U.S. Open: J.J. Spaun grabs 1st-round lead at Oakmont with bogey-free 66

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer

OAKMONT, Pa. — J.J. Spaun is still new enough to the U.S. Open, and a newcomer to the brute that is Oakmont, that he was prepared for anything Thursday. He wound up with a clean card and a one-shot lead on an opening day that delivered just about everything.

Scottie Scheffler had more bogeys in one round than he made had the entire tournament when he won the Memorial. He shot a 73, his highest start ever in a U.S. Open, four shots worse than when he made his Open debut at Oakmont as a 19-year-old at Texas.

Patrick Reed made the first albatross in 11 years at the U.S. Open when he holed out a 3-wood from 286 yards on the par-5 fourth. He finished with a triple bogey.

Bryson DeChambeau was 39 yards away from the hole at the par-5 12th and took four shots from the rough to get to the green.

Si Woo Kim shot a 68 and had no idea how.

“Honestly, I don’t even know what I’m doing on the course,” Kim said. “Kind of hitting good but feel like this course is too hard for me.”

Through it all, Spaun played a steady hand in only his second U.S. Open. He played bogey-free and finished with 10 straight pars for a 4-under-par 66 on America’s toughest course hosting the major know as the toughest test in golf.

He matched the low opening round in U.S. Opens at Oakmont – Andrew Landry also shot 66 the last time here in 2016 – and it was no mystery. Good putting never fails at any U.S. Open, and Spaun holed five par putts ranging from 7 feet to 16 feet to go along with four birdies.

“I didn’t really feel like I’m going to show a bogey-free round 4 under. I didn’t really know what to expect especially since I’ve never played here,” said Spaun, playing in only his second U.S. Open. “But yeah, maybe sometimes not having expectations is the best thing, so I’ll take it.”

Oakmont lived up to its reputation with a scoring average of about 74.6 despite a course still relatively soft from rain and moderate wind that didn’t stick around for long.

And oh, that rough.

Just ask Rory McIlroy, although he chose not to speak for the fifth straight competitive round at a major since his Masters victory. He had to hack out three times on the fourth hole to get it back to the fairway, and then he holed a 30-foot putt for a most unlikely bogey. He shot 74.

“Even for a guy like me, I can’t get out of it some of the times, depending on the lie,” DeChambeau said after a 73. “It was tough. It was a brutal test of golf.”

The start of the round included Maxwell Moldovan holing out for eagle on the 484-yard opening hole. Toward the end, Tony Finau hit an approach just over the green, off a sprinkler head and into the grandstand, his Titleist marked by green paint of the sprinkler. He saved par.

When the first round ended more than 13 hours after it started, only 10 players managed to break par. That’s one fewer than the opening round in 2016.

Scheffler, the heavy favorite as the top-ranked player in the world who had won three of his last four tournaments by a combined 17 shots, made a 6-foot birdie putt on his second hole. Then he found the Church Pew bunkers on the third and fourth holes, made bogey on both and was never under the rest of the day.

“I made some silly mistakes out there, but at the same time, I made some key putts and some good momentum saves in my round,” Scheffler said. “But overall just need to be a little sharper.”

Spaun, who started his round by chipping in from ankle-deep rough just right of the 10th green, was walking down the 18th fairway when a spectator looked at the group’s scoreboard and said, “J.J. Spaun. He’s 4 under?”

The emphasis was on the number, not the name.

But some of the names were surprising, starting with Spaun. He lost in a playoff at The Players Championship to McIlroy that helped move him to No. 25 in the world, meaning he didn’t have to go through U.S. Open qualifying for the first time.

Thriston Lawrence of South Africa, who contended at Royal Troon last summer, had six birdies in a round of 67.

And perhaps Brooks Koepka can count as a surprise because the five-time major champion has not contended in a major since winning the PGA Championship in 2023, and he missed the cut in the Masters and PGA Championship this year.

