US Open golf 2024: first round – live | US Open

Koepka gives his par effort an aggressive roll. It slides by on the right, leaving a testing three-footer coming back. He makes it for bogey, while Morikawa tidies up for his double-bogey five. Koepka is -1, Morikawa +2. Pinehurst beginning to really bare its teeth now, as the sun bakes the course. The players will be pleased to hear the USGA plan to chuck a bit of water on the greens every evening. Sweet small mercies.

Before Brooks Koepka can attempt his ten-foot par saver, Collin Morikawa putts up the swale … and watches in horror as his ball topples back down. A second attempt is much better, but he’ll need to make the three-footer that remains for double. Meanwhile over on 5, Ludvig Åberg sends his second pin high, but the ball topples off the back.

Up on the 5th green, Patrick Cantlay nearly drains an eagle putt from the fringe at the back. It’s a tap-in birdie that moves him up to -3. Going the other way, his playing partner Russell Henley, who skips in frustration after pulling a par putt wide left from eight feet. And on 15, Brooks Koepka, having watched his playing partner Collin Morikawa duff a chip from a similar position back left, opts to take putter and only just gets up onto the green.

… so having called Brooks Koepka unflappable, he pulls his tee shot at the par-three 15th over the back-left of the green. Rackin’ up those Pulitzers over here! Meanwhile over on 5, Ludvig Åberg hits his 12th fairway out of 12 today. This is the sort of behaviour that can win you a US Open.

Brooks Koepka elegantly splashes out from the sand on 14. He salvages a kick-in par. That’s his second successful scramble from a tight spot in a trap in four holes. These are the sort of things that make a difference come Sunday. The man’s unflappable. He remains -2. Meanwhile there’s another special save, this one by Matthieu Pavon on 12. Having pulled his second down a swale back left of the green, he chips up to 15 feet, then confidently rams in the putt. He’s still one clear of Russell Henley and Ludvig Åberg at -4.

Of all the former US Open champions out there this morning, Brooks Koepka is the only one of them currently under par. For now, anyway. Having just made a three-putt bogey on 12, the 2017 and 2018 champ has sent his ball into a greenside bunker to the left of 14 from the centre of the fairway. Not the sort of unforced error he makes too often. He drops his head in irritation. One of those other erstwhile champs, Tiger Woods, birdies 5 to halt the decline; he’s back to +3. Meanwhile Matt Fitzpatrick and Justin Rose are +2, Lucas Glover is +3, and Dustin Johnson, Gary Woodland and Webb Simpson are +4.

A first mistake of the day by Brooks Koepka is followed by a first mistake by Matthieu Pavon. He pulls his second at 11 into a greenside bunker, from which he can’t get up and down.

-4: Pavon (11)
-3: Henley (12*), Åberg (12*)
-2: Koepka (13), Cantlay (12*), E Molinari (10*)

A rare mistake by Brooks Koepka. His 50-foot birdie putt across 13 trundles 15 feet past. His ball very nearly topples off the green. He’s spared that indignity, but can’t make the one coming back up the hill, and that’s a careless three-putt bogey. The two-time champ slips back to -2.

Oh Tiger. He lets his short putt on 4 turn meekly to the left and that’s another dropped shot. He’s +4 and feeling the heat, perhaps literally. A lot of younger men than Tiger struggling out there under the blazing North Carolina sun. Matteo Manassero, for example, 17 years Tiger’s junior at 31; he’s just bogeyed 4, 5 and 6 and props up the entire field right now at +9. Just above him, Phil Mickelson, who has just dropped a shot at 11 to slip to +7.

A second eagle of the day for Matthieu Pavon! This one’s poured in from 27 feet at 10, and he acknowledges the latest roar with an insouciant wave. A reminder that this is Pavon’s first season on the PGA Tour, and he’s already become the first French golfer to win a tournament on it since 1907 (!) and tied for 12th at the Masters. Now look! Another birdie for Russell Henley, meanwhile, this time at 3 after yet another dart at the flag, and it’s all change at the top.

