CNN —As Francesco Molinari stepped up to the tee on Friday, he knew he needed a hole-in-one to make the cut and remain in the US Open. 2 in North Carolina, sneaking inside the cut at the last opportunity. “Sergio was walking in front of me and he raised his hands when the ball was still five meters from the hole and I wanted to tell him, ‘Come on, don’t jinx me,’” Molinari told Sky Sports. The ninth hole proved lucky for Austria’s Sepp Straka too as he made his first ace on the PGA Tour earlier that day, and also made the cut at two over. Molinari teed off for the third round at 8:55 a.m.

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Persons: Francesco Molinari, Molinari, “, ”, ” Francesco Molinari, John Angelillo, Min Woo Lee, Sergio Garcia, “ Sergio, ‘, jinx, ’ ” Molinari, I’ve, Austria’s Sepp Straka, Molinari teed Organizations: CNN, Pinehurst, UPI, PGA, Sky Sports Locations: North Carolina