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Thursday’s first round of the U.S. Open showed why Shinnecock Hills remains a grueling test.
The tone was set early by the intense fog that rolled into the East End of Long Island, delaying play for two hours after a handful of groups had already teed off.
Then the whipping winds proved to be another obstacle, as promised, as some of the world’s best golfers battled the elements, with Rory McIlroy alluding to the idea of just keeping yourself in it on the first day at Shinnecock Hills.
Sam Stevens, Max McGreevy and amateur Ryder Cowan’s 2-under-par rounds gave them the clubhouse lead when the horn sounded to suspend play at 8:25 p.m. as the sun set. Wyndham Clark was 6 under through 16 holes and the leaderboard featured seven U.S. Open champions among the top 10, which included McIlroy, Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick, Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Gary Woodland.
“It was a good round. I got off to kind of a weird start with the double on 10,” said Stevens, who had been part of the early group that had its round interrupted by the fog delay. “I got off to kind of a weird start but made a birdie on the very next hole. So it kind of felt like I settled in after that.”
The winds gusted for most of the day and were evident in the morning at the first hole during Cam Young’s approach shot following the delay. Young hit the ball on the green, bouncing toward the edge before the wind caught it and sent it rolling into the bunker off the back.
Sustained winds neared 25 mph, and as the day progressed, the winds shifted direction, adding to the madness. At the fourth hole, the wind blew so hard that the person holding the sign with the player names in the group struggled to keep it above his head as they left the tee box.
No. 4 proved harrowing for McIlroy, too, who finished 1 under, when his drive went into the fescue, his second shot went far right onto a cart path and was nearly stolen by a fan who didn’t know better. The world No. 2 still managed to finish with par.
“I think with the conditions today, anything under par or anything around even par is a good score,” he said. “It was a day to really just keep yourself in the tournament and not shoot yourself out of it, which is exactly what I did eight years ago here.”
The afternoon wave did appear to get more favorable conditions than the morning wave did during the first round, as four of the top eight players on the leaderboard after the first round was halted had been part of the later wave. The average score of the early wave had been 73.87 compared to the late wave, which had an average score of 72.88.
Winds died down for the later groups, which had anticipated being a tough draw at their original time, but Clark noted that the fog helped to push everything back. “It definitely helped those last six, seven holes we played,” he said.
Coming into this year’s U.S. Open, plenty had been made about the condition of the course, especially after the drama that played out in 2004 and 2018. However, Shinnecock’s setup for the first round earned the approval of many of the players.
“It’s about as fair as you can probably get it. I was surprised on Monday. The course was very, very soft and slow, but they clearly judged it perfectly,” Tommy Fleetwood said after finishing the day with a 70 for even par. “I think today, well, hardly anybody would want to play it any harder than what it was. I think they did an amazing job of making it as fair as you could possibly make a test of golf today with the conditions that they had.”
Keegan Bradley echoed the sentiment after shooting a 70.
“The greens were softer than I expected, but thank goodness they were,” he said. “There was a few times where my ball was, like, wiggling, like, oscillating a little bit. They did what they had to do to play today. They did a great job. They should be commended for that.”
English (US)