McIlroy now has 23 sub-70 rounds the U.S. Open, tying him with Phil Mickelson for the second-most in championship history behind only Jack Nicklaus\u2019 29.<\/p>\n
Others who posted 69 were Ludvig \u00c5berg, Max Greyserman, Brian Harman and Ben James. Two-time U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau finished at even par, thanks to a late bogey on the 9th hole.<\/p>\n
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, needing the U.S. Open title to become the seventh player to complete the career Grand Slam, managed a 2-over 72 on a day when he spent most of the round scrambling for pars.<\/p>\n
Contrary to expectations, the afternoon wave might have gotten a break thanks to the fog delay. The winds that blew hard during the middle of the day began to diminish as the sun set.<\/p>\n
Clark, who registered his fourth PGA Tour win at last month\u2019s CJ Cup Byron Nelson, had just one blemish on his card, a bogey 4 on the par-3 second. Only Tommy Fleetwood’s final-round 63 in 2018 was better than Clark’s opening-round performance. Fleetwood finished one stroke back of winner Brooks Koepka.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say when I got my tee times on Tuesday, I was like, oh, could be a tough draw,\u201d said Clark, thinking the afternoon wave would face the stiffest winds. \u201cThat two-hour fog delay was very helpful, and it was nice it laid down. It definitely helped those last six, seven holes we played.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson seems to have an affinity for Shinnecock Hills. In 2018, he shared the 18-hole lead, held it outright after 36 holes, and despite a third-round 77, managed to finish third behind Koepka and Fleetwood. But lately, he has struggled in majors with just three top-10 finishes since his November 2020 Masters victory. That stretch of 22 starts includes nine missed cuts.<\/p>\n
Stevens had just teed off No. 10 to begin his round when the horns blew for the fog. He was quite thankful because he could barely see the flagstick from where his ball ended up. During the 2-hour suspension, he spent time in the clubhouse chatting with his former Oklahoma State assistant coach Donnie Darr, who is on the bag of current Cowboy Eric Lee. The USGA grouped Stevens and Lee with OSU alum\/2010 U.S. Amateur champion Peter Uihlein.<\/p>\n
When play resumed, Stevens promptly double-bogeyed No. 10, yet managed to play 4-under golf over the next 17 holes, including a 7-foot birdie on the ninth to end the day.<\/p>\n
Coming into the championship, Stevens, whose grandfather, Johnny, qualified for the 1969 U.S. Open at Champions Golf Club, had finished outside the top 10 in his last eight PGA Tour starts. In fact, he owns just two top-10 finishes in 2026: a share of sixth at The American Express and a solo fifth in the Texas Children\u2019s Houston Open. Last season, he finished runner-up twice, at the Farmers Insurance Open and 3M Open, and was solo third in the CJ Cup Byron Nelson.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn’t say I’m surprised,\u201d said Stevens of his opening round. \u201cI haven’t played as well over the last month or so to be honest. I’ve had a really crappy attitude, which makes golf a lot harder. So, I got a week at home last week and just kind of focused on trying to stay positive and enjoy playing a little more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cowan\u2019s 68 matched the best round by an amateur at Shinnecock Hills. Sam Randolph posted that same score in Round 3 of the 1986 championship en route to low-amateur honors. One of 20 amateurs in the field, he currently leads that chase by three strokes of Marek Fleming, who is 1 over through 11 holes. Lefty Miles Russell, the youngest player in the field (17), posted a 2-over 72.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is very cool, very cool,\u201d said Cowan when told his score matched the lowest by an amateur at the famed course. \u201cI think that I’ve really just been trying this week to focus on each shot, especially today. One at a time, not worry about what’s going on in the crowds or anything. I’m not used to all these crowds. We don’t ever really play with a lot of crowds.\u201d<\/p>\n
McGreevy, a 31-year-old qualifier from Edmond, Okla., who is making his U.S. Open debut, turned in even-par 35, then played the back nine in 2 under with a 17-foot birdie on No. 13 and a 21-footer on the par-3 17th.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was obviously exciting playing in the first round in a U.S. Open, any major type of thing,\u201d said McGreevy, who survived an 8-for-3 playoff at the Canada final qualifier on June 8 to book his spot in the field. \u201cYeah, kind of felt like any other day. I had a couple extra hours this morning to gather my thoughts and be ready to go. I knew it was going to be a hard day. It’s just a hard golf course in general.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the winds are not expected to whip as hard on Friday, Shinnecock Hills likely won\u2019t ease up on the field. Only three players have ever finished under par for 72 holes in five previous U.S. Opens at the venue.<\/p>\n
So don\u2019t expect the course to be a breeze.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"McIlroy now has 23 sub-70 rounds the U.S. Open, tying him with Phil Mickelson for the second-most in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[599,885,1288],"class_list":["post-28832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-u-s-open-championship","tag-spotlight","tag-u-s-open","tag-u-s-open-championship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}