World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler struggled to a 73 at Oakmont Country Club on Thursday, putting him seven shots behind J.J. Spaun, who fired a clean 66 without a single bogey in the U.S. Open's opening round.
As players fought their way through the tough Pennsylvania course, Spaun emerged as one of just ten players to shoot under par. The slick greens and punishing rough gave most of the field serious trouble.
The numbers tell the story of Scheffler's rough day. He ranked just 44th in driving, fell to 77th in approach shots, and ended up 49th in tee-to-green performance.
He managed three birdies but gave away six bogeys. Things got especially tough on the back nine, with costly mistakes at 13 and 15 - proving course designer Gil Hanse was right about that section's difficulty.
"When you play these really difficult golf courses...there's always opportunity for low scoring," said Scheffler to Sports Illustrated. "That's why I think when you look at a tournament like they had at Shinnecock (in 2018), where guys are barely making a cut but also one good round and they're back in."
The first round followed a familiar U.S. Open pattern. Tough course setups typically lead to high scores early before players figure things out. Shinnecock Hills showed this perfectly - early struggles gave way to better scoring as the week went on.
Oakmont kept throwing challenges at players all day. Lightning-fast greens combined with thick rough made scoring tough. These conditions forced players to think carefully about every shot.
Finding the fairway was crucial. Missing them left players in trouble. The thick rough turned simple shots into major challenges.
The Texan gets another chance Friday morning. Getting back in the mix starts with hitting more fairways and better iron shots in round two.
This historic course showed again why it's one of golf's toughest tests. Thursday's scores proved Oakmont can still challenge even the world's best players.
