We’re halfway home in the 41st U.S. Senior Open Championship and on Friday, Omaha (Neb.) Country Club showed its teeth. The 6,734-yard, par-70 Perry Maxwell layout yielded just eight scores in the 60s, highlighted by Jim Furyk’s championship-low 6-under 64. The three players in red numbers through 36 holes are the fewest since 2001.

With winds expected to gust to 12 to 18 mph this weekend, birdies will likely be at a premium. Whoever raises the Francis D. Ouimet Memorial Trophy on Sunday evening will have navigated a field full of major champions and a course that challenges every part of the game to earn the title.

As you watch the uninterrupted coverage on Peacock and Golf Channel (3-4 p.m. EDT and 4-8 p.m. EDT on Golf Channel both days), here are 3 things to know for the final two rounds:

Rally Point

One of the big questions heading into the weekend is who still has a realistic chance to win. In 2013 at Omaha C.C., Kenny Perry trailed by 10 strokes at the halfway point, then rallied with rounds of 64-63 to win by five. But in the U.S. Senior Open, that type of comeback has been the exception, not the rule.

Twelve straight champions have been inside the top 10 through 36 holes, with 10 of those winners within two of the lead at the halfway point. That would seemingly make winning the Ouimet Trophy a long shot for past champions Bernhard Langer and Colin Montgomerie (both T-31), as well as two-time U.S. Open champions Ernie Els (T-31) and Lee Janzen (T-26).

But players within striking distance of Furyk include the always entertaining Miguel Angel Jimenez (solo 3rd) along with a group of 10 players who are tied for fourth place. That logjam includes 2010 runner-up Fred Couples and 67-year-old Jay Haas, who is playing in his 16th championship this week.

While they’re outside the top 10, there are an incredible 12 players tied for 14th place, just five strokes behind Furyk. This group includes 2015 champion Jeff Maggert, 2016 champion Gene Sauers, 2018 champion David Toms and two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen. They are definitely not out of the picture.

Short but Sweet

Hitting the ball long and straight on any course is a recipe for success, but it appears distance might be less of an advantage at Omaha C.C. Of the top 10 players in driving distance this week, only one, Billy Andrade, is in the top 25 on the leader board.

Neither leader Furyk nor Stephen Ames is inside the top 30 in driving distance – Furyk is way back, in 126th place! – instead using their iron play to rise to the top of the leader board. Ames (80.6 percent) leads the field in greens in regulation, while Furyk (75 percent) is tied for third.

With longer, thicker rough than there was here in Omaha in 2013, Furyk and Ames are using a different recipe than that year’s champion, Perry, who led the field in driving distance and putting, but was T-9 in greens in regulation and hit fewer than 50 percent of his fairways.

Tough Turn

Omaha Country Club provides a few birdie opportunities, with four holes yielding more birdies than bogeys through 36 holes, but the middle of the course provides a stern challenge that could be the difference in this championship.

The brutal stretch starts at the par-4 eighth (2nd-most difficult, 4.47 scoring average), which has yielded just 14 birdies through 36 holes. After a brief respite at the ninth, the longest par 4 on the course greets the players as they make the turn. There have been far more bogeys (146) than pars (113) at the 10th (1st, 4.73), not to mention more double bogeys (35) and others (6) than on any other hole. The seemingly unrelenting stretch concludes at the par-4 12th (4th, 4.42).

“They're brutal,” said Billy Andrade, the Round 1 co-leader. “You've got to hit it in the fairway on all three of them. But this is the U.S. Open. It's supposed to be hard.”

Mike Trostel is the executive producer of content for the USGA. Email him at mtrostel@usga.org.