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And with no-one better than -1 in the final few groups out on the course, that’s a wrap for today. A fascinating opening day and although scoring was tough there’s a feeling that it’ll only get harder as the week goes on. Is this Rory’s time again? A six-shot advantage over a subdued Scottie Scheffler certainly helps although there’s still an impressive cast-list on page one of the leaderboard. We’ll be back tomorrow to see how it unfolds. Thanks for reading!
DeChambeau makes par at his final hole, the 9th, and signs for a very well-played 3-under 67. So, we have a top five comprising two Americans (Cantlay and DeChambeau) and three Europeans (McIlroy, Åberg and Pavon).
-5: Cantlay (F), McIlroy (F)
-4: Åberg (F)
-3: Pavon (F). DeChambeau (F)
-2: Finau (F), Hatton (F)
Your co-leader Rory McIlroy speaks. “I feel like I played a really controlled, solid round of golf. There wasn’t anything spectacular, I hit some really good iron shots but just stayed disciplined. When I got myself in trouble, I took my medicine, got out of trouble, hit the middle of the green, two-putted. This is the whole thing about a US Open, trying to keep a clean scorecard. I’m pretty sure I’m not going to keep it bogey free for the rest of the week but this tournament is not about how many birdies you make, it’s about how many bogeys you don’t make and I did that well today.”
Some said Tyrrell Hatton wouldn’t cope on a course like this given his capacity to blow a gasket at the drop of a hat/shot. But that was unfair given that he finished tied fifth in the 2018 US Open at Shinnecock which was played in ludicrously hard conditions and won in an over par score. Today, he’s just signed for a 2-under 68 and walks off in tied sixth. It’s an even par 70 for Tommy Fleetwood (tied 16th).
It’s hard to know what to make of Thomas Detry and it probably doesn’t help that the picture of the 31-year-old on his Wiki page is him at about age 15. Why? He’s yet to win on the DP World Tour or PGA Tour but he helped Belgium to success in the World Cup in 2018 and he’s becoming a real player in the majors. Tied 13th in last summer’s Open, Detry was tied fourth in last month’s US PGA and he’s -1 here after 14, currently good enough for tied eighth.
DeChambeau’s birdie try at his penultimate hole (8) just fails to turn right at the death despite his urgings. But this is another strong day’s work in a major for the 2020 US Open champ and recent US PGA runner-up. He’s tied fourth, one of just 16 players under par for the day.