Thursday At The 2024 U.S. Open
McIlroy, Cantlay open with 65's on a beautiful day in Pinehurst. Aberg is a stroke back and DeChambeau is lurking. Plus, the sixth hole is once again a terror and the forecast is looking up (but hot).
Round One By The Numbers
73.259: Scoring average (par 70)
72.987: Morning wave scoring avg.
73.538: Afternoon wave scoring avg.
65: Leading score by Patrick Cantlay, Rory McIlroy
15: Rounds in the 60s
18: Scores of even par 70
4: Rounds in the 80s
6:45 a.m.: First tee time Thursday.
8:19 p.m.: Completion of round one.
6th: Toughest hole (3.474 average, 3 birdies)
5th: Easiest hole (4.583 avg., 9 eagles)
2: Bogey free rounds: (Sergio Garcia, McIlroy)
25.64%: Green in regulation percentage for the par 4 second (40/156)
With greens trimmed tighter than Scottie’s hair, harder than media dining’s cornbread and featuring pins more painful than NBC showing FedExCup standings during a U.S. Open, Patrick Cantlay and Rory McIlroy overcame it all to open with five-under-par 65’s.
On a hot, sunny and rarely breezy North Carolina Thursday, several players in the morning and afternoon waves took advantage of dreamy scoring conditions.
A total of 33 players finished round one of the 2024 U.S. Open at par, with 15 of those in red numbers. The afternoon wave turned in scores a half-stroke higher but still featured nice rounds from Bryson DeChambeau (67), Tyrrell Hatton (68) and Akshay Bhatia (68).
For context where this day one stands with Pinehurst No. 2’s three previous U.S. Opens: 23 players posted under scores in 1999’s first round, nine in 2005, and 15 in 2014.
The first-round scoring averages from past U.S. Opens here: 72.859 in 1999, 74.699 in 2005, 73.231 in 2014, and 73.259 in 2024.
The four opening days at Pinehurst U.S. Opens have featured everything from sweater weather to deep bermuda rough and sickly looking grass, to this year’s high 80s played over meticulous turf through sandy wire grass.
McIlroy’s afternoon opening 65 continues his well-documented run of stout recent U.S. Open play driven by his embrace of the firmer, drier and more patient brand of golf necessary on well-crafted courses.
“I've started to appreciate golf course architecture more and more as the years have went on, and I've started to read more about it and understand why golf course architects do certain things and design courses the way that they do,” McIlroy said. “Just becoming more of a student of the game again, and I think because of that I've started to embrace golf courses like this and setups like this.
Affinity for Donald Ross can only take a player so far.
Even in an era of players mashing their putt lines and playing turf that’d stun Ross for its consistency, U.S. Open afternoon conditions typically turn unruly. Pinehurst’s super healthy ultradwarf bermuda will never take on any of the peculiarities of old poa annua greens, but the place still has taken on heavy foot traffic between practice rounds and the 156 players.