Round 1 of This U.S. Open Featured Bunches of Birdies and No One Should Apologize
LOS ANGELES — Shortly after his 8-under par 62 on Thursday in the first round of the U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club, setting the record for the lowest score in a U.S. Open round, Xander Schauffele tried to downplay the accomplishment that had been matched 22 minutes earlier by Rickie Fowler.
“It's just Thursday,” Schauffele said. “It's literally just the first day of a tournament. It's a good start.”
Going around the LACC North Course with eight birdies and no bogeys, the 29-year-old seven-time PGA Tour winner could hardly believe his good fortune. “I'm anticipating the sun to come out just as much as every West Coast person out here,” he said. “I'm thinking the course is going to firm up a little bit.”
Schauffele is full of anticipation for the golf course to become more difficult, so that he can fully experience how a U.S. Open is supposed to play. “You just wait until this place firms up,” he said. “It's going to be nasty.”
In the back of their minds, these players must have considered what the USGA thought about what they were doing to their prized championship venue. “I think the USGA will be a bit frustrated that the number was that low today,” said Scottie Scheffler, half-heartedly, after shooting an opening-round 3-under-par 67. “I don't think you'll be seeing too much of that over the weekend.”
What if the North Course doesn’t become nasty and the USGA doesn’t have vengeance with a tougher setup over the remainder of the championship? Can’t these great players attack this course with the same vigor and freedom as they do any other week of the year? They never seem to apologize for making birdies at the Masters, where the roars from the patrons are as synonymous with the tournament as the azaleas and the color green.
These players don’t need to apologize for trying to make birdies in the U.S. Open. Sure, they must have a measure of humility and respect for these championships and a high regard for its traditions as the hardest test in golf. They know they can’t force the action but they also know that they can’t be timid. After his 64 on Thursday, Wyndham Clark was asked if his mindset changed after seeing two 62s on the leaderboard.
“In U.S. Opens or any tournament, if you try to make birdies, especially U.S. Open, like you try to force it, you're one shot away from making a double or stringing along bogeys,” he said. “It's huge to just get in play and then be really smart into the greens, and then when you're on the greens you can take advantage of it.”
By the end of the first round, there were 37 players who shot rounds in the 60s. Two players shot 64—Clark and Dustin Johnson. It was a historic day at the U.S. Open and for all the right reasons.