18:56
And that’s it for day one. All nicely poised and lots of big names jockeying for position on a strong leaderboard. Thanks for reading and we’ll be back tomorrow.
Updated
18:55
Final R1 leaderboard
-5 Justin Thomas
-4 Patrick Reed, Thomas Pieters, Matthew Wolff
-3 Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood, Louis Oosthuizen
-2 Jason Kokrak, Brendon Todd, Harris English, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Joaquin Niemann, Xander Schauffele
-1 Davis Thompson (a), Shaun Norris, Rory Sabbatini, John Pak (a), Bryson DeChambeau, Tony Finau, Jon Rahm, Rickie Fowler
18:51
Solid two-putt par from Matthew Wolff at the last and he signs for a 4-under 66 to tie Patrick Reed and Thomas Pieters for T2. Just a single shot back from the lead and he’s poised to attack from his early Friday tee-time.
18:46
The final knockings of day one now, with Wolff the only man who can cause amended copy. He’ll need to birdie the last to tie Justin Thomas although technically he could hole his second to trigger a complete re-write.
His second to 18 catches the green and runs back towards the hole but par is the hot favourite from there so the ‘Thomas leads US Open’ headlines look set to stand.
Updated
18:41
Matthew Wolff goes through his pre-shot routine at 18: Jack Douglas twitch, backswing, ballerina toe, strike. It works wonderfully well but not quite this time as he finds rough.
18:37
Jon Rahm looks as if he could throttle his golf ball when it won’t drop for birdie at 18. Hardly an easy chance from 25 feet after a towering approach. A slightly frustrating day for the Spaniard in that he had a plethora of chances but 1-under 69 puts him right in the hunt.
Updated
18:35
Here’s our very own Ewan Murray’s take…
Ewan Murray
(@mrewanmurray)I hope they don’t mess about with Winged Foot. Has looked perfect today: good play rewarded, mistakes punished.
September 17, 2020
18:30
What of Phil Mickelson you ask? After starting with two birdies, he’s now +8 and tied 137th of the 144-man field.
Dustin Johnson, meanwhile, can’t convert his birdie chance at 18 and that’s a 3-over 73 for the world number one. One to forget and he’s left himself an awful lot to do.
18:25
No birdie for Rahm at 17 although his effort is near enough to produce an eye roll.
On the other side of the course, Louis Oosthuizen finds the green in two at the par-5 9th and two-putts for birdie. That’s an impressive 67 and he joins McIlroy and Westwood at 3-under. Four major winners in the top seven now.
18:22
Dustin Johnson at the last and he finds just his 11th Green In Regulation of the day. It’s one of his better approaches and he’ll have around 15 feet for a walk-off birdie to post 2-over.
18:19
Jon Rahm (-1) muscles an approach to 17 and it’s right over the flag. However, Winged Foot’s sloping greens can be unforgiving and his ball falls away some 25 feet from the hole.
Back on the tee, Wolff’s tee-shot leaks right into some thick stuff. He’ll take a par from there right now.
18:16
Matt Wolff has an outside chance to tie the lead via a big breaker from 30 feet at 16. It starts to turn towards the hole but just glides in front of it. For a moment he looks disappointed before breaking out into a smile as it kicks in that a two-putt from there was just fine.
18:11
Back to Dustin Johnson and after failing to get up and down at 16 he pars 17. A par at the last will give him a 73. Too far back (eight behind Thomas)? The TV experts will say absolutely not; the statisticians may suggest otherwise.
Updated
18:06
DeChambeau again showcases his masterplan at 17: a massive drive which doesn’t leave much left followed by a controlled blast out of the rough that sets up a short birdie effort.
Great chance to get to -3 but from seven feet he misses left. Frustrating.
Updated
18:03
11pm BST leaderboard
-5 Thomas (F)
-4 Reed (F), Pieters (F), Wolff (15)
-3 McIlroy (F), Westwood (F), Schauffele (16)
18:01
Lee Westwood now talking to Golf Channel man Steve Sands after his excellent 3-under 67. “I don’t think they’ll have to toughen it up much. I think it’s gettable if you play well and hit the fairways. It becomes a beast of a golf course if you start missing a few fairways and missing greens in the wrong places and I’m sure they can go a little bit harder with the flags as well. But US Open courses are never pushovers and I’m sure it’s not going to get any easier.”
