Pinehurst No. 2 was both playable and punishing, yielding more than a dozen scores under par. Masters champion Scottie Scheffler did not have one of them. The world’s No. 1 player, coming off his fifth win of the year at the Memorial, was a picture of frustration — clean-shaven and with a fresh haircut — as he didn’t have his usual control off the tee.
He still managed a 71 and was very much in the game.
Tiger Woods couldn’t say the same. After a good start, he had five bogeys in a seven-hole stretch around the turn for a 74, his 12th consecutive round in the majors without breaking par.
McIlroy was in control from the start, hitting 6-iron to 7 feet at the 528-yard fourth hole — the toughest par 4 on the course — for birdie, and then chipping in from the front of the green on the next hole.
He has the advantage of towering iron shots that land softly, and they were usually pin-high and away from the domed edges of the Donald Ross greens that cause so much trouble.
McIlroy has won majors the last three times he has started with a bogey-free round — at Hoylake in the 2014 British Open, at Kiawah Island in the 2012 PGA Championship and at Congressional in the 2011 U.S. Open.
“Getting off to a good start is important to try to keep yourself up there, because you have to give yourself as big of a cushion as possible, knowing what is lurking around the corner,” McIlroy said.
Ludvig Aberg, in his U.S. Open debut, hit his tee shot to 6 feet on the scary par-3 ninth hole for birdie and a 66. Every major is something new for the rising star from Sweden, who only turned pro a year ago. He was runner-up in the Masters.
Bryson DeChambeau, the runner-up at Valhalla in the PGA Championship last month, and Matthieu Pavon of France were at 67.
Sergio Garcia had the other bogey-free round — 17 pars and a birdie — in his 25th consecutive time playing the U.S. Open. He also played in the morning and didn’t seem particularly alarmed by Cantlay’s 65. That matches the low opening round in four U.S. Opens at Pinehurst No. 2.
“There’s always going to be someone that hits the ball great, everything goes his way, makes a couple of bombs, and you can shoot it,” Garcia said. “You might see someone shooting another 66 or 65 or something like that. I think as the course gets even firmer, even faster, a tiny bit of breeze comes up here and there, it’s going to be difficult to shoot those kind of scores.”
It shouldn’t be a surprise to see Cantlay contending given he has no real weakness in his game, except for his performance in the majors. He has only four top 10s in his 26 major starts since returning from a serious back injury in 2017, and only one real chance at winning one.
McIlroy and Cantlay never saw eye-to-eye during their time on the PGA Tour board as it tried to negotiate an agreement with the Saudi-backers of LIV Golf, and McIlroy was on the losing in a tense fourballs match in Rome last fall when Cantlay buried a 45-foot putt at the end.
Cantlay watched his best friend in golf — Xander Schauffele, who opened with a 70 — finally win a major last month. His start was enough to at least wonder if his time is coming next.
“I’ve been working really hard on my game,” Cantlay said. “And usually when you make just a couple changes and you’re working really hard, it’s just a matter of time.”
Cantlay isn’t known to be verbose on many subjects, particularly when it comes to his performance in golf’s most important championships. He also has rejected notions that his time on the PGA Tour board during the divide with LIV Golf has been a distraction.
Whatever the case, this was a good day of work.
But it was still a test, and some of the scores would indicate that. Viktor Hovland had to make a tough par at the end for 78. Justin Thomas had a 77 and Will Zalatoris, who typically thrives in the majors, was at 75. Dustin Johnson joined the group at 74.
Five-time major champion Brooks Koepka was sailing along and dropped a 35-foot birdie putt for birdie on the par-5 10th to reach 3 under in the morning. He had three bogeys coming in and had to settle for a 70.
Colin Morikawa, who has played in the final group at the first two majors of the year, hit a decent bunker shot on the par-3 ninth that rolled by the cup 2 feet and then took a slope and stopped rolling 80 feet away, leading to double bogey. He took another double bogey on the par-3 15th and still managed a 70 by holing a bunker shot on the par-3 17th for birdie and finishing with a 30-foot birdie putt on the 18th.
“Hit two poor shots and one bad bunker shot. It wasn’t that bad on 9,” he said. “But other than that, I felt like I played pretty good. Very, very happy I got out with even par after today.”
Scottie Scheffler opens U.S. Open with 71
Scottie Scheffler spent his opening round at the U.S. Open in a strange situation.
He was over par.
The world’s top-ranked player had played 21 holes all season when he was over par for a tournament, yet that’s where Scheffler found himself after a bogey at the par-4 third on Thursday. He spent the rest of the day over par, too, balancing a pair of birdies with two more bogeys for a 1-over 71 that left him in contention but with ground to make up.
His playing partner, Rory McIlroy, shot a bogey-free 65 that put him in a tie with Patrick Cantlay atop the leaderboard at tough Pinehurst No. 2. The third player in their powerhouse trio, PGA champ Xander Schauffele, finished at even-par.
Not very often is Scheffler bringing up the rear of any group.
Scheffler arrived this week as the overwhelming favourite, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, to win his third major. He has won five of his last eight tournaments, including his second Masters, and was coming off a victory at the Memorial, where a 2-over 74 at Muirfield Village in the final round was still enough for a one-shot win over Collin Morikawa.
The last time Scheffler was over par in consecutive rounds was the British Open at Royal Liverpool nearly a year ago.
“Every week we play, he seems to build a bigger lead, and somehow make the mountain even taller for all of us to climb,” Schauffele said earlier in the week. “That’s all he’s been doing, and hats off to him for being so consistent.”
Scheffler wasn’t far off his usual brilliance at Pinehurst on Thursday.
On the third, Scheffler’s tee shot barely trickled into the native grass, and his approach looked good until it bounced off the contoured green and into a bunker. He missed his par putt so badly that he started walking the moment he hit it.
At the par-3 sixth, Scheffler managed to get his tee shot onto the massive green. But his lag putt was poor, leaving about 18 feet for par, and that miss dropped him to 2 over for only the second time at any point in a tournament this year.
Scheffler got a shot back at the seventh, when he hit his approach from 164 yards to 12 feet and made birdie. But he also missed a 12-footer for birdie at the 10th, and one from a bit longer at the 11th, that could have provided him some momentum.
His biggest blunder — only one, really — came at the par-4 16th, when Scheffler’s tee shot went so far left that it rattled among the fans like a pinball before settling into the pine straw. He caught a break when a tower was in his way, giving him a free drop and a clean look at the green, but his approach wound up in a collection area and he made another bogey.
Scheffler finished strong, though, on a day where perseverance was rewarded. After watching McIlroy and Schauffele hit nice shots into the long par-3 17th, he stuck his own inside them. And with a confident stroke, Scheffler rolled that 12-footer dead-center of the cup for his final birdie of the day.
He added a tap-in par at the 18th, and after signing his card, headed right to the practice range for some early evening work.
Scheffler was due back on the tee early Friday with some ground to make up. - AP
