The best in the world are on their way to the 122nd US Open, as big names have come out the doors of the Country Club. He started early on Thursday with Rory McIlroy jumping to the top of the standings with an almost flawless effort of 3 under 67. With a shot at the end of his round, McIlroy would be matched later by Joel Dahmen, MJ Daffue and a pair of European counterparts to 3 less.
“I would wear 67 to this golf course any day,” McIlroy said. “Although I’m a little frustrated here to be hooked on the last one, it’s a great start to the tournament. I felt like I did most of the right things today. I definitely put it right and hit the ball in the right places. and I hit a lot of greens, I gave myself a lot of opportunities. I basically did everything you need to do in a US Open. “
However, this whole group would be overtaken by Adam Hadwin, who spun in the round of the day with a 4-under 66 in the afternoon. The Canadian is in the middle of a strong season, which at one point included three consecutive finals in the top 10, but has yet to prove the dispute in a major championship.
Hadwin has the job done for him the rest of the way, as the right hunters are lining up at the door. Defending champion Jon Rahm, PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas and two-time title holder Collin Morikawa are all three times down 1, looking to move up in the second round on Friday.
There’s still a lot of action to play, and that’s exactly what we want to do here as we break down the top of the standings from Round 1 into the 122nd U.S. Open.
Breakdown of the US Open 2022 classification
1. Adam Hadwin (-4): The Canadian entered the field this week when Paul Casey retired due to injury. Getting in as a substitute for the section standings, Hadwin hardly looked like a Thursday, as all facets of his game were in sync. Leading the field in green tee wins, there is still room for improvement, as the 34-year-old, ranked 60th in wins, won round 1. This should attract fear in the eyes of his hunters. , but still, it’s not like that. as if he had often been in this position, as the best result of his career in a major championship is T24 in the Masters 2018. He has enjoyed a good season 2022 which included a T9 in the Player Championship, but the next three days will be a completely different animal.
T2. Rory McIlroy, Joel Dahmen, Callum Tarren, MJ Daffue and David Lingmerth (-3): Since his last round at the 2022 Masters, McIlroy, the four-time major champion, has been rolling. He continued his good game on Thursday at the Country Club, but was not without some moments of scratches. With more than four wins, the Northern Irishman achieved the third best performance with the flat stick in the hand of his career in the PGA Tour. Strong in the shirt and quite skilled with his irons, it was around the green where he fell short.
Kyle Porter called McIlroy’s around the game “undervalued,” and I agree, as he ranks fourth in that category during the year and ahead of names like Jordan Spieth, Cameron Smith and Patrick Reed, but few it is sometimes mentioned in the same way. . You will need this area of the bag to bounce back as it has had trouble backing up one large round with another.
T7. Matt Fitzpatrick, Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose and four more (-2): Nine years later and the 2013 American fan did not lose any rhythm, as Fitzpatrick looked very comfortable during his first round at the Country Club . Ranked 10th in tee to green strokes, the Englishman continued to thrive on the tee and was able to hide an extremely loose iron performance thanks to a strong short play effort. He’s been knocking on the door for what seems like an eternity and on paper the 2022 version of Fitzpatrick is different. Having been in the final pairing at the 2022 PGA Championship, it is possible that the heartache of Southern Hills will bring joy to Brookline.
T14. Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Will Zalatoris, Justin Thomas, Max Homa and seven more (-1): a lot of great hitters record that number and are still firmly in the fight. Homa has considerable interest in terms of his iron performance, as on Thursday he put together the best approximation numbers of his career after winning almost 4.5 times in approximation. Maybe we should be encouraged by this or maybe we should be encouraged so that Rahm and Zalatoris don’t have their “A” game even if they keep signing for rounds below par. However, a handful of these players can make a move on Friday, and I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them lifts the U.S. Open trophy on Sunday.
Rick Gehman, Kyle Porter and Greg DuCharme summarize Thursday’s action at the Country Club. Follow and listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
T26. Xander Schauffele, Hideki Matsuyama, Daniel Berger, Scottie Scheffler and 12 more (E): Scheffler, number 1 in the world, finished birdie-birdie to return to equality; however, there is another American worth noting. Schauffele hit only 50% of the streets and was still able to enter the house on par, which seems like a robbery. He had the feeling that on Thursday he was everywhere while he was fucking four birds to make up for four bogeys. In his five appearances at the U.S. Open, he has five finals in the top 10; however, he still has to really fight, as his average deficit to get into the final round has been 5.4 times. A great day on Friday afternoon could give you a realistic chance to be within reach for the weekend.
T42. Joaquin Niemann, Sam Burns, Bryson DeChambeau, Corey Conners and eight more (+1): After an eagle in the eighth par-5, it looked like Niemann would threaten the front page of the standings while he was 2 under during the day. . . With three bogeys in his last four holes, the young Chilean is not out of this championship, but the mountain is certainly steeper than it could have been. Some strong names are next to Niemann, and after rounds of 1, they have little room for error for the next 54 holes.
T57. Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay, Cameron Young and 19 more (+2): It was a typical Spieth round as he started the day with three bogeys in his first four holes and had to go back to 2. He stays in less of 100% health, but considering all that, I would consider Thursday’s effort as a small victory as it ranked in the top 10 in approach shots. Although the short game is less than stellar, it is only six times the pace. While Young was in a statistically similar place to Spieth, Cantlay was not because his iron game was simply terrible. If he wants to somehow turn around the narrative of his major championship problems, these clubs will have to get started, as he was solid both off the tee and on the greens.