By Doug Ferguson
Los Angeles: Rickie Fowler can always say he was the first to shoot 62 in the US Open.
But only by about 15 minutes.
Xander Schauffele soon matched him at Los Angeles Country Club with an eight-under 62 of his own, making Thursday a most extraordinary day for scoring in the major known as the toughest test in golf.
Tough meant keeping track of all the birdies in the lowest opening round of scoring in US Open history.
“It’s not really what you expect playing a US Open,” Schauffele said. “But monkey see, monkey do. Was just chasing Rickie up the leaderboard. Glad he was just in front me.”
Those who came behind them in the afternoon were on the cusp of joining them. Dustin Johnson hit all 13 fairways — a scary thought for the rest of the field — and had a chance at 62 until his five iron on the par-three ninth went into a bunker next to the 18th green.
Rickie Fowler, left, playing alongside Australia’s Jason Day, carded 10 birdies in his opening round at the Los Angeles Country Club.Credit: Getty
That led to his only bogey and a somewhat disappointing 64 — rare to say in a US Open — to join Wyndham Clark.
Rory McIlroy went out in 30 — his best nine-hole start in any major — and had to settle for a 65. He whiffed on a delicate flop shot from the thick collar of grass around the 18th and escaped with a bogey to join Brian Harman, who played his first 10 holes in six under but went one-over from there.
Johnson found his way into the record books. He tied Tiger Woods for most rounds of 65 or lower in the majors (10).
“This isn’t your typical US Open mindset of like, ‘I’m just playing for par.’ You’ve got to make some birdies to keep in line with those guys,” Harris English said after a ho-hum 67.
US Open leaderboard
*Denotes round ongoing, USA unless noted
- -8: Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele
- -6: Wyndham Clark, Dustin Johnson
- -3: Brian Harman, Rory McIlroy (NIR), Kim Si-woo (KOR), Bryson DeChambeau, Paul Barjon (FRA), Sam Bennett, Harris English, Scottie Scheffler, Mackenzie Hughes
It all started with Fowler, whose remarkable round included two bogeys when he missed the green on the 254-yard 11th and missed the fairway on the 17th on his front nine. Starting with a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th, he ran off four straight birdies. The streak ended on the par-three fourth when he came two inches away from holing a long bunker shot.
He set the record with a two-putt from just under 60 feet on the par-five ninth. That’s also when he noticed the leaderboard.
“I knew where I was at,” Fowler said. “I would say from the middle of the round up until the ninth green, our last hole, I didn’t really know or see any scores. And then I saw that Xander was at seven (under) at that point, and I’m not sure if he even knew where I was or anything.
“But it was kind of cool if he did to see he kind of latched on and we were taking off a bit.”
Xander Schauffele is congratulated by world No.2 Jon Rahm after his opening round.Credit: Getty
Schauffele was two groups behind and never too far away. He lost one birdie chance on the short par-four sixth by trying to drive the green, but then picked up a rare birdie on the 258-yard seventh hole with what he called a “tomahawk four-iron” to 5 feet.
“That’s pretty much all I have in my body,” Schauffele said.
He got up-and-down from just short of the green on the par-five eighth, and then had a birdie chance from just inside 30 feet that would have topped Fowler and sent him into the major championship record book alone. He left it short and settled for a 62.
They now share the major championship record with Branden Grace, who had a 62 in the third round at Royal Birkdale in the 2017 British Open.
World No.9 Cameron Smith and Min Woo Lee were the best-placed Australians at one-under, a shot clear of Lucas Herbert. Karl Vilips shot four-over on his major debut to be tied-123rd, one shot back from Adam Scott and Jason Day, who played alongside Fowler.
Masters champion Jon Rahm, playing alongside Schauffele, opened with a 69. That’s typically a solid start in the US Open. This one left him seven shots behind.
Schauffele tends to play his best in the US Open — five top 10s in his six appearances — and he has been among the elite on the PGA Tour the last several years even without winning a major.
Fowler is different. He once finished in the top five at all four majors in 2014. But a recent slump made a challenge just to get in them. He was the first alternate last year at Brookline and had to go home without hitting a shot.
But he went back to instructor Butch Harmon in September and has played well enough to get back into the top 50 in the world after being in danger of falling out of the top 200 a year ago.
And there he was at a major, putting his name in the record book for all the right reasons.
“It’s definitely been long and tough — a lot longer being in that situation than you’d ever want to,” Fowler said. “But it makes it so worth it having gone through that and being back where we are now.”
AP/AAP
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