Former champion Wyndham Clark was grateful for an early two-hour fog delay as it allowed him to take advantage of relatively benign conditions late in the day to soar to the top of the US Open first-round leaderboard on six under.
Fearing wind gusts of up 35mph, organisers set up the Shinnecock Hills course to ensure the fearsomely-fast greens could hold the balls on the putting surfaces – but when it did not blow as hard as expected, it made for easier scoring.
The late starters, who were expecting to experience the worst of the conditions, found the opposite was true and they made hay in the evening sunshine with Clark, champion three years ago, taking the biggest advantage.
Clark has come into form recently, with a win, a third and a 12th in his last three appearances, and starting on the back nine he had three birdies before the turn.
He dropped a shot at the second but two birdies and an eagle in his next three holes put him four clear with two holes remaining when play was called off for bad light.
“That two-hour fog delay was very helpful, and it was really nice it (the wind) laid down so it definitely helped those last six, seven holes we played,” said Clark, a winner at The Los Angeles Country Club in 2023.
Four of the seven players in the chasing pack are former champions themselves – Jon Rahm, Matt Fitzpatrick, Gary Woodland and a resurgent Dustin Johnson – and all were due to return on Friday morning to complete their rounds.
Only the unheralded American trio of Sam Stevens, Max McGreevy and amateur Ryder Cowan managed to complete rounds of 68.
Masters champion Rory McIlroy was in a larger group on one under but would have been higher had he not bogeyed his final two holes.
The Northern Irishman was happy to shoot under par, although that was several hours before the course started to give up birdies, with a round which was 11 strokes better than his opening effort here in 2018.
That 80 was the joint-worst of his major career and led to him missing the cut.
“With the conditions today, anything under par or anything around even par is a good score,” said the world number two, who is seeking to win his first US Open title since making his major breakthrough in 2011.
“It was a day to really just keep yourself in the tournament and not shoot yourself out of it, which is exactly what I did eight years ago here.”
The highlight of McIlroy’s round was the 396-yard drive and a pitching wedge to 11 feet which demolished the 597-yard fifth hole, playing downwind, for his first US Open eagle since Erin Hills in 2017.
Bryson DeChambeau, a winner in 2020 and 2024, was also one under with two holes of his round to complete.
Second-round tee times have been pushed back 15 minutes in order to allow the 50 players who did not finish to complete their first rounds on Friday.