-5: Pavon (10)
-3: Koepka (12), Henley (12*), Åberg (12*)

Trouble for Tiger at 4. Having made a third consecutive bogey at 2, he could do with a little something to stem the tide. But he carves his second into the gallery down the right. It’s not clear whether he gets a lucky or unlucky bounce off somebody’s bag, because while his ball was heading into deep trouble and pings back left, it only does so towards a patch of downhill dirt behind a bunker. He’d have rather been in the trap. But he manufactures a glorious wedge over the sand and into the front of the green, rolling it out to four feet. From where he was, that was little short of miraculous, and unless he does something silly with the straight putt he’s left with, he’ll remain at +3. A turning point?

Ludvig Åberg so nearly makes it three birdies on the bounce. But his 35-foot putt on 2 shaves the right-hand lip and stays out. He remains in a share of the lead at -3.

Just sensational stuff from Brooks Koepka. He opens his sand wedge to the heavens, swings hard yet soft, and lands his sand shot to three feet. He had hardly any green to work with there, but escapes with his par. Sheer brilliance, though two successive drives sent into trouble will give him a little pause for thought during an otherwise flawless round. And yes, here he goes, crashing his tee shot at 12 down the middle. The five-time major champion isn’t making the same mistake thrice. He’s -3.

We’ve already mentioned Sergio, but you’ll have noticed another old Guardian-golf-blog favourite popping up on the leaderboard there. Rickie Fowler came joint second here in 2014 with Erik Compton, Martin Kaymer having smoked the field early doors with a blistering first two rounds of 65. He clearly responds well to Pinehurst No2, because he’s been enjoying himself today, out in an eventful 35 strokes, level par but with three bogeys and birdies on his card. A fourth birdie at the par-five 10th takes him into red figures, and would there be a more popular winner than one of the game’s nice guys, so often a major-championship nearly man? No, surely no. But what’s this? He’s 35 years old? 35? The super-cool spring chicken Rickie Fowler is 35? How did that happen? Oh man. Oh mercy.

Ludvig Åberg makes it back-to-back birdies. Having clipped an approach close at 18, he does the same at 1, and tidies up without fuss. He joins the leaders. Meanwhile on 11, Brooks Koepka catches another half-decent lie in the scrub, but pulls his second into a bunker to the left of the pin. Had that landed on the green a couple of feet to the right, it would have been pin high and a decent birdie chance. As it is, the camber collects the ball into the trap, where he’s short-sided. An up-and-down for par will be a hell of a result if he can manage it.

-3: Koepka (10), Åberg (10*), Pavon (8)
-2: Cantlay (10*), Henley (10*), Finau (10*), Molinari (7*), Mack III (6*), Salinda (5)
-1: Garcia (11), Fowler (10), Thompson (6*), Blair (6*)

Suggesting Brooks Koepka was in near-complete control of his game may have been premature. Pulitzer, please! Having carved his tee shot at 10 into trouble down the right, but got away with it, he does the same at 11. He might not have got away with this one. We’ll see. Meanwhile back-to-back birdies at 18 and 1 for Patrick Cantlay, who moves to -2. And Matthieu Pavon walks one in at 8 to join Koepka at the top! You never know, the 31-year-old late-blooming Frenchman could be the sole leader soon, depending on the scrambling skills of Brooks.

-3: Koepka (10), Pavon (8)
-2: Cantlay (10*), Henley (10*), Finau (9*), Åberg (9*), Molinari (7*), Mack III (6*), Salinda (5)

… but a six-way tie couldn’t last. It didn’t last! Brooks Koepka gets a lucky break after an errant drive down the right of 10. He’s able to whip back into play from a clean lie, reaches the green in regulation, then drains a 30-footer to hit the lead on his own again. The big man looks in the mood, and in near-complete control of his game.

-3: Koepka (10)
-2: Finau (9*), Åberg (9*), Pavon (7), Molinari (7*), Salinda (5)

Another player eagles the par-five 5th; another joins the leaders. Isaiah Salinda, a 27-year-old qualifier who plays on the Korn Ferry Tour, is the latest to get there. He’s played in the US Open once before, at Brookline two years ago, and missed the cut. Not long after, Tony Finau curls in a long right-to-left swinger on 18, while his playing partner Ludvig Åberg wedges from 120 yards to four feet; their birdies take them into a share of the lead as well. And Edoardo Molinari rakes in 40-footers on 14 and 16 to join the gang. There were two players at the top a couple of minutes ago. Now look!

