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Tiger Woods is struggling to work out the pace of these greens. He leaves his first putt on 1, from 40 feet, ten feet short, then pulls his second wide left. A second three-putt in three holes: the last one, on 17, was the result of sending a 60-footer fen feet past. He’s now +2 and all of a sudden, having tapped into his imperial-phase scrambling mode earlier on, Tiger looks 48 again.
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Collin Morikawa can’t get up and down from the apron at the front of 9. A double bogey, and what was shaping up to be a sweet front nine turns sour in a flash. The former Open and PGA champion is +1. Meanwhile his playing partner Brooks Koepka nearly drains a 20-footer for birdie, but is more than happy to kick in for par and turn in 33. With his temperament, track record and grinding ability, not to mention that delightful short game, Koepka could take some beating this week. The third member of the high-profile group, Justin Thomas, tidies up for par and a front nine of 38.
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Having made a second consecutive bogey at 17, with a careless three-putt, Tiger Woods pars 18 to turn in one-over 36. Having opened so impressively with birdie, then making a series of peak-era up and downs, he’s clearly frustrated at having let things slip towards the end of the back nine. Probably best to remind himself how tough Pinehurst is playing this morning, a fact further illustrated by the travails of Collin Morikawa on 9. Splashing out from a greenside bunker with the face of his club pointing at the sky, his ball nevertheless rolls past the pin, taking a huge right-hand turn before rolling off the front of the green. His playing partner Justin Thomas turns up the pain by demonstrating how to do it, swishing a similar shot to three feet.
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One of the LIV rebels is going along nicely in Brooks Koepka. Another LIV star and former champion, Dustin Johnson … well, not so much. DJ bogeys 12 and now 15 to slip to +2. Meanwhile the nightmare continues for Sahith Theegala, who doubles the par-three 6th and is now +7 already.
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Mid-morning reading. To go with a lovely cup of tea.
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Matthieu Pavon becomes the third player to eagle 5. The 31-year-old Frenchman, who won his first PGA Tour title in January at the Farmers Insurance Open, and finished tied for 12th at this year’s Masters, joins Brooks Koepka in the lead. Going the other way, as expected, Logan McAllister, who takes two putts from 40 feet on 11 and cards a double bogey. He’ll be wishing he chipped out sideways with his second shot, instead of going for the green and nearly hooking out of bounds.
-2: Koepka (7), Pavon (5)
-1: Kjettrup (10), Widing (9*), Garcia (8), Morikawa (7), Henley (7*), Finau (6*), Åberg (6*), Shipley -a- (4), Rai (3*), Thompson (3*)
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Brooks Koepka and Collin Morikawa take turns to throw darts at the flag on 7. Koepka makes his birdie from seven feet to join Logan McAllister in the lead at -2; Morikawa should join him, but yips from three feet to remain at -1. That’s a shocker. Koepka will be in the lead on his own soon, too, because McAllister is in all sorts on 11, having found rough vegetation down the left, then nearly hacking his second out of bounds. He can only advance his next shot halfway towards the green. He’s staring a double or worse in the face.
Logan McAllister. Photograph: Jared C Tilton/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 16.08 CEST
The US Open dream of Phil Mickelson is officially in Pipe territory. Bogeys at 1, 2, 3, 4 and now 6, and the six-time runner-up will always have Muirfield. And Kiawah Island. And Augusta (x3). He’s +5.
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A poor tee shot by Tiger Woods at the monster par-four 16th – it’s 523 yards long – and that’s the great man’s first dropped stroke of the day. He’s back to level par and mighty irritable right now. Meanwhile disaster for very early leader Seamus Power on 18; he four-putts 18 from 30 feet, the last three taken from ten, and that’s a double bogey out of nowhere. He’s +2 and it can happen to the best of them. He won’t be the last.
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Brooks Koepka spurns a great chance to nudge himself into the lead. Having just birdied the par-five 5th, he sends his tee shot at the par-three 6th pin high to ten feet, only to pull his straight putt a little to the left. The 2017 and 2018 winner remains at -1. But here comes Logan McAllister, pouring one in from 25 feet on 10 to regain the lead he held just over half an hour ago!
-2: McAllister (10)
-1: 14 players, and well, y’know
The fifth fairway at Pinehurst. Photograph: Jared C Tilton/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 15.39 CEST
Seventeen players are now tied for the lead at -1. This is because Ludvig Åberg’s approach at 14 trickles into a bunker to the right of the green, and he fails to get up and down from the sand. That’s a shame, because his shot in was inches away from rolling towards the flag, only for the camber to gather it into the trap. That’s Pinehurst, and there goes his sole ownership of the lead.
