OAKMONT, Pa. — Taylor Pendrith called it likely the hardest tournament round he’s ever played — despite the fact it was fairly calm through the morning at the U.S. Open Thursday and Oakmont Country Club was still drying out after a deluge of rain through the month of May.
Alas, despite shooting a 2-over 72 Thursday to open the third major of the year, Pendrith and fellow Canadian Corey Conners are certainly not out of it after Oakmont bared its teeth at the opener of the 125th U.S. Open.
“I was 2 over through three (holes) and to be 2 over at the end of the day meant it was a really strong finish for me,” Pendrith told Sportsnet. “Mentally and physically, I felt like I did a lot of good things. Birdies are really hard to make out here, but the two pars at the end feel good – they feel like birdies. I’m happy with where I’m at.”
Pendrith and Conners were tied for 34th after the opening round with matching 72s. Mackenzie Hughes and Nick Taylor both bogeyed their penultimate holes to shoot 3-over 73s.
J.J. Spaun shot a 4-under 66 and has a one-shot lead over Thirston Lawrence. Spaun’s Thursday effort was the only bogey-free round on the course.
Pendrith, who played with Spaun, opened on the back nine and didn’t find a fairway for five holes. He got one back on the shot par-4 17th after pitching in from a brutal lie in the greenside rough. He made just one bogey on his front side, on the par-4 2nd, but he held on tight through the finish. He rolled in a 21-footer for par on the long par-3 8th and another testy 10-footer on No. 9.
“The whole (second) nine was a grind,” Pendrith said. “I was hitting some good shots and just couldn’t get anything to fall.”
On No. 8, Pendrith said he didn’t have a club for that yardage Thursday, so he tried to just “hold up” his mini driver into the wind. It ended up in a “sketchy” lie, but he chunked it up to 20 feet before making the par. He said he “wasn’t committed” to the second shot on No. 9 and landed in a greenside bunker but was able to get up and down.
“Pars are really good on most holes here, so to make a couple big putts to finish feels good,” Pendrith said.
This was a tidy turnaround on the greens for Pendrith, who sits 142nd on the PGA Tour in strokes gained: putting for the season. He was up more than 100 spots in that stat at Oakmont on Thursday.
Pendrith said it was a simple day for Spaun, who just kept finding fairways and rode a hot putter to the finish line.
Spaun gained four shots on the field with his putter Thursday en route to shooting his best-career major championship round.
There were just 10 golfers under par Thursday, with the scoring average a shade under 75.
“I kind of came out here with no prior history at Oakmont, not really knowing what to expect even U.S. Open-wise. This is only my second one. I don't know if that freed me up in any aspect, but I just tried to kind of take what the course gave me,” Spaun said. “I hit a lot of good shots and tried to capitalize on any birdie opportunities, which aren't very many out here. But I scrambled really well, too, which is a huge component to playing well at a U.S. Open, let alone shoot a bogey-free round.
“I'm just overly pleased with how I started the tournament.”
The good news for the chasing pack, however, is that 24 out of the last 26 winners of the U.S. Open were inside the top 20 after the first day — so plenty of golfers are not yet out of it.
There were, however, a handful of notables on the opposite end of the scoring spectrum.
Thursday marked another tough start for Rory McIlroy, who had it to 2-under at one point but finished with a 4-over 74 (while his playing partner Shane Lowry shot a 9-over 79, despite holing out for an eagle on the par-4 3rd).
Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau shot a 3-over 73.
Perhaps most surprising was Scottie Scheffler. The world No. 1 also shot a 3-over 73
— which is, relative to par, the worst opening round of his major career.
Scheffler has never come back from outside the top 30 at the end of the first round to win a PGA Tour event and said while he felt he played well enough, he’s got to be plenty tighter on Friday to get into contention through the weekend.
“Overall, I just feel like after today, I've probably got to give myself a few more looks, a few sloppy bogeys today, and would have been a little bit of a different story,” Scheffler said. “I did a good job of battling, and if I'm a little sharper tomorrow, I think I can score a bit better.”