-2: Koepka (9), Finau (9*), Åberg (9*), Pavon (7), Molinari (7*), Salinda (5)

Tiger Woods is struggling to work out the pace of these greens. He leaves his first putt on 1, from 40 feet, ten feet short, then pulls his second wide left. A second three-putt in three holes: the last one, on 17, was the result of sending a 60-footer fen feet past. He’s now +2 and all of a sudden, having tapped into his imperial-phase scrambling mode earlier on, Tiger looks 48 again.

Collin Morikawa can’t get up and down from the apron at the front of 9. A double bogey, and what was shaping up to be a sweet front nine turns sour in a flash. The former Open and PGA champion is +1. Meanwhile his playing partner Brooks Koepka nearly drains a 20-footer for birdie, but is more than happy to kick in for par and turn in 33. With his temperament, track record and grinding ability, not to mention that delightful short game, Koepka could take some beating this week. The third member of the high-profile group, Justin Thomas, tidies up for par and a front nine of 38.

Having made a second consecutive bogey at 17, with a careless three-putt, Tiger Woods pars 18 to turn in one-over 36. Having opened so impressively with birdie, then making a series of peak-era up and downs, he’s clearly frustrated at having let things slip towards the end of the back nine. Probably best to remind himself how tough Pinehurst is playing this morning, a fact further illustrated by the travails of Collin Morikawa on 9. Splashing out from a greenside bunker with the face of his club pointing at the sky, his ball nevertheless rolls past the pin, taking a huge right-hand turn before rolling off the front of the green. His playing partner Justin Thomas turns up the pain by demonstrating how to do it, swishing a similar shot to three feet.

One of the LIV rebels is going along nicely in Brooks Koepka. Another LIV star and former champion, Dustin Johnson … well, not so much. DJ bogeys 12 and now 15 to slip to +2. Meanwhile the nightmare continues for Sahith Theegala, who doubles the par-three 6th and is now +7 already.

Mid-morning reading. To go with a lovely cup of tea.

Matthieu Pavon becomes the third player to eagle 5. The 31-year-old Frenchman, who won his first PGA Tour title in January at the Farmers Insurance Open, and finished tied for 12th at this year’s Masters, joins Brooks Koepka in the lead. Going the other way, as expected, Logan McAllister, who takes two putts from 40 feet on 11 and cards a double bogey. He’ll be wishing he chipped out sideways with his second shot, instead of going for the green and nearly hooking out of bounds.

-2: Koepka (7), Pavon (5)
-1: Kjettrup (10), Widing (9*), Garcia (8), Morikawa (7), Henley (7*), Finau (6*), Åberg (6*), Shipley -a- (4), Rai (3*), Thompson (3*)

Brooks Koepka and Collin Morikawa take turns to throw darts at the flag on 7. Koepka makes his birdie from seven feet to join Logan McAllister in the lead at -2; Morikawa should join him, but yips from three feet to remain at -1. That’s a shocker. Koepka will be in the lead on his own soon, too, because McAllister is in all sorts on 11, having found rough vegetation down the left, then nearly hacking his second out of bounds. He can only advance his next shot halfway towards the green. He’s staring a double or worse in the face.

The US Open dream of Phil Mickelson is officially in Pipe territory. Bogeys at 1, 2, 3, 4 and now 6, and the six-time runner-up will always have Muirfield. And Kiawah Island. And Augusta (x3). He’s +5.

A poor tee shot by Tiger Woods at the monster par-four 16th – it’s 523 yards long – and that’s the great man’s first dropped stroke of the day. He’s back to level par and mighty irritable right now. Meanwhile disaster for very early leader Seamus Power on 18; he four-putts 18 from 30 feet, the last three taken from ten, and that’s a double bogey out of nowhere. He’s +2 and it can happen to the best of them. He won’t be the last.

Brooks Koepka spurns a great chance to nudge himself into the lead. Having just birdied the par-five 5th, he sends his tee shot at the par-three 6th pin high to ten feet, only to pull his straight putt a little to the left. The 2017 and 2018 winner remains at -1. But here comes Logan McAllister, pouring one in from 25 feet on 10 to regain the lead he held just over half an hour ago!

-2: McAllister (10)
-1: 14 players, and well, y’know

Seventeen players are now tied for the lead at -1. This is because Ludvig Åberg’s approach at 14 trickles into a bunker to the right of the green, and he fails to get up and down from the sand. That’s a shame, because his shot in was inches away from rolling towards the flag, only for the camber to gather it into the trap. That’s Pinehurst, and there goes his sole ownership of the lead.

