SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Golf is filled with tales of players improving their score by 12 shots over two rounds. Most astounding about Keith Mitchell was doing it in just over two hours.Mitchell set a U.S. Open record Thursday at Shinnecock Hills when he became the only player to post a score in the 40s on nine holes, and follow that with a score in the 20s on the next nine.He went 41-29. It added to an even-par 70, and Mitchell still isn’t sure what happened. He was coming off a bogey on the par-5 16th, and his first thought was whether he would finish.“I was thinking about trying to break 80,” he said. “I was just trying to keep in it in the fairway, on the green and maybe have a chance to make the cut. And then it all flipped.”His 29 tied the Shinnecock Hills record for nine holes set by Neal Lancaster in 1995 (Lancaster is the only player to twice shoot 29 on nine holes in the U.S. Open).How it started is something Mitchell would like to forget. He went over the par-4 10th green to start his round, took two chips and two putts and had a double bogey. He went over the gre …
