US Open 2012: Tiger Woods remains in contention on tough course, as does teenage amateur Beau Hossler There is nothing quite like the US Open. And that is undoubtedly a good thing. If the professional game was played in conditions akin to those at The Olympic Club every week, the straight-jackets would soon outnumber the visors. It is simply too demanding and too draining. Enjoy it while it lasts; or at least suffer it while it lasts. The drama comes from disaster. Shots are forsaken in an instant, leads lost in the time it takes to turn the hips. Love it or loathe it, nobody can accuse it of being predictable. But then there was so much about this San Francisco scene which reopened the memory vaults. For there sharing the lead, keeping his head while all around were losing theirs, was the man. In the final group at a major again, Tiger Woods was back in his natural habitat and seemingly relishing the mayhem. An entire city was turning out in the expectation of witnessing one of sport's greatest resurrections. His rivals felt the aura again. Also on one-under, alongside Woods and the professional's professional, Jim Furyk, was David Toms. He knew what to expect. "They will be going crazy for Tiger out there this weekend, and rightfully so," said the veteran with the sweet putting touch. He brings a lot to our game. More people cover our sport, more people are out at golf tournaments when he's playing well. So I like seeing it. And just to be up there with him is exciting. He's in good spirits and it seems like the Tiger of old to me. Woods is like the USGA; he also gives nothing away. On Friday night, after his hard-earned 70, Woods was asked about Beau Hossler, the 17-year-old amateur who had dared hold the US Open lead after 27 holes. Resisting the emotion of the kid from Orange County living his and every other schoolboy's dream, Woods thought back to his own bum-fluffed heroics as an amateur at the 2006 US Open. "Well, there's a long way to go and I kind of experienced that myself at Oakland Hills; same deal, first round, made a few mistakes after that," said Woods. I think he's made a few mistakes as well. The message from Woods was simple. The US Open is no place for sentiment - if you want a fairytale go to Disney. Let the rest gush about the boy called Beau, because he had a job to do. And gush they did. Hossler is an all-American boy, with huge braces and a Forrest Gump innocence. Coached by Jim Flick, a former swing adviser to Jack Nicklaus, he qualified last year at Congressional, where he shot 76-77. The lesson, he said, was "keenly learned" and he came back ready to pitch for low amateur. At one-over and in the top 10, Hossler's ambitions could stretch rather higher than that. Yet expectation at a typical US Open is a dangerous route to take. Graeme McDowell, the 2010 champion, was certainly not about to be caught in its trap. Survival was the name of his game. "I've got to be honest with you, it's tough to have fun out there," said the Northern Irishman, leading the way for the UK on two-over. This course can gobble you up. But it can also give a little back and, with the greens watered, Lee Westwood capitalised on the USGA's rare generosity, playing the treacherous first half dozen holes in one-under. But a bogey on the eighth saw the Englishman with six top threes in his last 10 majors falling back to five-over, six off the pace.