The 124th U.S. Open is underway at Pinehurst No. 2 in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
From the jump, the field will pursue world number one Scottie Scheffler, who is on a heater not seen since Tiger Woods’ heyday. Scheffler tees off in the afternoon heat (1:24 p.m. ET to be exact) with Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele. By then, they will have a good idea of the difficulty of the course.
And the game is tough, with many more players over par than under par.
Brooks Koepka, who has won this tournament twice, is on track to win a third. Woods, on the other hand, struggles early on. It might be difficult for him to qualify, which he also failed to do at the PGA Championship last month.
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Live23 updates
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Brooks has company
Ludvig Aberg and Frenchman Matthieu Pavon joined Koepka at 3 under. There aren’t many birds, but there are a few.
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Tiger wrongly
Another miss on Tiger’s approach results in another bogey. He drove the ball into the fairway at No. 2, needing just four shots to go down 187 yards. After a great start, his round slipped away.
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Brooks…again
There was a logjam at 2 under, then Brooks Koepka did things with Brooks Koepka – in this case, draining a 30-footer for birdie – to get from 3 under to 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-putts over a three-hole span now put Tiger at +2. He looked for a birdie at No. 1 (his 10th), but left it 10 feet away. Yes, 10 feet shorter. He missed it for bogey, his third in four holes.
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First nine updates
As players begin to take their turns, here’s where we stand:
– Only 14 of the 78 players present on the course are under par; 47 are above average
-Brooks Koepka seems called early, something we’ve seen before.
– Tiger Woods puts his putter to work. His problem during the last few holes was being on the green in regulation and giving himself good birdie opportunities.
– This won’t happen again for Phil Mickelson. He is already at 5 after only seven holes.
– Par is a good score.
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Consecutive bogeys for Tiger
Facing a 57-foot birdie, Tiger ran nine feet close to the hole. He burned the edge on his par putt and it was back-to-back bogeys to move him to 1 through eight holes.
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This is Brooks
Brooks Koepka loves the majors. Have you ever heard that? And now he’s at the top of the leaderboard thanks to a birdie at No. 7. He and Logan McAllister are at 2 under.
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Tiger returns one
A drive into the rough, a punch out, a less-than-stellar chip from 19 feet led to a bogey for Tiger Woods at 16. (Though he didn’t miss the putt by much.)
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Traffic jam at the top
Well, we jinxed Aberg, because he just made a bogey to get back to 1 under where… we have a tie at 15 for first!
This includes: Tiger Woods, Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler, Tony Finau and a qualifier named Sergio Garcia.
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Remember Ludvig Aberg
Maybe not – this US Open is only the third major of his career – but you may remember that the 24-year-old Swede finished second, behind only Scottie Scheffler, at the Masters in April.
Well, after missing the cut at the PGA last month, he got going early with a 2-under round to move to the top of the leaderboard.
Yes, it’s very early in his career, but he has the game to win a major tournament.
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Tiger works the putter early
After blowing his approach into a bunker on the 12th, Tiger Woods managed to get up and down about 10 feet to save par.
Then at 13, after a perfect drive, he made the approach above the green, came back 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, this is what we’re referring to…a seemingly solid shot to the green, only to end up on the wrong side of the swale…and down it goes.
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It’s early but…
With 41 players on the course, we have eight under par (including Tiger Woods, who made his second), 16 others at even par and 18 over par, including Phil Mickelson, who made bogey on the first.
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Tiger Birds
The two biggest things players will have to deal with this week are staying in the fairways (and out of the sandy “rough”) and dealing with those tricky greens. After a beautiful drive, Tiger Woods sliced his second at the par 5 10th into the rough. His first test came early and…he recovered beautifully.
He made a 12-footer for birdie. 1-under. Good start for Big Cat.