Mickelson crashes to a dismal 77
 |  Singh will be rueing a series of missed putts that would have taken him under par. |
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PINEHURST, North Carolina -- Phil Mickelson's U.S. Open hopes suffered a probably terminal blow as he slid to a seven-over-par 77 in the second round at Pinehurst on Friday.
The home hope, one of golf's Big Five, shot a dismal 41 for the opening nine holes and wound up on 146 - six-over-par.
Fiji's Vijay Singh fared better of the big name early starters, carding his second straight par 70 to be firmly in contention at halfway.
Mickelson, the 2004 U.S. Masters champion, was shooting his worst round at the Open since the second round at Pebble Beach 13 years ago, the year he turned pro.
The worst of it came on No. 18, his ninth, where he hit his tee shot behind a pine tree near the concession stands, needed relief so he could get out from the line of the giant green-side scoreboard and punched out en route to his sixth bogey of the round.
Before that, he missed a variety of short par putts -- a three-footer that rimmed out on 15, a five-footer on 16 and a six-footer on 17 for a three-putt that left him shaking his head.
After shooting 41 on the back side, he finally looked like he got it together with a 20-foot birdie putt at No. 3. On the tough fifth hole, his approach went to 20 feet, but he lipped that out, then missed the short par putt coming back for bogey.
"I weasn't really trying to make birdies," Mickelson said. "I was just trying to salvage pars and having a hard time doing that."
Still, he wasn't ready to count himself out.
"You can't play aggressive here," Mickelson said. "I think 36 pars might have an outside chance of winning and that's what I'm hoping for."
Friday dawned cool and cloudy -- supposedly great scoring weather. It was good enough for Sweden's Peter Hedblom, who shot 66, the best U.S. Open score ever shot at Pinehurst No. 2, to finish at 143 - three over and comfortably inside the expected cut.
World number two Singh got to two-under but bogeyed Nos. 15 and 16 and missed a five-footer for birdie on No. 18 to settle for his second straight par 70.
He was joined on a challenging 140 mark by Spain's Sergio Garcia, who won at Congressional last week, and New Zealander Michael Campbell.
Among the afternoon starters were first round leaders Rocco Mediate and Olin Browne and defending champion Retief Goosen, who was one shot behind.
Over a dry and breezy first round at Pinehurst No. 2, Goosen shot a 2-under-par 68 to keep himself well in position to capture his third U.S. Open title.
"Obviously, the golf course is only going to get tougher as the week goes on," Goosen said after his round Thursday. "If I can keep striking the ball solid and keep it in play, we can try for Sunday."
Other afternoon starters included Tiger Woods, who shot 70, and Ernie Els, who after an opening-round 71 in the heat thought conditions were quite difficult.
"It's really unbelievable," Els said. "It's the only course we play that you have to aim away from the holes."
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
