Rory McIlroy shoots an opening round of 65 to tie the lead and beat his playing partner Scottie Scheffler by six shots on day one of US Open
Pinehurst number two in North Carolina is a par 70 and designed by golf architect Donald Ross. This is the first major to be hosted since 2014 edition where Martin Kaymer was the winner. Day one conditions were warm and green speed was 14 on stimpmeter. It was extremely difficult to shoot a good score as only 15 players achieved an opening under par round. Pinehurst number two provides a different test especially with fairways been surrounded by waste areas.
The Markee afternoon group was 2011 US Open champion Rory McIlroy, world number one Scottie Scheffler and world number two Schauffele starting on hole one at 6:14pm Irish time. McIlroy’s first birdie of Thursday came at 528 yard fourth hole and followed it up with a chip in at five to reach -2. The 10th hole at Pinehurst is a 619 yard par five and McIlroy moved to -3 due to a two-putt birdie. The four-time major champion hit a 344 yard drive at 16 which led to his fourth birdie of day one. McIlroy hit a short iron from 146 yards at 18 and held a 20 foot birdie putt to shoot an impressive -5 bogey free round and join Cantlay at top of leaderboard. A long way still to go but an encouraging start for the man that hasn’t won a major in 10 years.
Patrick Cantlay set the early pace due to an incredible -5 round of 65. Cantlay’s strength was on the greens as he had 23 putts for 18 holes. 2021 FedEx Cup champion is looking to take inspiration from his friend Xander Schauffele who won the recent PGA Championship in May. Ludvig Aberg was impressive with shooting an excellent opening -4 round of 66 and finished with a birdie at 186 yard par three ninth hole. Aberg’s swing was outstanding on day one as he found all 14 fairways. Bryson DeChambeau -3 round of 67 included a chip in at 18 for birdie.
Two-time US Open champion Brooks Koepka reached -3 but finished his round with three late bogeys to shoot level par. Schauffele only hit eight greens out of 18 holes but managed to keep himself in contention with a level par round. Tommy Fleetwood and Collin Morikawa are also five shots behind leaders after both shooting rounds of 70. Seamus Power achieved three birdies in a row at the third, fourth and fifth hole in his round of +1. Scheffler is tied with Power on +1 due to the American only hitting six fairways. Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, Shane Lowry and Tom McKibbin all shot opening rounds of +4.