Thursday At The 2022 U.S. Open
Thursday At The 2022 U.S. Open
Adam Hadwin leads. Plus, Mickelson's forgettable 52nd birthday, McIlroy tosses out a 67, Tarren's luggage issues, Quotes, Jimmy Dunne rips LIV and a whole bunch more.
Blame the impending Celtics doom. Or the wind. Or LIV. I can’t pinpoint what caused the flat first round energy or why the crowds seemed smaller than the media dining portions. Because it was an otherwise fine day at The Country Club.
Sure, 25 players broke par at a U.S. Open. But higher-than-forecasted winds gave the field all they could handle. And enough moisture in the turf kept the setup sane. It felt like both sides of the draw got a fair shake.
First round leader Adam Hadwin: 66. Hadwin got into the field via the Dallas qualifier as an alternate after Paul Casey WD’d.
T-2 (-3) Callum Tarren, David Lingmerth, Rory McIlroy, Joel Dahmen, MJ Daffue. (Kevin Prise has more on these “no-names”.)
Field scoring average: 72.768
Transitioning LIV players: 73.53 scoring avg. (15 total)
Greens: “The average speed this morning was in the mid 12’s and will settle to the low 12s as the day goes on. We single cut and rolled greens this morning to achieve these speeds.” - USGA
Yardage: 7,222 yards (no alternate tees used)
Toughest hole: Par-4 12th, 4.474 scoring average, 8 birdies
Easiest hole: Par-5 8th, 4.641 avg., 6 eagles
Players within 5 strokes of the lead: 54
World No. 1/Masters champion: Scottie Scheffler birdied his final two holes (Nos. 8 and 9) to shoot 70.
Low Amateur: Travis Vick and Sam Bennett (70)
High score: 83, Caleb Manuel (a), Sean Crocker and Keith Greene (but he’s still smiling, reports Joel Beall)
Phil Mickelson shot 78 and was greeted warmly but with none of the traditional fingers-on-chalkboard, Sweet Caroline-style birthday sing-alongs. Mickelson did beat his worst June 16th score by three. Most incredible may have been the sight of fans filtering out of the 16th tee grandstands before he hit his tee shot there. Bob Harig caught up with Mickelson after the round and Phil praised both fans and setup.
Correction: I made a mistake in Tuesday’s edition of the Quad by saying there was no obvious p*&^k pairing in 2022. Thursday, the grouping of Sergio Garcia (74), Kevin Na (75) and Tyrell Hatton (72) went out at 1:03 pm Thursday. A miserable time was had by all. The Quadrilateral regrets this error.
Shot of the day: Matthew Fitzpatrick (68) from behind the 12th green. Cross-handed.
Friday’s forecast has inched up to a 60% chance of storms at 2 p.m.
Two Straight! McIlroy Off To Strong Start
Rory McIlory finished his opening 67 with a bunker spat followed by a club toss at the par-4 9th. While his mood was not as sour as the media center’s cold brew coffee, McIlroy explained away the temperamental displays as old-fashioned U.S. Open tension. And slow play.