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Sahith Theegala came close at the PGA last month at Valhalla. Rounds of 65, 67 and 67 put him a shot off the lead going into Sunday, only for the 26-year-old Californian to fall off the pace with a final round of 73. A similar title tilt doesn’t look on the cards this week, though. A dreadful start of 5-5-6-5 and he’s +5, his challenge scuppered barely an hour after the get-go.
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Sergio! Our old pal, Señor Garcia, has five top-ten finishes at the US Open, and the best of them, a tie for third, came here at Pinehurst in 2005. Having started today’s round – and this isn’t a word normally associated with Sergio – steadily, with four pars, he nearly holes out from a greenside bunker at the par-five 5th to join the pack at -1. Meanwhile on 13, the leader Åberg is this close to draining a 25-footer for a third consecutive birdie, but it wasn’t to me, and he remains at -2.
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Will Zalatoris, the 2022 runner-up, slayed by that Matt Fitzpatrick bunker shot at Brookline, hadn’t started well. Swale-infused bogeys at 10 and 13. But he’s just walked in a 30-footer at 14 to clamber back to +1. There wouldn’t be too many more popular winners, given all of his serious back troubles, a highly promising career still in its infancy suffering serious jeopardy. As for his playing partners today, that man Fitzpatrick pars to remain at +1, while Tiger has a ten-footer for birdie but lets it slip by on the low side. He’s -1, and a study in annoyance having just spurned a great chance to join Åberg in the lead.
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… on 8, Logan McAllister misses a ten-foot par saver, and Åberg is alone at the top! Not a bad way to start your US Open career. But then should we expect anything else? In the last 100 years, only two men have bettered his major-championship debut result, a second-place finish at this year’s Masters: Ben Curtis and Keegan Bradley, who won the 2003 Open and 2011 PGA respectively.
-2: Åberg (3*)
-1: 12 players, and life is too short
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Updated at 14.56 CEST
Another superb up-and-down save by Tiger! He sends his tee shot at 13 bounding over the back. He’s shortsided, so elects to putt up. Perhaps wary of the ball toppling back to his feet, he gives it a good old clack. Ten feet past. But he rattles in the one coming back, and remains at -1. Meanwhile back-to-back birdies at 11 and 12 for Ludvig Åberg – making only his third appearance in a major, and his first at a US Open – and the brilliant young Swede grabs a share of the lead at -2! No point my putting up a revised leaderboard, though, because …
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A word on the weather. And that word is hot. It’s going to be sunny all week in this corner of North Carolina, with temperatures in the 90s, possibly touching 100°F at times, depending on which forecast you trust the most. There’s also an outside chance of thunderstorms tomorrow and Saturday afternoon. Fingers crossed they swerve this cradle of golf. Whatever happens, though, expect the course to get – and play – even harder. The USGA won’t be cutting the greens too closely over the weekend, surely; there’s trademark US Open sadism and then there’s trademark US Open sadism.
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One of the great exercises in damage limitation by the two-time PGA champion Justin Thomas. At 3, he sends a wild second shot 50 yards left of the green. He’s allowed a free drop in the native area, as a grandstand is in the way, but there’s still no route to the green that won’t see the ball bound off over the back. Instead of attempting the near-impossible, he takes his medicine by deliberately chipping into the bunker in front of him, and trusting his sand game to get him up and down for bogey. Which it does. An excellent splash to a couple of feet, and he tidies up. That follows a bogey at 2, so not an ideal start for JT, but it could have been a whole lot worse. He’s +2.
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Matt Fitzpatrick finds fairway sand at 12, then pulls his second miles left of the green. He can’t get up and down and drops another stroke. He’s +1. His playing partner Tiger Woods hits an equally poor approach, leaving a long bunker shot, but he chips up to ten feet and nails the par saver to remain at -1.
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Patrick Cantlay splashes out confidently from a greenside bunker at 11 to join the group at -1. Meanwhile Frederik Kjettrup, a 24-year-old qualifier from Denmark, freshly out of Florida State, strides after his 30-foot putt on 5. In it drops for the second eagle of the morning, and having bounced back in perfect fashion from a dropped stroke at 4, moves to -1 as well.
Patrick Cantlay tees off. Photograph: Sean M Haffey/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 14.44 CEST
It all goes wrong for Tom McKibbin at the par-three 15th. His tee shot doesn’t make it over the false front of the green. Then what looks like a delicate chip up trundles through the green and over the back. He can only get his third to 15 feet, and the bogey putt is always missing on the right. Falling just the wrong side of some fine lines with each shot, and suddenly that’s a double bogey and the 21-year-old Northern Irish prospect is suddenly back in the pack at +1.
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An opening bogey for the six-time runner-up Phil Mickelson, the result of an errant drive on 1. Matteo Manassero’s woes continue: he follows up his triple bogey at 10 with a double at 12 and now bogey at 14. He props up the early leaderboard at +6, but you can bet your last buck someone will be joining him down there soon enough. Meanwhile up the other end, another early starter hits the front: Logan McAllister, a 24-year-old qualifier from Oklahoma making his US Open debut, hits a sensational second at the par-five 5th from 254 yards to seven feet, then steers in the putt to card the first eagle of the week.
