If you watch, attend, pay attention to or cover as a writer, Thursdays at a U.S. Open are like Forrest Gump’s proverbial box of chocolates — you never know what you’re gonna get — and once again, that played out during the first round of the 122nd U.S. Open at The Country Club.
These are the longest of days — you arrive before daylight, first ball in the air at 6:45 a.m. and you stay until the last guy’s in and you try to digest what exactly transpired with 156 players making their way around the course that symbolizes the birth of golf in America.
By day’s end, world No. 3 Rory McIlroy was just a shot in back of a surprise leader — world No. 105 Adam Hadwin, who wasn’t even among the four best Canadians last week at his national championship. Hadwin was simply flat-out fortunate to even be in the field. He was an alternate at the Dallas qualifier and got in the field when Paul Casey withdrew.
Hadwin found himself at the very top of the mountain and he got there with the day’s best birdie run. After a so-so one-over through three start, he birdied the fourth, fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth holes to make the turn four-under and he basically kept his head above water coming home and signed for 66. “Biggest thing is I never got ahead of myself,” was how Hadwin described his afternoon four-under par effort. “I scrambled my butt off.”
McIlroy should have been there with him. Rory had things well in hand and found himself four-under, standing in nine fairway, his final hole of the day. He had a driving range seven-iron into the par four but lost it right and failed to get up and down, leaving himself a bit frustrated.
“I played really well for 17 holes,” said the winner of last week’s Canadian Open. “Then I made that bogey at the last hole — really frustrated. Hopefully, I’ll keep myself in the mix and see what happens on Sunday.”
And that’s what this championship is all about — staying in the mix. And there was a Heinz 57 variety in Thursday’s mix.
David Lingmerth lost his tour card and has been laboring on the Korn Ferry Tour. He’s fallen to 592 in the world and simply said: “I couldn’t have asked for better,” after his round of 67.
First head scratcher to finish was Callum Tarren, who probably had the press guys going straight to google. The world’s No. 446 from England qualified in Toronto and this is only his second major appearance yet there he was in the group at 67 with McIlroy then later flop-hat-wearing Joel Dahmen joined the 67 club. By day’s end, South African M.J. Daffue from the Korn Ferry Tour joined the club. He counts Retief Goosen as a mentor and the kid probably has the biggest ear lobes seen on a youngster.
Yes, plenty of head scratchers up there but then there are plenty of big names who inserted themselves into the championship conversation.
Defending champion Jon Rahm didn’t have his best stuff but hung in there and posted 69. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, like Rahm, didn’t have his best stuff and shot even par 70. PGA champion Justin Thomas was in with 69 and that’s probably the worst he could have shot. Collin Morikawa, sporting a new mallet-style putter, shot 69 and still missed a few short ones.
Sam Burns shot 71, Patrick Cantlay and Cam Smith, 72s and Jordan Spieth overcame a rough 24 hours of stomach problems then overcame a lousy start and still managed to shoot 72.
Overall, 25 players were in red numbers — a lot for a U.S. Open but The Country Club has yet to show its teeth. Conditions were fair for both sides of the draw although winds increased in the afternoon.
It’s going to get tougher and tougher and Hadwin is sitting at the number (four-under) that many think is the winning score come Sunday.
“If there’s no rain, I can envision the weekend being fast and furious,” McIlroy predicted. “It’s what a U.S. Open should be.”
122nd U.S. Open First Round Scoreboard:
