Jason Day’s injury problems have reared their ugly head once again as the Australian withdrew from the US Open ten holes into his opening round.
Replays showed the 2015 PGA champion grimace after making a swing on the first hole – he started on the tenth – and was shortly after carted off the course at Shinnecock Hills.
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The former world No.1 has battled back injuries in the past and has enjoyed a career resurgence in recent times after repeated injury problems led to him falling outside of the world’s top 150 and missing major championships in 2021.
It is unclear exactly when Day sustained the issue, but he was battling around the brutal New York course, having made seven bogeys in his opening nine holes.
The last time Day withdrew from a major was at the 2012 Masters due to an ankle issue.
LEADERBOARD: Live scores from the US Open
Meanwhile, 2023 champion Wyndham Clark tops the leaderboard halfway through his opening round at three-under par.
Many in the afternoon field will struggle to finish their rounds today as morning fog delayed the start of play by two hours..
The world’s best have largely been beaten up by Shinnecock Hills so far with Rory McIlroy shooting one-under par – one shot back from unlikely clubhouse leader Sam Stevens.
From the morning field, only six players broke par for their round.
No one found out better than Patrick Reed about how difficult Shinnecock’s fescue can be as he hacked out as a shot that almost went at right angles.
In his 100th consecutive major appearance, Adam Scott marked the occasion with a three-over par first round of 73.
On a brutal layout in New York with strong winds sweeping through the course and soft greens due to watering, Scott’s score was hardly a disaster.
It puts the 45-year-old as the best of the Australian contingent in the clubhouse with LIV duo Lucas Herbert and Cameron Smith shooting 74 and 75 respectively.
Min Woo Lee is out on course and was four-over through eight holes.
They will struggle to finish their opening today, however,
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It has not only been about the bad and tough shots, however.
DeChambeau produced one of the highlights of the day when his monster drive on the 12th – he started on the 10th – cleared the fairway, hit the road and ended up travelled 427 yards (390.44 metres).
The two-time champion capitalised by making birdie and followed it up with another to put himself in the mix early after missing the cut at The Masters and the PGA Championship earlier this season.
Unheralded American Sam Stevens, who has never won a PGA Tour event, sank a birdie putt from just outside six feet at the ninth hole, his last of the day, to fire a two-under par 68.
The 29-year-old Texan, in only his eighth major start, began with a double bogey at 10, waited through a two-hour fog delay then solved Shinnecock for six birdies against two bogeys.
“Got off to a weird start but made a birdie on the very next hole. Felt like I settled in after that,” Stevens said.
“Drove the ball well. Hit my irons really well. Had a lot of birdie looks. The greens were a little bit softer. They had to water them. Made a few nice putts.”
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American amateur Ryder Cowan, 2021 champion Jon Rahm, fellow LIV star Dustin Johnson, 2022 champion Matt Fitzpatrick, PGA champion Aaron Rai, two-time major winner Xander Schauffele, Clark and DeChambeau are all threatening Stevens at the top of the leaderboard.
McIlroy, another back-nine starter, closed with back-to-back bogeys after making an 11-foot eagle putt on the par-five fifth to shoot 69 and share second in the clubhouse with Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg and Americans Max Greyserman and Brian Harman.
“Overall, a really good day,” McIlroy said. “Obviously it stings a little bit to finish the way that I did, especially not feeling like I hit particularly bad iron shots on eight and nine there.”
McIlroy, who won his sixth career major at the Masters in April, stayed patient in tough conditions.
“It was obviously a really tricky day and just a day to stay patient and hang in there, and I hit enough good shots to give myself some chances,” he said.
“I think anything in red figures today was a good effort.”
There was also drama on the fourth hole for McIlroy as a wild shot out of the fescue sailed right and bounced off a cart path before being his ball was picked up by a spectator to the horror of those rushing over to the scene.
World No.2 McIlroy could become just the seventh player to capture the Masters and US Open in the same year, the first since Jordan Spieth in 2015.
Aberg, a back-nine starter chasing his first major title, sank a birdie putt from just inside 30 feet to briefly lead but fell back after a bogey at the fourth after finding the left rough.
“The wind is definitely a big factor,” Aberg said. “Pleased with the way I was hitting it, pleased with the way I was scrambling when I had to. Yeah, it’s a tough test.”
A field of 156 chased a record top prize of US$4.5 million ($6.42m) from a record US$22.5 million ($32m) purse.
Organisers kept green speeds below maximum and watered greens between waves to help balls stay on the putting surfaces amid the gusting winds.
In the 2004 and 2018 US Opens at Shinnecock, brutal winds and high green speeds had groundskeepers watering greens between groups in a bid to keep the course playable, many complaining that organisers had “lost the course.”
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Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler, seeking a victory to complete a career Grand Slam, shot 72.
The two-time Masters winner won captured last year’s British Open and PGA Championship to give himself a first chance at the career Slam at Shinnecock on Sunday, his 30th birthday.
Brooks Koepka, chasing his sixth major title on the same course where he won the 2018 US Open, fired a 73.
“Conditions were tough,” Koepka said. “It’s just weird how soft the greens are. I understand why they’re soft. Not complaining. It’s just a difficult day.”
The 36-year-old American is fighting an ulnar nerve issue that numbed his left ring finger and pinky and forced him to withdraw from last week’s PGA Canadian Open.
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