Westwood fills the screen after a cutaway from the course showing a limp flag. The lack of wind has helped scoring today too.
Updated
17:54
DeChambeau bashes the bottom of his putter and does a strange wobbly head move as his 25-foot birdie attempt at 16 stays above ground. Still 2-under. Fair to say that his masterplan has worked pretty well today though.
Updated
17:51
The big threat to Justin Thomas’ lead is coming from fellow American Matthew Wolff. A trio of red numbers at 11, 12 and 13 take the youngster to -4 and a par at 14 keeps him just one back. Now he’s pacing a 27-foot putt at 15. A red caption in the corner of the TV screen says ‘For Birdie & Co-Lead’.
Updated
17:47
Johnson wonders if his ball has oscillated slightly as he tries to remove something from the divot it lies in on the 16th fairway. He calls over a referee but there’s nothing to see here and he’s free to continue. However, it’s a poor lie and DJ rather duffs his approach short of the green. It’s been that sort of day.
17:42
To get some sort of handle on how far back a wannabe champion can afford to be, no-one has won the US Open from more than six shots off the pace after 18 holes since Lee Janzen in 1998. Brooks Koepka (2018) and Webb Simpson (2012) were both six in arrears after the opening lap so, with Justin Thomas at 5-under, history is against anyone who finishes the day at +2 or worse. Did you hear that Dustin Johnson (+2 after 15)?
Updated
17:37
The feeling among the players is that today was the day to score as it’s only going to get harder as the course firms up. Bad news then for the likes of Tiger (+3), Justin Rose (+3), Tyrrell Hatton (+4), Tommy Fleetwood (+4 after 16), Collin Morikawa (+6) and Open champ Shane Lowry (+6 after 16).
Updated
17:31
Fist-pump putt from Jon Rahm at 14. From the edge of the green, he leaves his treacherous first putt some 10 feet short but then makes a gritty par save with his second effort to stay at -2.
From a little further out at 15, Dustin Johnson finally gets a putt to drop and the birdie edges him up to +2.
Updated
17:28
Will Zalatoris scored a hole-in-one at the 7th earlier today and incredibly he comes within a whisker of a second as his tee-shot at 13 plonks down eight feet away, tracks towards the hole and somehow stays out after striking the middle of the pin.
According to the National Hole-In-One Registry, the odds of a player making two holes-in-one in the same round are 67 million-to-1. And yet some high-school kid did it in America earlier this year.
Updated
17:21
Dustin Johnson is still sleepwalking through his opening round. He’s playing the 15th at 3-over and in a tie for 74th. It’s a decent approach though so possibly a chance for the world number one to register just his second birdie of the day.
17:18
We’re told via the medium of Golf Channel anchor Steve Sands that Nick Faldo has described Winged Foot as “about as soft and as easy as it could ever play at a US Open.”
“I must agree,” says Thomas Pieters, speaking after his 66.
Updated
17:13
“How did that go right…. my god,” laments Bryson DeChambeau as his birdie try at 14 doesn’t grab enough of the hole. Perhaps he can get it out of his system by driving the 422-yard par-4 15th.
17:11
Superb approach by Thomas Pieters to the last and the top scorer at the 2016 Ryder Cup rolls in his 12-foot putt to join Reed in the clubhouse on -4. That’s tied second and just one off the pace. As well as his exploits at Hazeltine, Pieters has had a couple of good knocks in the majors with tied fourth at the 2017 Masters and T6 at the 2018 PGA. He leads the European bid here, a shot ahead of Rory.
17:04
Bryson DeChambeau appears to be hitting a knock-down wedge for his second shot to the par-4 14th which measures 449 yards. Just bonkers. it’s a good one too and he’ll have another promising birdie chance after giving one back at 13 to fall back to -2.
Updated
17:02
Some big names gathering at 2-under. Here’s a list:
Bryson DeChambeau (13)
Tony Finau (13)
Jon Rahm (12)
Xander Schauffele (12)
Rickie Fowler (11)
16:58
So, here are the 2020 Driving Distance rankings of the current top five. Reed isn’t a huge hitter but the others clearly are. Not exactly earth-shattering news I know but, hey, nothing is happening so far that goes against the idea that, even on a US Open track with deep rough, blasting it miles is a big help.
