16th fairway.

Goosen dropped to 2-under with a bogey on the par-3 15th, after a fairway medal off the fringe didn't produce the easy tap in he was hoping for.

Woods also had his problems around the green. He snaked a long birdie putt on No. 6 about 15 feet past the hole and two-putted from there for bogey.

Adam Scott teed off early and made two quick birdies, but Pinehurst caught up to him, too. He shot 71 to finish at 1-over through two days.

With the scores getting worse instead of better, the cut was looking like a wide-open proposition. The U.S. Open takes the top 60 positions and ties, plus anyone within 10 strokes of the lead. With the leader at 3-under, a whopping 87 players fell into that category, including Davis Love, who made four birdies over his final nine holes to get to even par for the day, 7-over for the tournament.

Among those who won't make the cut were Nick Jones, although he'll have an interesting memory nonetheless. Jones hit his second shot heading into the 18th green off the grandstand and onto the clubhouse roof. He took a free drop off to the side, chipped across the green twice and finally two-putted for a 7 for a 40 on the back, which was still one shot better than Mickelson.