Sahith Theegala came close at the PGA last month at Valhalla. Rounds of 65, 67 and 67 put him a shot off the lead going into Sunday, only for the 26-year-old Californian to fall off the pace with a final round of 73. A similar title tilt doesn’t look on the cards this week, though. A dreadful start of 5-5-6-5 and he’s +5, his challenge scuppered barely an hour after the get-go.

Sergio! Our old pal, Señor Garcia, has five top-ten finishes at the US Open, and the best of them, a tie for third, came here at Pinehurst in 2005. Having started today’s round – and this isn’t a word normally associated with Sergio – steadily, with four pars, he nearly holes out from a greenside bunker at the par-five 5th to join the pack at -1. Meanwhile on 13, the leader Åberg is this close to draining a 25-footer for a third consecutive birdie, but it wasn’t to me, and he remains at -2.

Will Zalatoris, the 2022 runner-up, slayed by that Matt Fitzpatrick bunker shot at Brookline, hadn’t started well. Swale-infused bogeys at 10 and 13. But he’s just walked in a 30-footer at 14 to clamber back to +1. There wouldn’t be too many more popular winners, given all of his serious back troubles, a highly promising career still in its infancy suffering serious jeopardy. As for his playing partners today, that man Fitzpatrick pars to remain at +1, while Tiger has a ten-footer for birdie but lets it slip by on the low side. He’s -1, and a study in annoyance having just spurned a great chance to join Åberg in the lead.

… on 8, Logan McAllister misses a ten-foot par saver, and Åberg is alone at the top! Not a bad way to start your US Open career. But then should we expect anything else? In the last 100 years, only two men have bettered his major-championship debut result, a second-place finish at this year’s Masters: Ben Curtis and Keegan Bradley, who won the 2003 Open and 2011 PGA respectively.

-2: Åberg (3*)
-1: 12 players, and life is too short

Another superb up-and-down save by Tiger! He sends his tee shot at 13 bounding over the back. He’s shortsided, so elects to putt up. Perhaps wary of the ball toppling back to his feet, he gives it a good old clack. Ten feet past. But he rattles in the one coming back, and remains at -1. Meanwhile back-to-back birdies at 11 and 12 for Ludvig Åberg – making only his third appearance in a major, and his first at a US Open – and the brilliant young Swede grabs a share of the lead at -2! No point my putting up a revised leaderboard, though, because …

A word on the weather. And that word is hot. It’s going to be sunny all week in this corner of North Carolina, with temperatures in the 90s, possibly touching 100°F at times, depending on which forecast you trust the most. There’s also an outside chance of thunderstorms tomorrow and Saturday afternoon. Fingers crossed they swerve this cradle of golf. Whatever happens, though, expect the course to get – and play – even harder. The USGA won’t be cutting the greens too closely over the weekend, surely; there’s trademark US Open sadism and then there’s trademark US Open sadism.

One of the great exercises in damage limitation by the two-time PGA champion Justin Thomas. At 3, he sends a wild second shot 50 yards left of the green. He’s allowed a free drop in the native area, as a grandstand is in the way, but there’s still no route to the green that won’t see the ball bound off over the back. Instead of attempting the near-impossible, he takes his medicine by deliberately chipping into the bunker in front of him, and trusting his sand game to get him up and down for bogey. Which it does. An excellent splash to a couple of feet, and he tidies up. That follows a bogey at 2, so not an ideal start for JT, but it could have been a whole lot worse. He’s +2.

Matt Fitzpatrick finds fairway sand at 12, then pulls his second miles left of the green. He can’t get up and down and drops another stroke. He’s +1. His playing partner Tiger Woods hits an equally poor approach, leaving a long bunker shot, but he chips up to ten feet and nails the par saver to remain at -1.

Patrick Cantlay splashes out confidently from a greenside bunker at 11 to join the group at -1. Meanwhile Frederik Kjettrup, a 24-year-old qualifier from Denmark, freshly out of Florida State, strides after his 30-foot putt on 5. In it drops for the second eagle of the morning, and having bounced back in perfect fashion from a dropped stroke at 4, moves to -1 as well.