Justin Thomas 35th
Patrick Reed 108th
Rory McIlroy 4th
Thomas Pieters 8th
Bryson DeChambeau 1st
Updated
16:52
Give me a minute and I’m going to check out where the current top five are on the Driving Distance charts. I think my theory is fairly obvious…
-5: Justin Thomas
-4: Patrick Reed
-3: Rory McIlroy, Thomas Pieters, Bryson DeChambeau
Updated
16:49
Tony Finau made a sluggish, DJ-style start, but has worked his way through the field nicely. Birdies at 6, 9, 11 and 12 have moved him to -2 and into the top six. Plenty of birdies still out there for the afternoon wave.
16:41
Dustin Johnson bends the knees and looks to the skies as his birdie putt drifts by the hole at the par-5 12th. He remains in ‘not happening’ mode. Still +2 and seven off the pace.
16:35
We’ve seen plenty of hole-outs today and Louis Oosthuizen joins the party at 2 (his 11th). The South African sinks his approach for eagle to follow up a birdie at the previous hole and, in the metaphorical blink of an eye, goes from +2 to -1 and up to tied 16th.
16:32
Leader Justin Thomas hadn’t played Winged Foot until last month when he made a recce ahead of The Northern Trust. His assessment after that practice round? “I absolutely loved it. It’s one of my favourite, if not my favourite courses I’ve ever played.” We can’t say he didn’t warn us.
16:30
Going wire-to-wire in a US Open would seem a rather herculean feat but actually it’s not uncommon. Five times in the last 20 years at this event, a player had led after every round so, if Justin Thomas remains out in front by close of play the omens are good.
Those five wire-to-wirers:
2000 Tiger Woods (Pebble Beach)
2001 Retief Goosen (Southern Hills)
2002 Tiger Woods (Bethpage)
2011 Rory McIlroy (Congressional)
2014 Martin Kaymer (Pinehurst No.2)
16:22
Phil Mickelson now +5 for his last eight holes. I feel bad for him. Let’s have another niche tribute song to make us feel better.
Sam Harrop
(@sam_golf)Ever since I started watching golf as a kid I’ve been obsessed with @PhilMickelson – just such an incredible player to watch, a true entertainer and a legend of the game. He deserved an ode.
Credit to Ed Sheeran.
RTs & YouTube subscribes (https://t.co/xdFaxMIROH) appreciated 😊 pic.twitter.com/v5O5QTST63
September 14, 2020
Updated
16:18
Some Tiger Woods comments after his 3-over 73 which ended bogey-double bogey.
“I thought the golf course was set up fantastic. I thought that what they did with the hole locations were very fair today. It gave us an opportunity to make some birdies, and you look at most of the scores, and the guys took advantage of it. This is a long marathon of a tournament. There’s a lot of different things that can go on. I just wish I would have finished off my round better.”
Tiger putted well but hit just 9 out of 18 Greens In Regulation and got up and down just twice in nine attempts.
16:13
I can’t help but think of Maurice Flitcroft when spotting the name Andy Ogletree on the leaderboard. This surely isn’t a real person, rather an impostor making a cheeky nod to 2006 Winged Foot winner Geoff Ogilvy. Maurice, of course, gained notoriety by entering Opens using daft pseudonyms such as Gene Pacecki and Arnold Palmtree.
The full story is in our very own Scott Murray’s book (written with Simon Farnaby) The Phantom of the Open. Don’t fear, Scott will be back on this blog for The Masters.
Updated
16:02
Bryson DeChambeau drains a 33-foot putt for birdie at 10 to hit 3-under. A fist pump and tip of the cap from the US muscle man, who climbs to tied third.
Also at -3 is veteran Lee Westwood after a birdie at 2, his 11th hole of the day. Westwood is 47 now but don’t be writing him off for that first elusive major title. In the last one he contested, the Englishman was tied fourth at Royal Portrush and he’s bowling along nicely again here.
15:57
Before being too hard on Mickelson, let’s remind ourselves than he’s actually on the same score as world number one and pre-tournament favourite Dustin Johnson. DJ’s subdued front nine of 2-over 37 featured a double bogey, a bogey and one birdie. Time to hit the gas on the second nine.
