World number one Dustin Johnson did what many of his fellow stars couldn’t during round one of the US Open – break par – at Shinnecock Hills, writes WADE PRETORIUS.
Johnson played his way into a share of the lead after an opening 69 despite having to contend with the toughest wind of the day.
Teeing off in the afternoon after watching Shinnecock Hills get the better of Rory McIlroy (+10), Jordan Spieth (+8) and Phil Mickelson (+7), Johnson made a number of par saves early before to back birdies at the fourth and fifth.
‘The golf course, it was hard,’ said Johnson, who’s round had it all including a hole-out birdie on 8 from the bunker and a back nine of +1 that saw him lose a little ground on the field.
‘You had to play good golf if you wanted to shoot a good score. I felt like I did a good job today.”
‘I drove it well. I hit a lot of quality iron shots, and then my short game was good.
‘The greens are difficult. It was difficult to get it close and then it was difficult to hole putts. I felt like I did a good job today.’
While many ridiculed the course, the greens and whatever other excuse they could find, Johnson gave a more composed assessment.
‘It was hard, but it was fair,’ Johnson said. ‘It wasn’t anything tricky or unreasonable by any means.’
Leaderboard (par-70):
69 – Scott Piercy (USA), Russell Henley (USA), Dustin Johnson (USA), Ian Poulter (ENG)
70 – Jason Dufner (USA)
71 – Henrik Stenson (SWE), Matthieu Pavon (FRA), An Byeong-Hun (KOR), Justin Rose (ENG), Charles Howell III (USA), Charley Hoffman (USA), Sam Burns (USA)
72 – Brendan Steele (USA), Patrick Rodgers (USA), Mickey DeMorat (USA), Xander Schauffele (USA), Brandt Snedeker (USA), Alexander Norén (SWE)
73 – Kim Si-Woo (KOR), Ryan Fox (NZL), Rafael Cabrera (ESP), Luis Gagne (CRC), Eric Axley (USA), Zach Johnson (USA), Patrick Reed (USA), Rickie Fowler (USA), Chris Naegel (USA), Brian Gay (USA), Pat Perez (USA), Steve Stricker (USA), Jim Furyk (USA), Will Grimmer (USA), Paul Casey (ENG), Andrew Johnston (ENG), Matthew Fitzpatrick (ENG), Russell Knox (SCO)
74 – Matt Parziale (USA), Brian Harman (USA), Matt Kuchar (USA), Justin Thomas (USA), Brian Stuard (USA), Aaron Baddeley (AUS), Marc Leishman (AUS), Shubhankar Sharma (IND), Louis Oosthuizen (RSA)
75 – Hideki Matsuyama (JPN), Shane Lowry (IRL), Francesco Molinari (ITA), Sergio García (ESP), Dean Burmester (RSA), Jimmy Walker (USA), Patrick Cantlay (USA), Brooks Koepka (USA), Kevin Chappell (USA), Peter Uihlein (USA), Roberto Castro (USA), Tony Finau (USA), Luke List (USA), Kyle Stanley (USA), Chez Reavie (USA), Cameron Wilson (USA), Calum Hill (SCO), Tyrrell Hatton (ENG), Danny Willett (ENG), Tommy Fleetwood (ENG)
76 – Ross Fisher (ENG), Jhonattan Vegas (VEN), Chun An Yu (TPE), Tim Wilkinson (NZL), Branden Grace (RSA), Im Sung-Jae (KOR), Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN), Matt Jones (AUS), Emiliano Grillo (ARG), Mackenzie Hughes (CAN), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA), Chesson Hadley (USA), Daniel Berger (USA), Bryson DeChambeau (USA), Bill Haas (USA), Lanto Griffin (USA), Ted Potter Jr. (USA), Richy Werenski (USA), Ollie Schniederjans (USA), Webb Simpson (USA), Braden Thornberry (USA)
77 – Sebastián Vázquez (MEX), Alexander Levy (FRA), Richie Ramsay (SCO), Matthew Southgate (ENG), Matt Wallace (ENG), Tyler Duncan (USA), Bubba Watson (USA), Phil Mickelson (USA), Dylan Meyer (USA), Aaron Wise (USA), Lucas Glover (USA), Kevin Kisner (USA), Mike Miller (USA), Chris Babcock (USA)
78 – Michael Putnam (USA), Jordan Spieth (USA), Cole Miller (USA), Ty Strafaci (USA), Tiger Woods (USA), David Gazzolo (USA), Ryan Evans (ENG), Paul Waring (ENG), Jon Rahm (ESP), Jason Scrivener (AUS), Adam Scott (AUS), Dylan Frittelli (RSA), Ernie Els (RSA)
79 – Charl Schwartzel (RSA), David Bransdon (AUS), Jason Day (AUS), Cameron Smith (AUS), Liang Wenchong (CHN), Li Haotong (CHN), Rikuya Hoshino (JPN), Tom Lewis (ENG), Graeme McDowell (NIR), Harold Varner III (USA), Trey Mullinax (USA), Doug Ghim (USA), Gary Woodland (USA), Kenny Perry (USA)
80 – Scott Stallings (USA), Will Zalatoris (USA), Rhett Rasmussen (USA), Rory McIlroy (NIR), Harry Ellis (ENG), Juan Sebastián Muñoz (COL)
81 – Park Sung-Joon (KOR), Kristoffer Reitan (NOR), Satoshi Kodaira (JPN), James Morrison (ENG), Jacob Bergeron (USA), Shintaro Ban (USA), Noah Goodwin (USA), Keegan Bradley (USA), Stewart Hagestad (USA)
82 – Sulman Raza (USA), Philip Barbaree (USA), Franklin Huang (USA), Ryan Lumsden (SCO), Shota Akiyoshi (JPN)
83 – Martin Kaymer (GER), Lucas Herbert (AUS), Garrett Rank (CAN), Adam Hadwin (CAN), Timothy Wiseman (USA)
84 – Theo Humphrey (USA)
85 – Michael Block (USA)
87 – Michael Hebert (USA)
92 – Scott Gregory (ENG)
Photo: Warren Little/Getty Images
