Thursday Draws to a close

Lots and lots of drama as usual at the US Open. Day 1 gave us all of the usual ups and downs and emotional roller coaster rides that we are accustomed to at US Opens down through the ages. The big surprise is that Ricky Fowler fits proudly on top of the leaderboard and it seems like an age since we said that in a regular PGA event, never mind a major championship. Mr. Fowler is yet to win a major championship too, so could this be his year? Could he finally break his duck? Not if Xander Schauffele has anything to say about it. The man from Hawaii did not want Ricky to get all of the headlines about breaking the US Open low score record when signing for an 8 under par 62, Xander wanted a piece of that action too and actually had a putt for a 61 which he left painfully short, but he made the knee-jerker back and is now the joint lowest ever US Open round shooter of all time joint with Ricky, whose record lasted all of about ten minutes! It would have been funny had Xander holed the putt and signed for a 61!

Then of course we have Rory who in his fifty something'th major started off birdie/birdie on holes one and two for the first time ever as he smoked a few drives straight down the middle of the fairway. His opening nine 30 was mighty impressive seeing as how the green has dried up and become much quicker than when Ricky and Xander had played them around four hours earlier. His back nine failed to get going and having gotten to -6 he gave that shot back on 18, leaving him 3 off the pace on -5 which he will be beyond pleased with. What is encouraging about Rory this week is that he has kept his mouth shut and cancelled most interviews, and opted instead to let his golf do the talking, and boy is it talking nicely and he is poised perfectly to strike this week. Of course we have heard it all before, but I firmly believe that his sixth major is very close, and his mental work with Bob Rotella is about to pay dividends. Whether it is the US Open this week, the Open Championship next month or the Masters next April, I really feel his time is coming, it has to come, he is far too talented a golfer to stay put on four major wins, and I believe that he will get to 10 major wins in his lifetime if not more.

Who's Hot?

Victor Hovland will be happy enough to have signed a card for one under par, and I expect him to post a decent score of 66 or thereabouts today to keep his chances alive.

Jon Rahm will have wanted a lower opening round, but the Spaniard is well and truly in the hunt and won't be too worried about being 7 shots adrift at this early stage, expect him to get to around -5 after today.

Scottie Scheffler makes this list with his eyes closed. The world number one is Mr. consistency and his 67 today puts him right where he'll want to be, bang in contention with 54 holes of golf yet to be played.

Xander Schaufelle played one of the rounds of his life and sits atop the leaderboard after his super impressive 62

Who's Not?

Justin Rose would prefer to be back on his couch watching this one I think, after stinking the place up with an opening round 76, leaving him a full 14 shots off the pace after just one round!

Jason Day won't be a happy camper after signing for a sub standard 73.

First Round Leaderboard

Here is the first round leaderboard, well first round + a few hours of round 2, as I did not get this posted earlier as planned.

*The photos used are not my own was sourced from Youtube screen grabs and https://www.skysports.com/golf *

Thanks as always for stopping by everyone.

Peace Out