They tried to tell us. That you don’t attack Pinehurst No 2 as much as survive it. That the signature slippery greens of this Donald Ross gem in the shape of inverted saucers are up against the outer limits of fairness. That there will be blood.
Someone forgot to tell Rory McIlroy, who made a roaring start in his latest bid to end a decade-long chase for a fifth major title with a five-under-par 65 to match the lowest round ever shot in a US Open at Pinehurst, where America’s national championship is taking place for the fourth time since 1999.
“It’s nice to open up with a low one and feel like you’re right in the tournament from the first day,” said McIlroy, who entered on a tailwind of confidence after he followed his second win of the year at Quail Hollow last month with three successive top-20 finishes.
“Certainly the major championships that I’ve won or that I’ve played well at, I’ve always seemed to get off to a good start. It’s nice to get off to another one.”
The in-form Northern Irishman’s fifth birdie of the day on the 18th drew him even with early clubhouse leader Patrick Cantlay, the 32-year-old Californian dogged by inconsistency all year long who negotiated his back nine in one under par before picking up shots on the first, fifth, sixth and eighth, flying through the tape for a one-shot lead over tournament debutant Ludvig Åberg of Sweden.
Earlier this week McIlroy attributed what’s been an incremental reversal of form at this event to a “come-to-Jesus moment” in his approach to the USGA’s famously unsparing setups. The 35-year-old has posted top‑10s in his past five US Open appearances, each finish improving on the one before, including last year when he finished runner-up to Wyndham Clark at Los Angeles Country Club.
That upward trendline appears intact and for those in search of portents, McIlroy’s last three bogey-free opening rounds at majors ended with him lifting the trophy on Sunday.
France’s Matthieu Pavon made two eagles before midday before finishing with a 67, two off the pace along with the 2020 champion Bryson DeChambeau. Tony Finau and Tyrrell Hatton were three behind the leaders while Sergio GarcĂa – one of only a dozen players from the rebel LIV Golf Series in the 156-man field – was one of 11 players at one under after only the sixth bogey-free round in a US Open at Pinehurst.
All of them seized on what passes for soft, scorable conditions on the 7,540-yard track on a windless day in the North Carolina sand hills, which could prove crucial with the already daunting greens threatening to play even firmer and faster as temperatures expected to climb above 90F (32C) on Friday and Saturday.
But there was no shortage of suffering from the earliest moments on Thursday morning when Michael McGowan, a 33-year-old qualifier who grew up down the road in nearby Southern Pines, sent the opening tee shot drifting left into the natural sand. The local favourite’s double bogey only presaged the tough sledding to come on a course made famous by treacherous domed greens, where a putt that misses the cup by a hair can easily roll off the crowned edges into a bunker.
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Brooks Koepka, the five-time major champion playing on the same course where he burst from obscurity a decade ago with a fourth-place finish that stamped his PGA Tour card, spent most of the morning atop the leaderboard, going as low as three under par. But three late bogeys over the last few holes dropped him down to even for the day.
Another promising start was thwarted when Tiger Woods, playing in only his fourth event of the season, made the turn at one over after a series of clutch par saves before fading quickly with five bogeys in a seven-hole stretch. The 48-year-old had birdied his opening hole and the mere sight of the 15-time major champion atop the US Open leaderboard – even with 71 holes to play – generated an early buzz around the grounds. But on a course that punishes shots that are even marginally bad, Woods’s rust ultimately told.
McIlroy’s partners in a marquee group of the world’s top three players struggled to keep up: the world No 1, Scottie Scheffler, fought hard to finish one over while the newly minted US PGA champion, Xander Schauffele, toiled similarly for even par despite hitting only six fairways and eight of 16 greens in regulation.
Throughout the run-up to the season’s third major, one player after another talked about the boring, conservative golf Pinehurst requires to mitigate damage. No one going off in Thursday’s early wave did it better than McIlroy and Cantlay, even if the latter was keenly aware of the challenge ahead.
“I imagine they can get the golf course as difficult as they want. With the Bermuda greens and no rain in the forecast, I expect the golf course to play very difficult in the next few days,” Cantlay said. “I knew going off at 7.40 in the morning, it’s going to play maybe the easiest it will play all week, with the lack of wind and probably the softest we will see it.”
The US Open prize fund has climbed to a record $21.5m (£16.8m), with Sunday’s winner set to walk away with a cheque worth $4.3m.
