Ryan Fox follows his shot from the 15th tee during the first round of the 124th US Open at Pinehurst Resort. Photo / Getty Images
- Ryan Fox opens with 73
- Patrick Cantlay reappears in the majors with a 65
- Tiger Woods shoots an inconsistent round after early lead
- BIg names still on course
Kiwi golfer Ryan Fox has begun his US Open campaign with a three-over 73 in the first round at Pinehurst No.2.
The course is where compatriot Michael Campbell lifted the US Open in 2005.
Early into the first round, Patrick Cantlay leads after posting a five-under 65, a shot ahead of Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg, who carded a 66.
Fox was part of the early groups out on the course and started with a birdie on the par-four 11th, his second hole of the day. However, that was followed by a bogey five at the par-four 13th and then a double-bogey at 14 to move to two-over.
A second bogey at the par-four second moved Fox further back to three-over before he recorded his second birdie of the day at the par-five fifth despite finding the bunker with his second shot. But with another bogey at the seventh, Fox slipped to three-over again, where he finished for the round.
Fox hit eight of 14 fairways and 10 of 18 greens in regulation but strong putting (2.17 strokes gained) ensured he’s still a chance to make the cut for the seventh straight major.
Patrick Cantlay watched his best friend in golf finally win a major last month. His start Thursday in the U.S. Open was enough to at least wonder if his time is coming next.
Cantlay handled Pinehurst No. 2 in the same methodical manner he handles endless PGA Tour board meetings that consume a lot of his time these days. With only one bogey and a pair of birdie putts from the 20-foot range, Cantlay opened with a 5-under 65.
He had a one-shot lead over Ludvig Aberg of Sweden and set a daunting target for Scottie Scheffler and the rest of the field taking on the notorious domed greens of Pinehurst No. 2.
In hot weather with barely a breeze, only nine players managed to break par from the morning wave, a list that did not include Tiger Woods or five-time major champion Brooks Koepka.
Competing in his first U.S. Open since 2020, Woods had five bogeys in a seven-hole stretch around the turn and opened with a 74. Koepka was atop the leaderboard for much of the morning, looking very much like the player who brings his best game to the biggest events, until three bogeys over the last six holes dropped him back to 70.
Phil Mickelson, needing the U.S. Open for the career Grand Slam and at age 53 looking more and more incapable of that, shot 79.
Cantlay holed a bunker shot on No. 11, his second hole of the day, and was equally pleased with a collection of par putts that kept his round going.
“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.”
The timing couldn’t have been better. For a player like Cantlay, who has no glaring weakness in his game, his record in the majors has stood out for all the wrong reasons. He has had only one good chance — the 2019 Masters — and four top 10s in 26 majors since returning from a severe back injury in 2017.
His most recent major was a tie for 53rd in the PGA Championship, allowing him to get back home in south Florida in time to watch Xander Schauffele win at Valhalla.
“We’re working on it,” is all he has said when the topic has come up about his performance in the majors the last two years. 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 and negotiations with the Saudi backers of the rival league has been a distraction.
Whatever the case, this was a good day of work.
His 65 matched the lowest start at Pinehurst No. 2 in the previous three U.S. Opens, with Martin Kaymer posting that score in 2014 in soft, wet conditions.
Aberg, who a year ago had just graduated from Texas Tech and already is considered among the elite in golf, managed six birdies in his round of 66. Matthieu Pavon of France reached 5 under with an eagle on the par-5 10th only to drop two shots coming in.
Pinehurst No. 2 created plenty of stress for so many others.
Koepka was sailing along by using strength to get through the native plants in a sandy area to set up a two-putt birdie on the par-5 fifth, taking on an accessible pin at the sixth hole for a short birdie and dropping a 35-foot birdie putt on the par-5 10th.
And then he gave it all back by misjudging the speed and break on a 35-foot putt that went 15 feet by the hole. He missed the green just enough to see it roll off a slope on the 15th, and he got out of position into the sandy landscape on the next hole for another bogey.
Colin Morikawa, who has played in the final group at the first two majors of the year, hit what he thought was a good bunker shot on the par-3 ninth, but it 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 when it took two shots — one from the wiregrass bush, another with his putter — to get on the green.
