The 124th U.S. Open is underway at Pinehurst No. 2 in, well, Pinehurst, North Carolina.
From the jump, the field is chasing top-ranked Scottie Scheffler — who is on a heater not seen since Tiger Woods’ heyday. Scheffler will tee off in the afternoon wave (1:24 p.m. ET to be exact) along with Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele.
So far, there haven’t been many golfers under par.
Brooks Koepka, who has won this tournament twice, looked like he was making an early run for a third initially. After briefly holding a share of the lead, Koepka made three bogeys down the stretch to drop back to even par for the day.
Instead, it was Patrick Cantlay who grabbed the lead in the early wave. He made three birdies in his final five holes of the day to card his 5-under 65. That gave him a two-shot lead over the field entering the clubhouse.
Woods, on the other hand, struggled. After a birdie to open his day, he made five birdies in seven holes around the turn before finishing with a 4-over 74. He’ll need a big outing on Friday in order to make the cut, something he failed to do last month at the PGA Championship.
If you’re looking for tee times, we have them right here.
If you’re looking for how to watch, we’ve got that covered, too.
If you want to check out the leaderboard, click here.
And if you want some help following along with the action, follow along below:
Live30 updates
-
-
-
-
Tiger Woods finishes at 4-over
Tiger Woods’ day is done. He posted a 4-over 74 to kick off the U.S. Open, but he pulled off several huge par saves to limit the damage.
Still, Woods is nine shots back of the leaders entering the clubhouse. He’ll need a good outing tomorrow if he’s going to make the cut.
Click the photo to read more about Woods’ start from Jay Busbee on the ground at Pinehurst:
Click the photo to read more about Tiger Woods’ opening round at the U.S. Open. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Brooks has company
Ludvig Aberg and France’s Matthieu Pavon have joined Koepka at 3-under. There aren’t a lot of birdies out there, but there are a few.
-
Tiger wrongway
Another miss on the approach for Tiger leads to another bogey. He drove the ball in the fairway at No. 2, only to need four shots to get down from 187 yards out. After a great start, his round is slipping away.
-
Brooks … again
There was a traffic jam at 2-under, then Brooks Koepka did Brooks Koepka things — in this case, draining a 30-footer for birdie — to get to 3-under through 10.
The day started with Scottie Scheffler as the favorite. Who would you take now?
-
Another (not good) one for Tiger
Two three puts in a three-hole span has Tiger now at +2. He had a look for birdie at No. 1 (his 10th), but left it 10 feet short. Yes, 10 feet short. He missed that for bogey, his third in four holes.
-
First nine update
As players begin to make their turns, here’s where we’re at:
– Just 14 of the 78 players on the course are under par; 47 are over par
– Brooks Koepka looks dialed in early, something we’ve seen before.
– Tiger Woods has his putter working. His issue the last few holes has been getting on the green in regulation and giving himself decent opportunities for birdie.
– Not going to happen for Phil Mickelson, again. He’s already 5-over after just seven holes.
– Par is a good score.
-
Back-to-back bogeys for Tiger
Facing a 57-footer for birdie, Tiger ran it nine feet by the hole. He burned the edge on his par putt and that’s back-to-back bogeys to move him to 1-over through eight holes.
-
Here comes Brooks
Brooks Koepka loves majors. Heard that before? And now he’s atop the leaderboard thanks to a birdie at No. 7. He and Logan McAllister are at 2-under.
-
Tiger gives one back
A drive into the rough, a punch out, a less-than-stellar chip to 19 feet led to a bogey for Tiger Woods at 16. (Though he didn’t miss the putt by much.)
-
Logjam at the top
Well, we jinxed Aberg, because he just bogeyed to move back to 1-under where … we have a 15-way tie for first!
That includes: Tiger Woods, Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler, Tony Finau and a qualifier by the name of Sergio Garcia.
Source Agencies
