McIlroy shoots a 6-under 65 in first round of U.S. Open
When asked this week about his collapse in the final round of the Masters, Rory McIlroy said that he was anxious to get into the same position in another major championship and test his lessons learned.
His opportunity could come sooner than expected.
Thursday in the opening round of the U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club, the 22-year-old from Northern Ireland fired a 6-under-par 65 to take a three shot lead over a pair of players with majors on their resume, Charl Schwartzel of South Africa and Y.E. Yang of South Korea.
Playing with Phil Mickelson (74), who turned 41 on Thursday, and Dustin Johnson (75) in the day’s most popular threesome, McIlroy treated the throng to an immaculate round, six birdies and no bogeys, on the monsterous Blue Course at Congressional, set up Thursday at 7,514 yards.
| LEADERBOARD |
| First round results |
| 1. Rory McIlroy … 65 … -6 |
| T2. Y.E. Yang … 68 … -3 |
| T2. Charl Schwartzel … 68 … -3 |
| T4. Sergio Garcia … 69 … -2 |
| T4. Ryan Palmer … 69 … -2 |
| T4. Kyung-tae Kim … 69 … -2 |
| T4. Louis Oosthuizen … 69 … -2 |
| T4. Scott Hend … 69 … -2 |
| T4. Alexandre Rocha … 69 … -2 |
“I felt very comfortable,” McIlroy said. “It doesn’t feel like a typical U.S. Open, for some reason. The golf course is going to get harder and it’s going to get firmer and it’s going to get trickier, but I still feel that it’s very playable and fair.”
Playability is courtesy of last week’s brutal heat, which stunted the growth of the rough and has prevented the USGA from cropping the greens as close as it would like for an Open. Showers on Thursday morning and clouds throughout the day helped soften the course further.
“Even when you miss a fairway, you’ve got a chance to get it up around the green,” McIlroy said. “The previous U.S. Opens I played at Bethpage and at Pebble [Beach] were very, very punishing for missing fairways.”
Failing to take advantage of the favorable conditions, however, were many of the world’s top-ranked players, including No. 1 Luke Donald (74), No. 2 Lee Westwood (75), and No. 3 Martin Kaymer (74), who were in the same threesome. No. 4 Steve Stricker (75) was among a host of Americans who failed to cash in. The list includes Mickelson, Johnson, Hunter Mahan (74) and Ricky Fowler (74). Of the nine players who broke 70, Ryan Palmer (69) is the lone American.
Demonstrating the increased globalization of the sport are the six players who shot 69. All are from different continents — South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen, Brazil’s Alexandre Rocha, Korea’s Kyung-Tae Kim, Australia’s Scott Hend, Spain’s Sergio Garcia, and Palmer, a Texan.
It was another positive start for McIlroy, who has led after the first round of three of the last four majors. At last year’s British Open, after opening with a 63, McIlroy was undone by a second-round 80 on his way to a tie for third. At this year’s Masters, he opened with a 65 and entered the final-round with a four-shot lead before another disastrous round of 80.
“I don’t think I should be trying to do anything differently tomorrow than I did today,” McIlroy said. “I just went out there to try and play really good golf, stick to my game plan.”
Bombing drives and draining putts, McIlroy, who started on the back nine, made consecutive birdies in the middle of his round all on par 4 holes – Nos. 17, 18, and 1, where he made putts of 10, 15, and 6 feet respectively.
Huge drives at No. 5 and No. 6 put McIlroy in position to challenge the Open single-round scoring record (63). But he missed 15-footers at both holes, settling for birdie at the par 5 sixth. McIlroy hit 17 of 18 greens. At No. 14, the only green he missed, McIlroy saved par with a 15-footer after an indifferent bunker shot.
“It felt like quite a simple 65. I didn’t do much wrong,” McIlroy said. “[I] just kept giving myself opportunities for birdies, and when you can do that in a U.S. Open, it’s pretty good.”
