Although there were no Hale Irwin nor Geoff Ogilvy sightings on course (well, there was a virtual one of the later, thanks to Mike Tirico and air pods), the Winged Foot West Course that showed off on Friday was identical to the one that ruined psyches in 1974 and 2006. Say what you will about traditional U.S. Open set-ups—they are bad with a capital “B” for the game, because they convince members that thick rough, uber-fast greens, and tucked hole locations are something for everyday play.

Three golfers broke par on day two, and they were a combined 4 under. 62 golfers survived the cut at 6 over, placing all survivors within 10 strokes of the leader. This day was less a celebration and more a reckoning. We learned way more than five things on this day, but we’ll hold our tongue and keep it to the standard quintet. Make way, then, for the five things we learned on Friday at the U.S. Open.

1. Par wins the U.S. Open

After a few years of enjoyable national championships, the USGA saw fit to make its field suffer like none in recent years. Even the 2015 shoot out at Chambers Bay offered recovery options. Winged Foot, like so many golden-age courses in the northeast, depends on rough that tickles your armpits as a defense. The greens are super-cool in their circumferences, which bear no similarity to any shape you saw in geometry. They possess rolls, splines, and acclivities galore, to compel anyone outside of ten feet to scrutinize every angle of the remaining expanse. This is the witches’ brew that the tournament committee whipped up for the occasion of preserving par in 2020. Seconds, anyone?

2. Patrick Reed is your leader

Each time that Reed recovered from an impossible situation, I almost leapt from my chair to cheer. Each time that he ripped a driver into an unhittable fairway, an iron into a guarded green, I nearly exploded with a guttural yawp. Then I remembered, he’s not Captain America anymore. He’s more Annakin Skywalker, and he has some ‘splaining to do.

If you don’t think as I do (and I’ll confess that I inhabit a yurt of madness) you applauded the Texan as he found a way to shoot par—while the other first-round leaders went four, five, even six strokes over par. Through two rounds, Reed looks as good as any other. Fact is, he has the major title that many of his challengers lack, and that will prove valuable as the weekend beckons.

3. Bryson’s time is now

No one has prepared for this event as Bryson has. #BigBangTheory has tweaked both body and equipment. The result through two rounds is the second spot, one behind Reed. Punctuated by a silly eagle at his 36th hole, where Bryson tamed the par-5 9th with driver, 9-iron, DeChambeau’s 68 was low round of day two. Toss out all his victories at this point. Saturday’s duel with Reed will be the great test of the single-length shafts, the bionic putting set-up, and the formulae and hypotheses swirling in his subconscious. On his side is this fact: only golfer to shoot under par both rounds. If string theory shoots 140 over the weekend, I predict that he wins.

4. Trending…Surviving…Surprising

Hideki dropped two shots, and Bubba dropped three. They are the other two lads to break par in round the second. Korn Ferry Tour regular Stephan Jaeger went from 71 to 70. He would be the ultimate surprise winner, amiright? Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, and Matthew Wolfe—all were given the opportunity to blow up to an 80, but each found a deep, gritty gear and remained inside the top ten after two. Remember point #1? That grit defines this year’s U.S. Open.  Brendon Todd and Jason Kokrak are two golfers no one would have picked to be in the mix at this point, but they are precisely the type of golfer that appears at this point in each U.S. Open. The negative for them is, they don’t necessarily know what to do next, and their kind usually doesn’t hang around. The positive for them is, they’ve found something that works and they have nothing to lose.

5. Joaquin might steal the show

Jack Lemmon once said of John Daly that he had the guts of a burglar. There is the slightest chance that Joaquin Niemann might possess that attribute as well. The delegate from the world’s thinnest country continues to play himself into contention. He has a PGA Tour win to his credit, on a course not dissimilar to Winged Foot West. Will the heat of major Saturday be too much? Methinks it won’t be, and that Niemann will still be in the top 10, with an outside chance of winning on Sunday.

Five Things is still hot on Xander Schauffele to win…and mourns the passing of a doughty supreme court justice.