He looked like the Koepka of old, muscling way around Oakmont, limiting mistakes and closing with two birdies for a 68 that left him in a group with the South Korea duo of Si Woo Kim and Sungjae Im.

“It’s nice to put a good round together. It’s been a while,” Koepka said. “It’s been so far off … but now it’s starting to click. Unfortunately, we’re about halfway through the season, so that’s not ideal, but we’re learning.”

Another shot back at 69 was a group that included two-time major champion Jon Rahm, who went 11 holes before making a birdie, and followed that with an eagle.

“I played some incredible golf to shoot 1 under, which we don’t usually say, right?” Rahm said.

The course allowed plenty of birdies, plenty of excitement, and doled out plenty of punishment.

McIlroy also was bogey-free, at least on his opening nine. Then he three-putted for bogey on No. 1 and wound up with a 41 on the front nine for a 74. Sam Burns was one shot out of the lead until playing the last four holes in 5 over for a 72 that felt a lot worse.

Spaun was not immune from this. He just made everything, particularly five par putts from 7 feet or longer.

“I think today was one of my best maybe putting days I’ve had maybe all year,” Spaun said. “Converting those putts … that’s huge for momentum and keeping a round going, and that’s kind of what happens here at U.S. Opens.”

Spaun wouldn’t know that from experience. This is only his second U.S. Open, and his ninth major since his first one in 2018. He didn’t have to qualify, moving to No. 25 in the world on the strength of his playoff loss to McIlroy at The Players Championship.

“I haven’t played in too many,” Spaun said “I knew it was going to be tough. I did my best just to grind through it all.”

It was every bit of a grind, from the rough and on the fast greens. Three more days.

REED’S ALBATROSS

Reed made the third double-eagle of his career on Thursday, and he’s still only seen one of them go in.

Reed raised his hands to the sky, wondering what happened when he unleashed a 3-wood from 286 yards in the fairway of the par-5 fourth hole.

It was a beauty. The ball bounced three times then rolled toward the hole and into the cup. The so-called albatross is considered the rarest shot in golf, with only a few hundred dropping a year, compared to more than 30,000 holes-in-one.

Reed said the best one he hit came at a tournament in Germany, when he came out in the morning to finish the last four holes after getting rained out the night before. He had two par-5s left and his wife, Justine, was urging him to attack those and get to 3 under.

He parred the first, then made double eagle to close.

“Two hours later, she was back at home and said, ‘Way to finish the par-5s,’” Reed said. “I said, ‘Did you actually look at the scorecard?’ She said, ‘No, I just saw you were at 3 under.’ She clicked on it, and just looked at me. Hey, she told me to get to 3 under, she didn’t tell me how to do it.”

The only one Reed saw came at Dominion Country Club in San Antonio when he was a kid. He hit driver off the deck onto the green while the group in front of him was still putting.

“They turned around and looked at me, then they all started jumping because they watched the ball roll right past them and disappear,” Reed said. “I didn’t know I could get there.”

This marks just the fourth albatross at the U.S. Open since the event started keeping such records in 1983. The 2018 Masters champion joins T.C. Chen (1985 at Oakland Hills), Shaun Micheel (2010 at Pebble Beach) and Nick Watney (2012 at Olympic).

Despite the 2 on No. 12, Reed finished at 3-over 73 after finishing with triple bogey on No. 18.

“I was doing pretty well there until that last hole,” Reed said.

KICK IN THE TEETH FOR VOGT

Matt Vogt’s dream-like week heading up to his somewhat unlikely journey to the U.S. Open at a course he once caddied at ended with what felt, perhaps fittingly, like a trip to the dentist’s office.

The 34-year-old amateur – a Pittsburgh area native who has a dental practice in the Indianapolis suburbs – had the honors early Thursday morning, taking the opening shot of the national championship’s 10th visit to Oakmont.

Vogt knew full well the danger of going right. Wanting to avoid putting the ball along Hulton Road, he instead pulled it left. Way left. His 337-yard blast ended up on the edge of the adjoining ninth fairway. He somehow managed to save par, which ended up being one of the few bright spots on a day in which he shot 12-over 82.

