They are called one-round wonders.
Over the years, the U.S. Open has had more of them than any major.
One round wonders seemingly come from nowhere and make their names known to the world of golf.
Andrew Landry is the latest.
He is the 624th-ranked player in the world. He has missed more cuts than he’s made on the PGA Tour and he’s never shot better than three under there.
Landry slept on the overnight lead and had a 10-foot birdie putt at the ninth hole to shoot 66 at incredibly hard Oakmont. At 7:30 a.m. Friday morning, he went out and promptly holed the right-to-left putt and posted 66, lowest opening round ever in the history of all the U.S. Opens at Oakmont.
Bad weather was the dominant force Thursday and the field endured three delays, most involving threat of lightning. But the final horn blew just before 4 p.m. and the skies let loose a deluge that washed out play for the day.
University of Texas rising junior Scottie Scheffler was one of only nine players who finished on Thursday. He turned in a 69, three off Landry’s lead.
But who is Landry?
He played college golf at Arkansas, he lives in Austin, Texas. He won a Web.com event in 2015. He missed five straight cuts to open the current PGA Tour season. His best finish was a tie for 41st last week in Memphis. Obviously he’s not someone you’d expect to find at the top.
“I’m obviously playing really well,” Landry said during the second weather delay. “It’s been a long time coming. The course is playing way easier than it was before (during practice rounds). I’m just taking advantage of the soft conditions.”
Landry had it to five-under par but took back-to-back bogeys at the seventh and eighth holes.
The biggest name close to Landry was Bubba Watson. Watson, who played well at Oakmont in 2007, was two-under through 14 holes. Lee Westwood, still trying to win a major, was one-under through 13. Zach Johnson was even through 11 and Jordan Spieth, the defending champion was one-over through 11 holes.
Some big names were sinking, however. No. 3 Rory McIlroy was four-over through 13, Masters champ Danny Willett was plus four through 12 and Rickie Fowler was off to a miserable start going six-over through 12 holes.
Half the field never teed it up, including world’s No. 1 Jason Day.
Play on Friday will hopefully go until almost 9 p.m. and there’s a chance Landry won’t get going until late in the day.
