Matsuyama, Reavie light up Erin Hills with sparkling 65s

Hideki Matsuyama had a front row seat for Rickie Fowler's incredible opening-round 65 on Thursday, and he returned the favor with a 7-under-par in round two at the U.S. Open.

Matsuyama and Chez Reavie scorched the lengthy Erin Hills layout Friday, posting 65s of their own to vault up the leaderboard and into contention for the weekend.

Matsuyama

The fourth-ranked player in the world struggled to an opening-round 74 on Thursday, but wasted no time in making up ground with an absurd 6-under 30 on the front nine. Matsuyama birdied six of his first eight holes and added a seventh birdie on the par-3 13th to finish 7-under for the day. He actually could have threatened to tie the record of 63 but missed a pair of short birdie putts on the closing stretch.

The Japanese star soared up the leaderboard with his impressive round, sitting tied for eighth heading into the weekend.

Reavie

(Photo courtesy: Action Images)

Given Matsuyama's standing in the world rankings, it's not too shocking to see him fire a solid round, but Reavie's 65 was an absolute stunner. The 140th-ranked player in the world opened with a 3-over 75 before besting that by 10 strokes with a birdie binge at Erin Hills. Unlike Matsuyama, Reavie actually posted a bogey, meaning he carded eight birdies on his round to finish at 7-under-par.

Reavie has only played in four U.S. Opens in his career, missing two cuts and finishing 62nd and 45th in the other events. He needed just 25 putts to get through his second round and sits tied for 13th heading into Saturday, just three shots off the pace.