“You just can’t make physical and mental errors, you can like get away sometimes with one or the other, but you can’t get away with both,” he said. “And you just get behind the eight ball out here and honestly, your head starts spinning. That’s honestly what it feels like. Your head starts spinning out here and it just gets away from you.”

While Vogt who grew up about 30 minutes northwest of Oakmont, tried to tell himself he had “zero expectations” after going through qualifying to make the 156-man field.

Still, he was hoping to do a little better at the sprawling, links-like course than he did here at the 2021 U.S. Amateur, when he also shot in the 80s. Instead, he spent some time on the practice range Thursday afternoon, searching for something – anything really – to build on.

“I came into such optimism for this golf course, but it is so hard,” he said. “It’s just so, so hard. I’d say, in the moment, you feel like you get punched in the face, you know?”

YOUTH IS SERVED

Mason Howell not only is the youngest player in the field, he got to Oakmont with the lowest scores. The 17-year-old from Georgia had a 64 in local qualifying, and then rounds of 63-63 at Piedmont Driving Club to lead the five players out of Atlanta.

The U.S. Open was different. Howell didn’t make a birdie on his way to a 7-over 77.

He was asked to compare the nerves of contending for a state high school title and playing Oakmont before a sellout.

“It’s definitely way more here, like 10 times the people … way more than that, actually,” Howell said. “But high school golf and major championships are just a little bit different.”

The closest Howell came to making birdie was on No. 1, his 10th hole of the day. He missed a putt just inside 10 feet.

Still, it was an experience he wouldn’t trade.

“It’s definitely special off the first tee,” he said. “First tee of a major, you’re always juiced up and amped up. I was just ready to get started all week. Now I just don’t want it to end.”

HISTORY, AND A HUMBLING, FOR LOWRY

Shane Lowry had to smile a bit after holing out from 160 yards for an eagle on the par-4 third. That wasn’t nearly enough to salvage a brutal first round for the Irishman.

Lowry shot a 9-over 79, which included five bogeys, three double bogeys – and that history-making shot on No. 3. His eagle two was the first in U.S. Open history on that hole at Oakmont.

Lowry started on No. 10, so by the time he reached No. 3, he was already 6 over on the day.

Even the pars on Lowry’s scorecard weren’t necessarily routine. On No. 17, his tee shot went into the rough next to the green. His second shot didn’t make it out of the rough. His third rolled across the green to the fringe on the other side.

Then he chipped in from there.

PINBALL WIZARD

Tony Finau’s best par of the day looked more like pinball than golf.

His second shot on the par-4 18th hole clanked off a sprinkler head at the back of the green, then into the grandstand, where it nearly hit a spectator, who reached down to pick it up before thinking better of that.

Finau got a drop in front of the grandstand, then hit a towering flop shot that still rolled 41 feet away from the back hole location. But he made it to save par – a rare highlight on a day when he shot 6-over 76.

WHEREVER HE MAY ROAM

Thirston Lawrence gets around a lot. Maybe that’s why it didn’t take him long to get comfortable during his first trip to Oakmont.

The South African, who finds himself one shot back of Spaun, doesn’t currently have a “home base.” Lawrence is in his first full season on the PGA Tour – where he’s made just two of 11 cuts – but returned to the DP World Tour to play a couple of events ahead of the U.S. Open.

The lifestyle isn’t new to the 28-year-old, who remembers playing more than 30 events per year when he was in elementary school.

Asked if he gets homesick, he shrugged.

“I mean, it’s not nice,” he said. “I would love to be home.”

That’s not in the cards at the moment. Sometimes he crashes in Florida at DP World Tour member Thomas Aiken’s house. Sometimes he just logs into Airbnb to see what’s available, something that helps him “not get attached.”

“It would be nice to get something, but I’m not yet sure where that is for now,” he said.

AP sports writers Eddie Pells, Will Graves and Noah Trister contributed to this story.