Rory McIlroy made the ideal start to his bid for a long overdue fifth major title with a flawless opening 65 in the 124th US Open at Pinehurst.
The 2011 champion outshone playing partners Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele to share the lead with Patrick Cantlay on five under par.
The world number three holed from seven feet for a birdie on the fourth, chipped in from short of the green for another on the next and birdied the 10th, 16th and 18th to equal his lowest opening score in the US Open.
Masters champion Scheffler and US PGA winner Schauffele could only shoot 71 and 70, respectively.
McIlroy, who started the 2011 US Open, 2012 US PGA and 2014 Open with a bogey-free round and went on to win all three, said: “I went through a run there for a while where my starts at major championships weren’t very good.
BIRDIE ON THE LAST! 🐥@McIlroyRory is tied for the U.S. Open lead. pic.twitter.com/RsTaX4ddVn
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 13, 2024
“Probably got myself a little too worked up at the start of the week.
“But back to the PGA I opened with a five under there at Valhalla. Even going all the way back to this tournament last year, I opened with a low one. It wasn’t quite as low as Rickie (Fowler) and Xander, but it was nice to open up with a low one and feel like you’re right in the tournament from the first day.
“Certainly the major championships that I’ve won or the ones that I’ve played well at, I’ve always seemed to get off to a good start, and it’s nice to get off to another one.
“My short game was good early on. I chipped in at five and had a really good up and down on six and on eight. But apart from that, I think I hit every other green. It was a really controlled round of golf.”
Cantlay had been among the early starters and carded six birdies in a five-under-par 65 to match the first-round score of Martin Kaymer on his way to a runaway victory here in 2014.
Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg was a shot off the pace after returning a 66 on his US Open debut and just the third major championship of his career.
“It was very nice round of golf. Not a lot to complain about,” said Aberg, who revealed that the first US Open he remembers was at Pinehurst in 2014, when his caddie Joe Skovron was working for joint runner-up Rickie Fowler.
“I felt like those times where I kind of got myself out of position a little bit, you just try to get back into play as easy as you can, give yourself a chance for a par.”
Shane Lowry endured a tough opening round in North Carolina, posting a four-over par 74, which was at least brightened by a closing 30ft birdie on 18.
The 2019 Open champion admitted his confidence had been rocked somewhat by a shocking final round 85 in the Memorial last Sunday and he reached the turn in 38, with bogeys on the second, seventh and eighth after missing the green with all three approaches. He even required a 25ft putt to save bogey on the seventh.
He would drop to five over after further successive bogeys on 11 and 12, though rallied somewhat over the closing stretch with birdies on 14 and 18, although a missed five-footer was cost him another stroke on 17.
It was a happier story for Seamus Power, one of the earliest starters on Thursday, who is nestled just inside the top-40 at the close of Day 1.
Playing in his first major of the year, Power, who booked his spot in the field via the qualification tournament in Columbus, carded a battling 71 in highly testing conditions.
The two-time PGA Tour winner endured his own horror story on Pinehurst’s notorious greens, four-putting the 18th (his ninth of the round) for a double bogey to fall to two-over par.
A further bogey followed on the second hole but Power rallied impressively with three successive birdies on three, four and five to get back to even par. While the round would finish on a bum note with a bogey on the ninth, it was still a reasonable score leaving him 39th place heading into Friday.
It is Power’s third appearance at a US Open, finishing an excellent 12th in Brookline in 2012 but missing the cut at LA Country Club last year.
Tom McKibbin, playing in his first US Open, and his first major, carded a four-over 74. The field’s second most illustrious golfer from Holywood briefly got into red numbers early with a birdie at 13 (his fourth) but a double-bogey followed at the par-three 15th, with further dropped strokes coming at 17, the first and eighth holes.
Tiger Woods had been an early casualty of what he had predicted would be a “war of attrition”, the 15-time major winner making a birdie on his opening hole of the day before struggling to a 74.
Woods made a record 24th consecutive cut in the Masters before carding a third round of 82, his worst ever score at Augusta National, on his way to finishing last of the 60 players to make the weekend.
He then missed the cut in the US PGA Championship and needed an invite from the USGA to make it to Pinehurst after his exemption for winning the 2019 Masters expired.
“I’m physically getting better as the year has gone on,” Woods insisted. “I just haven’t been able to play as much because I just don’t want to hurt myself pre, then I won’t be able to play in the major championships.
“It’s pick your poison, right? Play a lot with the potential of not playing, or not playing and fight being not as sharp.”
Additional reporting: PA