-2: McAllister (5)
-1: McKibbin (5*), Power (4*), Morales -a- (3), Widing (3*), Woods (2*), Kuchar (1*), Finau (1*)
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A similar fate befalls Matt Fitzpatrick on 11. His ball lands softly in the centre of the green … but not softly enough to hold on. Over the back he goes, and his putt up the bank almost comes back to his feet. He decides to chip second time around, and screeches his ball to a halt four feet from the flag. Possibly what he should have done the first time around. He rolls in the putt to limit the damage to bogey, and he’s back to level par. Meanwhile over on 14, McKibbin chips up to eight feet then walks in the par saver. This already feels like a proper US Open. Brutal but brilliantly entertaining.
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An opening birdie for major-title nearly man Matt Kuchar at the par-five 10th. Up on 14, meanwhile, a first test of patience for Tom McKibbin, who looks to have sent a perfect second into the green, only for the ball to slo-o-o-owly topple off down a bank to the right. With not much green to work with, he’s got some work ahead if he’s to get up and down from there.
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Tiger Woods is out early, and the three-time champion hasn’t taken long to make his mark. He sends his second at the par-five 10th into the tatty scrub to the right of the fairway. But he wedges his third from 60 yards to 12 feet, then walks in the birdie putt. He’s not lost it. Birdie too for the 2022 champion Matt Fitzpatrick, who is going round with Woods today. And up on 13, a birdie for Tom McKibbin, the 21-year-old from Holywood, the same club a certain Rory McIlroy played as a young pup. He’s already got the European Open on his CV, and some folk will tell you he has the potential to go as far, perhaps even further, as the 2011 champion. Well, making his major debut this week, he’s off to a good start.
-1: McKibbin (4*), Power (3*), Morales -a- (2), Woods (1*), Fitzpatrick (1*)
Tiger Woods lines up a birdie putt on the 10th green. Photograph: Gregory Shamus/GettyShare
Updated at 14.44 CEST
Seamus Power, who tied for 12th at Brookline a couple of years ago, birdies 11 to join the lads at -1. On Sky, pundit Rich Beem explains how the way Pinehurst is set up – not so much in the way of particularly penal rough, but lots of sand and scrub, and turtle-back greens with lots of dramatic run-off – could play into the soft hands of another Irish star, Shane Lowry. A top-drawer chipping game, and a reputation for being able to conjure something up to get out of bother, is a positive boon this week. Here, that being said, how about Jordan Spieth, who may be out of form and a 66-1 outsider in some places, but has Seve-esque escapology skills, and won at Chambers Bay in 2015 when the ball was rolling all over the shop? Each-way could be your friend.
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… so there’s something rather sweet about the first birdies of the week being made by amateurs! Parker Bell, a 20-year-old who plays for the University of Florida, birdied 1, some way to begin your debut round at a US Open; the 21-year-old Mexican Omar Morales, playing in his second consecutive US Open, soon matched the feat. It can’t last – it won’t last – so it’s only fair to mark their achievement with the first leaderboard of the week.
-1: Bell -a- (1), Morales -a- (1)
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As the sun rose, Carter Jenkins, Logan McAllister and Michael McGowan took the first shots of this tournament at the 1st. Meanwhile over on 10, Rico Hoey, Matteo Manassero and Tom McKibbin were starting out at 10. With much discussion regarding the difficulty of Pinehurst No.2 this week, it’s perhaps instructive to note that of the six players mentioned above, only McAllister and McKibben managed par. Jenkins made bogey, Hoey and McGowan doubled, and Manassero began his round with a triple-bogey eight, the result of a putt from the bottom of a swale coming back to his feet. Welcome to the US Open, ladies and gentlemen!
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The world number one Scottie Scheffler is the very short-priced to win his first US Open and his sixth PGA Tour event in his last nine starts. He’s already got this year’s Masters Tournament and Players Championship in the bag, and let’s be honest, there’s a fair chance he’d have landed the PGA Championship too, had he not been farcically arrested on the Friday morning, and had the Tour chaplain standing in for his regular caddie on Saturday. The man’s as cool as a long glass of Arnold Palmer on the porch in the summer shade. If he’s not in the mix come Sunday afternoon, it’ll be a surprise.
Then again, the US Open is golf’s hardest test, and can make a mug of anyone. (The defending champion Wyndham Clark has been pointing out to anyone that will listen that the hard, fast, domed greens are “borderline”, so expect some high-jinks.) It’s a tournament that often throws up a surprise winner – Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick, Gary Woodland, Graeme McDowell and, at the last two US Opens held at Pinehurst, Michael Campbell and Martin Kaymer – so take your pick from a star-packed field. The usual suspects will of course fancy their chances – Scheffler, the new PGA champ Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy, the resurgent Collin Morikawa, Viktor and Ludvig, Bryson and Brooks – so there’s plenty of potential for a major for the ages.
