The 124th U.S. Open is underway at Pinehurst No. 2 in, well, Pinehurst, North Carolina.
From the jump, the field is chasing top-ranked Scottie Scheffler — who is on a heater not seen since Tiger Woods’ heyday. Scheffler will tee off in the afternoon wave (1:24 p.m. ET to be exact) along with Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele. By then, they’ll have a good idea of how difficult the course is playing.
So far, it’s been very tough.
Brooks Koepka, who has won this tournament twice, looked like he was making an early run for a third initially. After briefly holding a share of the lead, Koepka made three bogeys down the stretch to drop back to even par. Instead, it was Patrick Cantlay and Matthieu Pavon who grabbed an early share of the lead at 4-under.
Woods, on the other hand, struggled. After a birdie to open his day, he made five birdies in seven holes around the turn to briefly get to 4-over. He’ll need a big outing on Friday in order to make the cut, something he failed to do last month at the PGA Championship.
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If you want to check out the leaderboard, click here.
And if you want some help following along with the action, follow along below:
Live25 updates
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Brooks has company
Ludvig Aberg and France’s Matthieu Pavon have joined Koepka at 3-under. There aren’t a lot of birdies out there, but there are a few.
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Tiger wrongway
Another miss on the approach for Tiger leads to another bogey. He drove the ball in the fairway at No. 2, only to need four shots to get down from 187 yards out. After a great start, his round is slipping away.
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Brooks … again
There was a traffic jam at 2-under, then Brooks Koepka did Brooks Koepka things — in this case, draining a 30-footer for birdie — to get to 3-under through 10.
The day started with Scottie Scheffler as the favorite. Who would you take now?
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Another (not good) one for Tiger
Two three puts in a three-hole span has Tiger now at +2. He had a look for birdie at No. 1 (his 10th), but left it 10 feet short. Yes, 10 feet short. He missed that for bogey, his third in four holes.
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First nine update
As players begin to make their turns, here’s where we’re at:
– Just 14 of the 78 players on the course are under par; 47 are over par
– Brooks Koepka looks dialed in early, something we’ve seen before.
– Tiger Woods has his putter working. His issue the last few holes has been getting on the green in regulation and giving himself decent opportunities for birdie.
– Not going to happen for Phil Mickelson, again. He’s already 5-over after just seven holes.
– Par is a good score.
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Back-to-back bogeys for Tiger
Facing a 57-footer for birdie, Tiger ran it nine feet by the hole. He burned the edge on his par putt and that’s back-to-back bogeys to move him to 1-over through eight holes.
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Here comes Brooks
Brooks Koepka loves majors. Heard that before? And now he’s atop the leaderboard thanks to a birdie at No. 7. He and Logan McAllister are at 2-under.
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Tiger gives one back
A drive into the rough, a punch out, a less-than-stellar chip to 19 feet led to a bogey for Tiger Woods at 16. (Though he didn’t miss the putt by much.)
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Logjam at the top
Well, we jinxed Aberg, because he just bogeyed to move back to 1-under where … we have a 15-way tie for first!
That includes: Tiger Woods, Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler, Tony Finau and a qualifier by the name of Sergio Garcia.
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Remember Ludvig Aberg
You may not — this U.S. Open is only the third major of his career — but you may recall the 24-year-old Swede finishing second, behind only Scottie Scheffler, at the Masters in April.
Well, after missing the cut at the PGA last month, he’s got it going early with a 2-under round to put himself atop the leaderboard.
Yes, it’s very early in his career, but he’s got the game to win a major.
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Tiger has the putter working early
After spraying his approach into a bunker on 12, Tiger Woods managed to get up-and-down from about 10 feet to save par.
Then at 13, after a perfect drive, he flew the approach over the green, chipped back on to give himself an 8-footer for par and … he drained it again.
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About those greens
When we say “turtleback” greens, here’s what it refers to … a seemingly solid shot to the green, only to be on the wrong side of the swale … and down it goes.
