SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — A lot has changed for Rory McIlroy since the last time he teed it up at Shinnecock Hills in a U.S. Open in 2018, and, luckily for McIlroy, his opening-round score at this golf course was one of those things.
McIlroy — who opened with an eye-opening 80 eight years ago at Shinnecock — was 11 shots better in the first round this year. He came into the house with a 1-under 69 despite a couple of stumbles in his final few holes.
“I think with the conditions today, anything under par or anything around even par is a good score,” McIlroy said.
When he finished, McIlroy was just one shot back of the lead held by Sam Stevens. But calm conditions descended upon Shinnecock as the sun set in the Hamptons and Wyndham Clark was able to take full advantage, riding a hot putter and finishing his day at 6 under with two holes left.
Due to a two-hour delay because of fog earlier Thursday, play was suspended at Shinnecock Hills at 8:25 p.m. ET.
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Clark, who switched to a new model of putter earlier this month, has since gone 1-3-T11 (with the final result coming last week at the RBC Canadian Open) and is firmly in the mix to win another U.S. Open, after triumphing at Los Angeles Country Club in 2023.
“Everything was kind of clicking,” Clark said. “We were definitely fortunate with the wind laying down. Overall, a good round.”
The leaderboard heading into Friday is chock-full of challengers and chasers and plenty of notable names – but that includes McIlroy, who had a fast start, going 2 under for his first three holes.
McIlroy gave those birdies back with bogeys on Nos. 13 and 16 – the wind was so strong as he teed off on 13, his hat blew off when he completed his swing — but added another birdie on the par-4 3rd before making eagle on No. 5. That was McIlroy’s fourth eagle of his U.S. Open career — but first on a par five.
“I was trying to pitch the ball like 180, and I ended up pitching the ball like 190. I carried that pitching wedge 190 yards. It just shows how strong the wind is out there,” McIlroy said. “It’s nice to have a wedge in your hand with second shots on a par five, and with the greens still being receptive I could get the ball to stop on that green (and) it was nice to hole the putt.”
The hole in between the two scoring efforts was probably the key to his round Thursday, however. McIlroy hit a drive that went way left, and then his approach went way right. From the fescue and in a testy lie next to the green, he pitched on to 18 feet and rolled in the par-saver.
That singular hole was a microcosm of how McIlroy’s game has matured at U.S. Opens.
He said after he missed the cut at Shinnecock Hills in 2018, he went to the next week’s PGA Tour event and remembers being “so much” in his comfort zone and thinking to himself he had things backwards. He should have been in his comfort zone, he said, at the major.
“I remember flying back from Dubai at the end of 2018, and I would keep, like, a journal or a diary. I wrote in it that from 2019 going forward, I'm going to build my game to compete at the major championships and excel at the toughest tests that we have,” McIlroy said. “Working on the things that you need to do well to excel at (majors) which is flighting the ball, hitting your numbers, wedge play, short game, putting. Which is all the stuff that I feel like I’ve improved over the last few years.”
McIlroy has been inside the top 10 at the conclusion of the first round of a U.S. Open six times previously and converted each solid start into a top-10 finish come Sunday night. He ended Thursday sitting tied for ninth. If he were to go on to win this week, he would become the seventh golfer in history to win the Masters and the U.S. Open in the same season, with Jordan Spieth 11 years ago being the last to do it.
After he took the lead on his eagle, it was a tough finish for McIlroy, who bogeyed both Nos. 8 and 9 after two bad iron shots left him in tough spots to get up-and-down.
Alas, McIlroy said he was pleased with his start and on a quirky, delayed kind of day, shooting under par was something to be awfully pleased with.
“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,” McIlroy said. “Sort of went out with the mindset that pars were going to be good, and if you could pick up a couple of birdies here and there, that's always a bonus. But really just minimizing the mistakes. I did that for the most part today.”
Some other notable scores from Thursday – of the rounds that were completed – included Keith Mitchell, who shot an even-par 70, but in an incredible way. He opened with a 41 on his first nine before shooting a 29 on his back nine. He is the only golfer in U.S. Open history to shoot 40 or worse on one nine and break 30 on the other nine within the same round, per stats guru Justin Ray.
Amateur Ryder Cowan shot a 2-under 68 and is looking to be the first amateur since 2015 to be inside the top-5 of the leaderboard at the conclusion of a U.S. Open round when play concludes Friday.
Scottie Scheffler shot a 2-over 72 as he goes for the career grand slam for the first time.
Canadians Ben Silverman and Nick Taylor both shot 4-over 74, while Sudarshan Yellamaraju nailed a 52-foot putt off the back of the green on his final hole for a closing par and came in with a 3-over 73.
Corey Conners had a share of the lead at one point Thursday – just as Canada scored its third goal against Qatar in Vancouver at the World Cup – but gave one back on the par-4 14th. He sits at 1 under through 17 holes of his first round and will complete his opener on Friday morning.
Conners is looking for a bit of revenge at this particular major after having to withdraw prior to the final round last year after hurting his wrist on a television cable. Although it’s been a bit of a curious season for Conners thus far, stats-wise, he was back to his normal, tremendous ball-striking self at Shinnecock Hills’ opening day.
Each Canadian had some highlights, but it was a tough day in particular for Silverman, who was, essentially, on the first tee before play was suspended earlier in the morning and had to do the entirety of his warm-up routine over again – including eating a second breakfast.