Updated
15:54
Mickelson quips “it’s all about the angles baby” as he plays a round of golf which seems to be some sort of bizarre tribute to Pythagoras.
Updated
15:51
“Oh man, I’m sick of this,” mutters Phil Mickelson after another shot leaks a mile left. This is truly dreadful stuff from the six-time US Open runner-up. It’s amazing that he’s not worse than +2 after 8.
15:48
Hole-in-one alert! Pt 2
Will Zalatoris records the 47th hole-in-one in US Open history and second of the day after sinking his tee-shot at 7. That’s the same hole where Patrick Reed made his ace. All hole-in-ones are good – apart from the one made by my mate Alex Perry when it took a sideways bounce off a big mound – but this isn’t as spectacular as Reed’s slam dunk effort from earlier. Nevertheless, any writer now compiling an A to Z of Winged Foot history has another option to go with Fuzzy Zoeller’s US Open win here in 1984.
Updated
15:42
It’s quite the international leaderboard right now. Two Americans on top, then a Northern Irishman, a Slovakian, a Belgian and a Chilean.
-5: Justin Thomas (F)
-4: Patrick Reed (F)
-3: Rory McIlroy (F), Rory Sabbatini (13), Thomas Pieters (13*), Joaquin Niemann (10).
15:38
A popular parlour game for golf enthusiasts this time last year was to try and predict who would have the best career out of Matthew Wolff, Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland.
Those who sided with Morikawa are clearly feeling smug after the American’s PGA Championship win but Wolff and Hovland have won PGA Tour titles and and are going well here. Wolff, as mentioned, is -2 while Norwegian star Hovland is -1 after two birdies against a bogey. Morikawa slumped to a 6-over 76 earlier today so faces a battle to make the cut.
Updated
15:30
Matthew Wolff has one of the most unusual swings in the game: a quirky action that combines twitching Carry On actor Jack Douglas and 2003 US Open champ Jim Furyk. But like Furyk’s ‘octopus falling out of a tree’ motion, it works brilliantly. Wolff, who finished tied fourth in the PGA Championship, is -1 after 6 and all set to go to -2 after almost draining his tee-shot at the short 7th.
Updated
15:24
A scroll to bottom end of the leaderboard shows Vermeer at +8. Back to the day job of painting Milkmaids.
15:21
Reed now has company at -4 – one back from leader Justin Thomas – after Chilean youngster Joaquin Niemann taps in after a sumptuous approach at 9. That’s an outward half of 31. Gulp!
15:19
Some quotes from Patrick Reed, who sits solo second after a 66 that featured a hole-in-one.
“I love hard golf courses. I think it separates the top golfers compared to the rest of the field. Also I think it separates the guys that can use creativity and can handle adversity. Out there you’re going to hit some quality golf shots that are either going to have a bad bounce, end bad up in a bad spot, or going to land on the green, catch a ridge, go down. How do you react to that?
“And I feel I’ve always been very good forgetting what happened in the past, forgetting what happened on that one shot and move on and focus and what’s coming up.”
15:15
Rory McIlroy (67) takes umbrage when asked if he’s surprised by the scorability of Winged Foot today.
“I wouldn’t call it scorable by any stretch of the imagination. There’s a couple of guys that have went a little lower than maybe was expected, but it’s not as if the rest of the field are finding it that easy.” So there.
Updated
15:12
Bryson DeChambeau’s strategy of smash it as far as you can, find it, hit it again is working so far. Golf’s longest hitter is 2-under after 7 and currently in a tie for 8th.
15:11
Now, is anyone else finding the scoring just a little too easy? To highlight the point, here’s the current leaderboard vs two previous US Opens played at Winged Foot:
Players under par in round one
2020 – 24 (7 in the clubhouse)
2006 – 1
1974 – 0
Colin Montgomerie was the only player to shoot in the 60s on day one in 2006. No-one managed it in the ‘Massacre of Winged Foot’ in 1974.
15:04
Thanks Niall. You join me with Phil Mickelson trying to rescue the damage at 5 after another wild tee shot. He gets a decent lie and finds the green.
Updated
