Using a sizzling begin fueled by a chip-in birdie on his opening gap, J.J. Spaun set the early tempo on the U.S. Open with a 4-under-par 66 on Thursday at Oakmont Nation Membership.
Spaun started the primary spherical on the inward 9 and birdied Nos. 10, 12, 16 and 17 for a 4-under 31, a U.S. Open Oakmont file for the primary 9 holes of a championship. He held regular with all pars on the entrance 9.
It marked simply the eighth bogey-free spherical at Oakmont in U.S. Open historical past and tied Andrew Landry in 2016 for the bottom U.S. Open first-round rating right here.
As of seven:15 p.m. ET, Spaun held a slim lead over South Africa’s Thriston Lawrence (67), with Brooks Koepka amongst these lurking at 2 underneath par.
The Los Angeles native narrowly missed the inexperienced on the par-4 tenth gap however lined up his chip out of Oakmont’s 5-inch tough completely. He went on to make a tap-in on the par-5 No. 12, a 5-foot birdie on the par-3 No. 16 and an 11 1/2-footer at No. 17, a par-4 gap.
“It type of set the tone for a way the day was going to go. You’re probably not anticipating to chip it in,” Spaun stated. “You’re simply making an attempt to get your self inside making distance for par.
“It was very nice to foretell the lie, hit the shot precisely the way you need to, and it type of comes out, and it’s simply feeding in direction of the opening and it goes in. It was a pleasant little wake-up name at 7:10 within the morning or no matter it was.”
Spaun, 34, has by no means completed inside the highest 20 of a significant. He has one title on the PGA Tour (Valero Texas Open, 2022) and misplaced a playoff to Rory McIlroy at The Gamers Championship in March.
Koepka had an eagle and two bogeys via 16 holes earlier than making his solely two birdies of the day at Nos. 17 and 18. The 2-time U.S. Open champion was tied at 68 with South Koreans Sungjae Im and Si Woo Kim. Jon Rahm of Spain, Ben Griffin and Belgium’s Thomas Detry have been a part of a tie at 1-under 69.
Im was the one participant to take the lead from Spaun, but it surely lasted all of 1 gap. After birdieing three holes on the again 9, Im rolled in back-to-back birdies at Nos. 1 and a pair of for the outright lead at 5 underneath.
However he discovered Oakmont’s famed “church pews” bunker off the third tee, the primary of a number of missteps on his approach to consecutive bogeys.
McIlroy, in the meantime, birdied Nos. 11 and 12 for an early share of the lead Thursday earlier than coming aside. After piling up 4 bogeys, he wanted two tries to get out of the tough on the lengthy par-3 eighth and made double bogey. He shot 41 on his second 9 en path to a 4-over 74.
The Masters champion from Northern Eire was utilizing an older mannequin of a TaylorMade driver after fighting a more moderen mannequin on the RBC Canadian Open. McIlroy had a driver dominated as non-conforming in the course of the PGA Championship, owing to the unique swap.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler didn’t fare significantly better within the afternoon wave, carding six bogeys in a 3-over spherical of 73.
Different notable names to shoot over par included Norway’s Viktor Hovland (71), Xander Schauffele (72), Hideki Matsuyama of Japan (74), Patrick Cantlay (76) and Irishman Shane Lowry (79).
Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau opened with a 3-over 73. At a course the place 5 over par was the profitable rating in 2007, DeChambeau was requested if 3 over may prime the leaderboard this weekend.
“If it doesn’t rain on Saturday, there’s in all probability an honest likelihood,” DeChambeau stated. “However I’m trying to shoot underneath par and provides myself a greater likelihood going into this weekend. …
“It was robust. It was a brutal check of golf. However one which I’m excited for tomorrow. If I simply tidy up a pair issues and get some momentum going my method, we’ll see the place it goes.”