BROOKLINE, Mass. — During the press conference following his round, one media member in framing a question said that Rory McIlroy had “sort of become the moral compass of the professional game” regarding his stance on the lucrative, Saudi-backed LIV Golf.
McIlroy admitted last weekend following his Canadian Open victory that he had extra motivation because of the chasm that has been created with PGA Tour players leaving for guaranteed money and no-cut, 54-hole events.
On Thursday morning, McIlroy’s compass was pointed north, as in toward the top of the leaderboard. The 2011 U.S. Open champion took advantage of good scoring conditions in the morning when the wind was quiet and turned in a 3-under-par 67, one shot behind Adam Hadwin, who ripped off five birdies on the final six holes of the front nine.
McIlroy is tied for second with Callum Tarren, Joel Dahmen, MJ Daffue and David Lingmerth of Sweden, who only got into the field when Martin Kaymer withdrew on Sunday.
“You’d take 67 around this golf course any day,” said McIlroy, who then spent Thursday night at TD Garden for the Celtics and Warriors game. “Even though I’m standing up here slightly frustrated that I bogeyed the last, it’s a great start to the tournament. I felt like I did most things well today.”
He had four birdies before a bogey on the ninth.
As well as he played, a pair of scrambling pars were what he was most proud of. He found the fescue to the right of the green on the par-3 second, punched out and rolled in a 16-foot comebacker to save par. The subdued fist pump was a sign that it was big to keep the round going in the right direction.
McIlroy tried to use a fairway metal to reach the par-4 fifth that was playing downwind, but it hung up on the edge of a bunker about 30 yards in front of the green.
Having to stand in the bunker with the ball well above his feet, McIlroy had to give a baseball bat-like swing and only advanced the ball about 5 yards into a bunker. He took out his frustration on the sand with his wedge.
“You’re going to encounter things at a U.S. Open, whether they be lies or stuff like that, that you just don’t really encounter any other week,” he said. “It’s hard not to get frustrated because I’m walking up there going like, just come back into the bunker. The thickest rough on the course is around the edges of the bunkers.
“I was sort of cursing the USGA whenever I was going up to the ball, and then yeah, but it’s one of those things it happens here, it doesn’t really happen anywhere else. You just have to accept it. I gave the sand a couple of whacks because I’d already messed it up, so it wasn’t like it was much more work for Harry, and then I just reset and played a decent bunker shot, and then it was really nice to hole that putt.”
He birdied the seventh, draining a 30-footer, and the par-5 eighth to be the first to hit 4 under before making a bogey to close his round.
Lingmerth had the only bogey-free round of the day, picking up shots on Nos. 16, 18 and 5. Tarren had an eagle on the eighth as he finished with a 4-under 31 on the front nine.
Hadwin had his six birdies in a 10-hole stretch from Nos. 4-13 to move from 1 over to 4 under. He got his round moving in the right direction with an 8-iron from 164 yards to 3 feet at the 482-yard fourth.
“Got a nice run there midway through the front. I do think there’s a few more scorable holes as long as you hit good quality golf shots there,” the Canadian said. “Then I kind of just held down the fort there the last little bit. Some key up-and-downs. Made a nice one from the fringe on 13. Just doing a lot of good things.”
While admitting that there’s still a long way to go, he told Canadian TV network TSN it was “pretty freaking cool” to be the first-round leader at a major. His only PGA Tour win came in March 2017 at Innisbrook.
Matt Fitzpatrick, who won the U.S. Amateur at The Country Club in 2013, chipped in from behind the green at the 12th, one of the steepest greens from back to front as part of a round of 68. He is one of seven at 2 under, including Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose and Hayden Buckley, who has only made one cut since the beginning of April.
The thinking man’s aspect of the course is what Fitzpatrick has come to enjoy about playing at The Country Club.
“There is just a premium on driving accuracy. I think from there — I think you have to putt your way around here. I do think you have to think about it,” the Englishman said. “If I look back at Winged Foot (in 2020), obviously, I didn’t play very well. I feel like I’m a different player then than I am now. Winged Foot was — you didn’t really have to think much about it. It was driver. All holes kind of looked the same. It was driver everywhere as far as you can hit it, and then wedge it on or whatever. Whereas here I feel like there is a lot of drivers, but you are then going into the greens. You can’t miss on the left side because the slope is so severe, and you have no shot. You might decide to play to a corner on 18 with a 3-wood or you just take it even further with driver. I just think it gives you plenty of options and things to think about around this place.”
It was a rough day for Phil Mickelson, who went off in the afternoon and made 4-putt double bogey from 12 feet on the sixth and finished with a 78 that left him 12 shots back and in a share of 144th.