He 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.
Among those who broke par was Sergio Garcia, who got in as alternate from his 36-hole qualifying site to keep alive his streak of playing every U.S. Open dating to 2000. He shot 69.
Those 25 straight years playing the toughest test in golf have taught Garcia the value of par, and not to be alarmed by the hot start Cantlay produced.
“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. “Are we going to see it consistently? If it doesn’t rain, I don’t think so. 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.” - AP
Tiger Woods started off the U.S. Open with a birdie, putting him into the red and atop the leaderboard, and turning back the clock 25 years to when a phenom still on the rise first played the national championship at Pinehurst No. 2.
The next 17 holes contrasted the player he once was with the player he is now.
Woods drove the ball exceptionally well, threading narrow fairways flanked on each side by native grasses, and he made a couple of long putts to save pars. But he also hit far too many wayward iron shots on a course that demands accuracy, and his deft touch around the greens abandoned him more than once on the way to a 4-over 74 in the opening round.
It was his 12th consecutive round without breaking par in a major, one derailed by five bogeys in a seven-hole stretch.
“I was somewhat conservative in some of my end points. Then again, I didn’t hit the ball very well either,” explained Woods, who found 12 of 14 fairways in regulation but hit just half the greens. “It’s not where I wanted to be on a lot of holes.”
To be fair, the famed Donald Ross layout can at times be borderline unfair.
Woods hit several shots that would have produced good birdie chances most anywhere else, but instead they rolled off the wildly contoured greens and came to rest in collection areas. That was the case at the par-3 ninth, his final hole of the day, when his approach appeared to be so safely aboard that he plucked his tee and began heading toward the green.
That’s when a groan began rising from the crowd. Woods looked up to see his ball starting to trickle, pick up speed, and come to rest 30 yards down the fairway. His birdie chance had become a testy pitch-and-putt par save to finish the round.
“It’s hard to get the ball close,” Woods said. “In most golf courses you play, you hit shots into where it’s feeding off of slopes into flags, where it’s collecting. Here, everything is repelling. It’s just hard to get the ball on top of the shelves.
“You know if you miss it short side, it’s an auto bogey, or higher.”
Woods at least avoided the big numbers Thursday, and while his round easily could have been even par or better, it at least kept the three-time U.S. Open champ in the mix to make the cut. That alone was an improvement over his last time out in the PGA Championship at Valhalla, where two triple bogeys during a second-round 77 kept him from playing the weekend.
More good news: The battered body that has so often betrayed Woods in recent years seemed to be up to the task.
Woods, who missed the last U.S. Open at Pinehurst in 2014 while recovering from the first of four back surgeries, rarely grimaced on his morning march. The relatively flat layout, at least compared to places like Augusta National, helped his cause, as did the weather, which was hot and humid and kept those aching joints from locking up.
He also benefited from an early tee time, giving him almost 24 hours exactly to recover for Friday’s round.
“I’m hoping I don’t get too tight in the car ride back. I can get tight in air conditioning,” said Woods, who in fact went straight to the driving range after his round, and began working on those inconsistent irons.
He should have had a suspicion they might be a problem.
“I was pretty one-dimensional early in the week, which is interesting. I was drawing the ball a lot. Now I’m cutting the ball a lot,” Woods said, before flashing a wry smile. “Welcome to golf.”
Welcome to inconsistency. And that may be the product of infrequency.
Woods had not played a U.S. Open round since Winged Foot in 2020, thanks mostly to all those injuries — five back surgeries, four knee surgeries and the procedure to piece together a shattered right leg and ankle from his 2021 car crash.
“I’m physically getting better as the year has gone on. I just haven’t been able to play as much because I just don’t want to hurt myself pre, then I won’t be able to play in the major championships,” Woods said. “It’s pick your poison, right? Play a lot with the potential of not playing, or not playing and fight being not as sharp.”
Woods admitted he hopes his body will allow him to begin playing more often.
Playing this weekend would be a good start. - AP
The later featured group of Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Rory McIlroy were out on the course in the afternoon groups with McIlroy making the better start (-2 through seven).
The Kiwi golfer is chasing the LPGA Tour season title and a huge payday.