It all goes wrong for Tom McKibbin at the par-three 15th. His tee shot doesn’t make it over the false front of the green. Then what looks like a delicate chip up trundles through the green and over the back. He can only get his third to 15 feet, and the bogey putt is always missing on the right. Falling just the wrong side of some fine lines with each shot, and suddenly that’s a double bogey and the 21-year-old Northern Irish prospect is suddenly back in the pack at +1.

An opening bogey for the six-time runner-up Phil Mickelson, the result of an errant drive on 1. Matteo Manassero’s woes continue: he follows up his triple bogey at 10 with a double at 12 and now bogey at 14. He props up the early leaderboard at +6, but you can bet your last buck someone will be joining him down there soon enough. Meanwhile up the other end, another early starter hits the front: Logan McAllister, a 24-year-old qualifier from Oklahoma making his US Open debut, hits a sensational second at the par-five 5th from 254 yards to seven feet, then steers in the putt to card the first eagle of the week.

-2: McAllister (5)
-1: McKibbin (5*), Power (4*), Morales -a- (3), Widing (3*), Woods (2*), Kuchar (1*), Finau (1*)

A similar fate befalls Matt Fitzpatrick on 11. His ball lands softly in the centre of the green … but not softly enough to hold on. Over the back he goes, and his putt up the bank almost comes back to his feet. He decides to chip second time around, and screeches his ball to a halt four feet from the flag. Possibly what he should have done the first time around. He rolls in the putt to limit the damage to bogey, and he’s back to level par. Meanwhile over on 14, McKibbin chips up to eight feet then walks in the par saver. This already feels like a proper US Open. Brutal but brilliantly entertaining.

An opening birdie for major-title nearly man Matt Kuchar at the par-five 10th. Up on 14, meanwhile, a first test of patience for Tom McKibbin, who looks to have sent a perfect second into the green, only for the ball to slo-o-o-owly topple off down a bank to the right. With not much green to work with, he’s got some work ahead if he’s to get up and down from there.

Tiger Woods is out early, and the three-time champion hasn’t taken long to make his mark. He sends his second at the par-five 10th into the tatty scrub to the right of the fairway. But he wedges his third from 60 yards to 12 feet, then walks in the birdie putt. He’s not lost it. Birdie too for the 2022 champion Matt Fitzpatrick, who is going round with Woods today. And up on 13, a birdie for Tom McKibbin, the 21-year-old from Holywood, the same club a certain Rory McIlroy played as a young pup. He’s already got the European Open on his CV, and some folk will tell you he has the potential to go as far, perhaps even further, as the 2011 champion. Well, making his major debut this week, he’s off to a good start.

-1: McKibbin (4*), Power (3*), Morales -a- (2), Woods (1*), Fitzpatrick (1*)

Seamus Power, who tied for 12th at Brookline a couple of years ago, birdies 11 to join the lads at -1. On Sky, pundit Rich Beem explains how the way Pinehurst is set up – not so much in the way of particularly penal rough, but lots of sand and scrub, and turtle-back greens with lots of dramatic run-off – could play into the soft hands of another Irish star, Shane Lowry. A top-drawer chipping game, and a reputation for being able to conjure something up to get out of bother, is a positive boon this week. Here, that being said, how about Jordan Spieth, who may be out of form and a 66-1 outsider in some places, but has Seve-esque escapology skills, and won at Chambers Bay in 2015 when the ball was rolling all over the shop? Each-way could be your friend.

… so there’s something rather sweet about the first birdies of the week being made by amateurs! Parker Bell, a 20-year-old who plays for the University of Florida, birdied 1, some way to begin your debut round at a US Open; the 21-year-old Mexican Omar Morales, playing in his second consecutive US Open, soon matched the feat. It can’t last – it won’t last – so it’s only fair to mark their achievement with the first leaderboard of the week.

-1: Bell -a- (1), Morales -a- (1)

As the sun rose, Carter Jenkins, Logan McAllister and Michael McGowan took the first shots of this tournament at the 1st. Meanwhile over on 10, Rico Hoey, Matteo Manassero and Tom McKibbin were starting out at 10. With much discussion regarding the difficulty of Pinehurst No.2 this week, it’s perhaps instructive to note that of the six players mentioned above, only McAllister and McKibben managed par. Jenkins made bogey, Hoey and McGowan doubled, and Manassero began his round with a triple-bogey eight, the result of a putt from the bottom of a swale coming back to his feet. Welcome to the US Open, ladies and gentlemen!

Preamble