Patrick Cantlay used a late birdie blitz to seize the early U.S. Open clubhouse lead on Thursday at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina the place match favorite Scottie Scheffler had simply began his first spherical.
Cantlay carded three late birdies on a difficult Pinehurst No. 2 format en path to a scorching five-under-par 65 that left him one shot away from Masters runner-up Ludvig Aberg.
The 32-year-old Cantlay had an opportunity to go even decrease however a birdie putt from 19 ft at his last gap, the par-three ninth, shaved the precise edge.
“Performed fairly strong many of the manner,” mentioned Cantlay, who wanted solely 23 putts on the turtle-shell greens which are one of many course’s biggest defence.
“I assumed the golf course performed fairly tough. However drove it effectively. Numerous balls on the golf green. Left the ball in the precise spots, for essentially the most half.”
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Swede Aberg, taking part in in his first U.S. Open, produced a superb show of ball-striking and birdied his closing gap, the par-three ninth, with Frenchman Matthieu Pavon an extra shot again.
Sergio Garcia, who squeezed into the U.S. Open area as an alternate, opened with a 69 which was solely the sixth bogey-free spherical in U.S. Open historical past at Pinehurst No. 2.
5-time main winner Brooks Koepka (70), one in every of 12 LIV Golf gamers within the 156-player area, was three underneath by 12 holes earlier than three bogeys over his closing holes dropped him again.
Masters champion and world primary Scheffler, recent off Sunday’s one-shot triumph on the Memorial Match, went out late in a high-profile threesome with Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele.
Scheffler entered the week driving excessive as the primary participant to win 5 instances in a season on the PGA Tour earlier than the U.S. Open since Tom Watson in 1980.
The U.S. Open started underneath sunny skies on a format certain to check the psychological self-discipline of the gamers given its tough greens and fairways that bleed into sandy waste areas filled with wire grass.
Tiger Woods, competing in solely his fourth occasion of the yr and who accepted a particular exemption to play within the U.S. Open, loved an encouraging begin however his putter deserted him because the spherical wore on and he opened with a 74.
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Woods, who began on the again 9, opened with a birdie earlier than confidence-boosting, par-saving putts from 10 ft on the twelfth and 9 ft at 13.
The injury-ravaged Woods out of the blue got here undone, nonetheless, as he carded 5 bogeys throughout a seven-hole stretch across the flip.
“I didn’t hit my irons notably effectively,” Woods mentioned. “Didn’t putt that nice. Drove it on the string all day. Sadly I simply didn’t capitalize on it.”
Phil Mickelson, U.S. Open runner-up a document six instances, noticed his hopes of finishing the profession Grand Slam of golf’s 4 majors fade with a 79 in a spherical that began with 4 consecutive bogeys.