Blown away at Shinnecock Hills

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. – Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth have won 12 majors between them, including two U.S. Opens, so it was odd to see this super-group go a combined 11 over for their first four holes at the 118th U.S. Open at windy Shinnecock Hills on Thursday. And they were just getting started. Mickelson hit 13 of 14 fairways but still made just one birdie and signed for a 77. Spieth triple-bogeyed the par-3 11th, the “shortest par-5 in America,â€� and hit several good shots on the way to a 78. McIlroy had to play the last seven holes in even for an 80. “Just tried to do a little too much on the second hole and it kind of bit me,â€� said Spieth, who found a greenside bunker at 11 and failed to hold the slippery green with his next two shots before two-putting for his triple. “From there it was just kind of a grind. Played pretty well to be even through the rest of the nine and then just didn’t make very good swings. “There were certainly some dicey pins,â€� Spieth added, “but at the same time there was guys that shot under par. I could have played better.â€� England’s Ian Poulter and American Scott Piercy each shot 1-under 69 to share the early lead. “This golf course is an extremely difficult course to play with no wind,â€� said Poulter, who hit 11 of 14 fairways and made three birdies. “Playing at 25-mile-an-hour wind is pretty stressful.â€� Justin Rose (71), a two-time winner this season and one of the pre-tournament favorites, said Thursday was about maintaining composure and minimizing the damage.   “Happy it’s over,â€� he said. He meant the first round, but others were left to wonder if it wasn’t over in the larger sense, having perhaps shot themselves completely out of the tournament. Scott Stallings had a long par putt at the par-4 14th hole, but not only missed, he watched his ball sail past the pin, off the green and down a swale. He made a 9 on the way to an 80. Satoshi Kodaira, who won the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head earlier this season, failed to make a birdie and shot 81. Jason Day, a two-time winner so far this season, came in with a 79. At least they didn’t enter the record books. Scott Gregory, a promising young player who won the 2016 British Amateur and now plays on the European Challenge Tour, shot 92, the first U.S. Open round in the 90s since the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black.      Day, who hit just seven of 14 fairways, cited not just the stiff wind but also the USGA’s choice of pin positions as contributing to the difficulty Thursday. “It’s hard enough,â€� he said after making just one birdie. “We’ve got at least 20 miles an hour of wind. Shinnecock is hard. If you’re not quite there, you don’t hit enough fairways—you’ve just got to hit fairways first, and I didn’t do that and that’s why I played bad.â€� Mickelson hit fairways but still didn’t score. His group racked up a triple-bogey (Spieth), and back-to-back doubles (McIlroy at 13 and 14) before the day’s first birdie (McIlroy at 15). While Mickelson was trying to become just the sixth player to win the career Grand Slam, he now has work to do just to make the cut on a course where he finished second to Retief Goosen in 2004. The carnage continued in the afternoon as Tiger Woods’ second shot missed long at the first hole, his next two pitches rolled back off the turtle-back green and he made a triple-bogey 7. Brooks Koepka tied the record score in relation to par when he shot 16 under to win the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, but there was no such magic this time around as he shot an opening 75. On the bright side, no one will come close to 16 under at Shinnecock. “It’s a U.S. Open,â€� Koepka said. “You can shoot, whatever, 5 over today and shoot 1 under tomorrow and be just fine going into the weekend. So, I’m not too concerned.â€� For him and others who were blown away, the promise of tomorrow was all they had left. 

Click here to read the full article…