Here are the tee times (USA unless stated, all times BST, (a) denotes amateurs). It’s on!
Starting at hole 1
1145 Carter Jenkins, Logan McAllister, Michael McGowan
1156 (a) Parker Bell, Frederik Kjettrup (Den), Christopher Petefish
1207 Max Greyserman, Casey Jarvis (Rsa), (a) Omar Morales (Mex)
1218 Corey Conners (Can), Emiliano Grillo (Arg), Stephan Jaeger (Ger)
1229 Sergio Garcia (Spa), Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn), Francesco Molinari (Ita)
1240 Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas
1251 Rickie Fowler, Adam Hadwin (Can), Phil Mickelson
1302 Nicolai Hoejgaard (Den), Min-Woo Lee (Aus), Sahith Theegala
1313 Sung-Jae Im (Kor), Si-Woo Kim (Kor), Matthieu Pavon (Fra)
1324 Nicolas Echavarria (Col), Robert Rock (Eng), (a) Neal Shipley
1335 (a) Stewart Hagestad, Takumi Kanaya (Jpn), Mac Meissner
1346 Jim Herman, (a) Bryan Kim, Isaiah Salinda
1357 (a) Colin Prater, Charles Reiter, Carson Schaake
1730 Brandon Thompson (Eng), Jason Scrivener (Aus), (a) Brendan Valdes
1741 Sam Bairstow (Eng), (a) Santiago De la Fuente (Mex), Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra (Spa)
1752 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa), Kurt Kitayama, Taylor Moore
1803 Jason Day (Aus), Harris English, Joo-Hyung Kim (Kor)
1814 Rory McIlroy (NIrl), Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler
1825 Wyndham Clark, Nick Dunlap, Brian Harman
1836 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Jon Rahm (Spa), Jordan Spieth
1847 Keegan Bradley, Martin Kaymer (Ger), Shane Lowry (Irl)
1858 Akshay Bhatia, Eric Cole, Erik van Rooyen (Rsa)
1909 Alexander Noren (Swe), Taylor Pendrith (Can), Brendon Todd
1920 (a) Jackson Buchanan, Brian Campbell, Thomas Detry (Bel)
1931 (a) Gunnar Broin, Maxwell Moldovan, Taisei Shimuzu (Jpn)
1942 John Chin, Sung-Hoon Kang (Kor), Riki Kawamoto (Jpn)
Starting at hole 10
1145 Rico Hoey (Phi), Matteo Manassero (Ita), Tom McKibbin (NIrl)
1156 Dean Burmester (Rsa), Rikuya Hoshino (Jpn), Seamus Power (Irl)
1207 Seong-Hyeon Kim (Kor), Justin Lower, Tim Widing (Swe)
1218 Sam Burns, Lucas Glover, Cameron Smith (Aus)
1229 Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng), Tiger Woods, Will Zalatoris
1240 Patrick Cantlay, Russell Henley, Matt Kuchar
1251 Ludvig Aaberg (Swe), Tony Finau, Dustin Johnson
1302 Justin Rose (Eng), Webb Simpson, Gary Woodland
1313 Daniel Berger, Ryan Fox (Nzl), David Puig (Spa)
1324 Byeong-Hun An (Kor), Sam Bennett, Edoardo Molinari (Ita)
1335 Cameron Davis (Aus), Austin Eckroat, Adrian Meronk (Pol)
1346 Zachary Blair, Aaron Rai (Eng), Davis Thompson
1357 Willie Mack III, Richard Mansell (Eng), (a) Ashton McCulloch (Can)
1730 Grant Forrest (Sco), Greyson Sigg, (a) Wells Williams
1741 Chesson Hadley, Mark Hubbard, Adam Svensson (Can)
1752 Beau Hossler, Victor Perez (Fra), Adam Schenk
1803 Mackenzie Hughes (Can), Robert MacIntyre (Sco), Nick Taylor (Can)
1814 Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Tom Hoge
1825 Bryson DeChambeau, Max Homa, Viktor Hovland (Nor)
1836 Peter Malnati, J. T. Poston, Sepp Straka (Aut)
1847 Jake Knapp, (a) Gordon Sargent, Cameron Young
1858 Billy Horschel, Chris Kirk, Adam Scott (Aus)
1909 (a) Benjamin James, Ben Kohles, Denny McCarthy
1920 Frankie Capan, (a) Luke Clanton, Andrew Svoboda
1931 Harry Higgs, (a) Hiroshi Tai (Sgp), Brandon Wu
1942 Otto Black, Chris Naegel, Joey Vrzich
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