Rory McIlroy will begin his second US Open round at 4.24pm Irish time on Friday as he aims to chase joint-leaders Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele.
The American pair equalled the lowest score in men’s major championship history with stunning rounds of 62 on the opening day of the 123rd edition of the tournament on Thursday.
Fowler exploited ideal, overcast conditions for the early starters to fire 10 birdies and two bogeys at Los Angeles Country Club, matching the mark set by Branden Grace in the 2017 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.
READ MORE: Rory McIlroy in touch at US Open as Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele make history
It was also the lowest score ever recorded in a US Open, England’s Tommy Fleetwood making the most recent of the six previous 63s in the final round in 2018.
Yet Fowler amazingly held that distinction on his own for less than 30 minutes as Schauffele, playing two groups behind, carded eight birdies in a bogey-free 62 of his own.
At eight under par the American duo led by two shots from compatriot Wyndham Clark and former US Open champion Dustin Johnson, with Rory McIlroy and Brian Harman on five under.
McIlroy raced to the turn in 30 with five birdies in his first eight holes before following a run of six pars with a birdie on the 124-yard 15th, where Matthieu Pavon and Sam Burns both made a hole-in-one.
However, the four-time major winner then dropped his only shot of the day on the 18th and did not speak to waiting reporters after being required to undertake a drug test.
McIlroy will play alongside Brooks Koepka and Hideki Matsuyama once again on Friday.
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