Heading into Sunday morning's action, the 2012 U.S. Open leaderboard has caused our national and local stories to neatly converge—as Tiger Woods struggled, shooting five-over to fall from a share of the lead all the way into a tie for 14th, Scott Langley—St. Louis's own golfer, who struggled in a first round that saw him almost miss the cut—shot his best round of the tournament, continuing to excel after a slow start. It was his second consecutive even-par round, keeping him in a +6 tie for 27th place. Langley, who starred as an amateur at the U.S. Open back in 2010, would be in a position to compete with Jim Furyk and Graeme McDowell if only he hadn't shot that round 1 76—no doubt Tiger feels the same way about his third-round 75.
Woods is still vaguely in competition, which assures us another day of Tiger-dominated media coverage of the event right up until the moment Furyk or McDowell wins it, but his poor performance Saturday means he'd have to have one of the best rounds of his career on Sunday to really do it. To follow along with Woods, Langley, or some story in between on the national-local continuum, we recommend USOpen.com's detailed leaderboard.
And for more coverage of both, stay tuned to our 2012 U.S. Open storystream.