Rory McIlroy has said he is done talking on the whole LIV debate and golf’s unexpected merger, and the Northern Irishman was true to his word after an opening-round 65 at the US Open.
The four-time major champion had cancelled his pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday and again opted not to speak to the media following his opening 18 holes in Los Angeles.
Too often, McIlroy has been derailed by a poor first round in his quest for that first major since 2014. Not so yesterday. His 30 on the front nine was the best nine-hole score he had managed in his career.
It led some fans to shout “59 watch” but the momentum stalled and he was even par for the back nine. There was a solitary additional birdie on the 15th and a nasty blemish on the 18th in a round which could have been even better.
Having found the rough, he bizarrely played and missed at the ball with his chip shot, eventually doing well to card a bogey with a 15-foot putt on a day of record making in terms of the low-scoring on the course.
It was the one blemish on a day in which he found 13 fairways and 16 greens in regulation.
For all his silence, McIlroy had been tantalisingly paired with Brooks Koepka, LIV’s in-form player, in fact the in-form player in world golf in terms of the majors with his US PGA win and ending runner-up at the Masters.
But the American bogeyed the opening hole and never really managed to find his rhythm in a round of one-over par to leave him in a share of 56th place. He and McIlroy begin their second round around 4.30pm UK time today.
Some might call it the Leeds United effect but a day after announcing plans to invest in the Championship club, who were relegated on the final day of the Premier League season, Rickie Fowler produced the lowest round in major golf history.
His 62 – three strokes better than McIlroy – included 10 birdies and two bogeys. But the suggestion he might have the day’s glory all to himself was eradicated barely half an hour later when he was joined as the clubhouse leader by Xander Schauffele, who did not drop a shot amid his 10 birdies.
It matched the previous record – a 62 by Brendan Grace at the 2017 Open – and bettered the previous US Open record of 63, twice previously achieved by Tommy Fleetwood.
Fowler and Schauffele go into today’s second round two shots clear of fellow Americans Dustin Johnson, the best performing of the LIV golfers on day one who like McIlroy bogeyed the final hole, and Wyndham Clark.
Afterwards, Fowler, who had lost year dropped to 173rd in the world and failed to qualify for the last two US Opens, said: “It’s has been long and tough. It’s a lot long than you ever want it to be. It’s been so worth it now being back.”
