OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — A brief look at the first round Thursday from the U.S. Open at Oakmont (all times EDT):
LEADING: J.J. Spaun at 66, matching the lowest start to a U.S. Open at Oakmont.
TRAILING: Thriston Lawrence of South Africa at 67.
SOARING: Brooks Koepka (68) and Jon Rahm (69) were among 10 players who broke par in the first round, one fewer than the first round in 2016 at Oakmont.
SINKING: Sixteen players failed to break 80, including PGA Tour winner Matt McCarty.
STRUGGLING: Scottie Scheffler had five bogeys in his round of 73, matching his highest start in a major championship. He shot 73 in the opening round of the 2021 Masters.
SILENT TREATMENT: Masters champion Rory McIlroy shot 41 on his back nine for a 74 and declined to speak to the media for the fifth straight competitive round at a major since he completed the career Grand Slam.
THE RAREST SHOT: Patrick Reed holed out a 3-wood from 286 yards on the par-5 fourth hole for only the fourth albatross in the U.S. Open since it began keeping such records in 1983.
THE EAGLES LANDED: Shane Lowry on No. 3 and Maxwell Moldovan on No. 1 both holed out long fairway shots for eagle. Lowry was the first to make an eagle on No. 3 at Oakmont.
KEY STATISTIC: The scoring average was 74.633, the highest for the opening round of a U.S. Open since 2018 at Shinnecock Hills (76.47).
NOTEWORTHY: Five players in the top 10 on the leaderboard are either making their U.S. Open debut for playing it for only the second time.
QUOTEWORTHY: “Honestly, I don’t even know what I’m doing on the course. Kind of hitting good but feel like this course is too hard for me.” — Si Woo Kim after a 68.
TELEVISION: Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Peacock), 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. (NBC), 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. (Peacock).
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
