If Germany consider its World Cup Brasil chances to be diminished after injuries to Marco Reus and Manuel Neuer, coach Joachim Loew might be well-served to place a call to North Carolina and discuss the matter with Martin Kaymer.

Germany’s latest contribution to upper-echelon professional golf, fresh off a victory at this year’s Players Championship, took an unanticipated, six-stroke lead over the field at the midpoint of the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2.

Over the course of two days, Martin Kaymer has posted 11 birdies against a solitary bogey, deciphering a classic layout whose next lowest offering is a 4-under-par score from Brendon Todd, who won this spring at the PGA Tour’s Byron Nelson Classic.

After the round, Kaymer smiled and offered that his golf of the past two days was about as consistent as he could play.

“I played very well, I had some good rounds in the past as well,” he said. “But yesterday and today, especially today, the way I worked my way around the course, it was quite — I hit some smart shots, I didn’t play too aggressive and when I had a good number, I went for the flag and I didn’t make many mistakes on the greens. I didn’t three putt, I made a lot of good putts today and yesterday.”

Kaymer’s lone bogey in round one came at No. 7 (his 16 hole), a 427-yard, par 4.

Brendon Todd has been slightly less spectacular, but certainly strong enough to give pause to the leader. Marking down six birdies against two bogeys, the journeyman from Pittsburgh by way of North Carolina and the University of Georgia will find himself in the final group of a major for the first time on Saturday afternoon.

How he handles himself is anyone’s guess, including his own. It is certain, though, that Todd knows what he should say and how he should attempt to play.

“Stick to your game and just keep playing a good U.S. Open golf,” Todd said. “If you can play each nine 1-under par, you’re probably doing really, really good. And if [Martin] comes back to us, great, if he shoots 10-under again in the next two days, then he’s superhuman, so we’ll just have to try and wear him down.

“My game plan has been, if you have a short club, you should be able it try to make birdie. So I’ll continue to try and make birdies and get under par. I’m not going to fire at flags with 5 and 6 irons. So if I can hole a long putt, great. Avoiding the bogeys I think is No. 1. And then if you can make birdies with the short clubs, that’s No. 2. And that’s what’s going to catch him.”

Many of the world’s top golfers and pre-tournament favorites have positioned themselves to contend should Kaymer falter. Brandt Snedeker sits at 3-under, while Dustin Johnson, Keegan Bradley and Henrik Stenson are at 2-under. Matt Kuchar, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth find themselves one rung lower on the ladder at 1-under.

The 36-hole cut was made at 147 (5-over), with two amateurs surviving along with 66 professionals. As always, a number of surprising names found themselves on the depressed side of the cut line, including Luke Donald, Bubba Watson, Charl Schwartzel, Jason Dufner and Hunter Mahan. Each of them missed the weekend by a solitary stroke.

Further down the list, Lee Westwood and Nick Watney joined the contingent that simply couldn’t figure out the restored Pinehurst No. 2 golf course, rife with sandy waste areas, greenside falloffs and little apparent deception.

Mahan’s missed cut may have been the most searing of all, as he was penalized two strokes for playing an incorrect ball on No. 18, his ninth hole of the day

“Not much to describe, I just hit the wrong ball,” Mahan said. “I looked at the ball. It looked — I mean I don’t know, it was one of those things I couldn’t explain to you. Off the tee, it looked like that’s where my ball should have been, and I couldn’t explain to you how it ended up where it did. Just got to pay more attention.”

Mahan and playing partner Jamie Donaldson, using identical balls with nearly-identical markings, each played the other’s ball for their second shots.

At 3:25 p.m., Martin Kaymer and Brendon Todd will tee off, joining 66 other golfers on the quest to earn the two-handled, nameless silver jug awarded to the winner of the national golf championship of the U.S. Will Kaymer repeat what Tiger Woods did in 2000 and cruise to an enormous victory margin, or will he come back to the field, as many have done before, granting a second chance at victory to his contemporaries?