After 14 years, the U.S. Open is finally back at Winged Foot. Surprisingly to some on Thursday, the vaunted major venue played a little easier than ever—with Justin Thomas shsooting an opening-round 65 to grab the lead and shoot the lowest round in a U.S. Open ever at Winged Foot.
Thomas—playing alongside Tiger Woods and recent PGA champion Collin Morikawa—will tee off at 1:27 p.m., so he’ll get to see if these scores continue to go lower by the time he tees off. Patrick Reed (-4, one back) tees off in the group just before Thomas. And there are some lower rounds on the course this morning, including Thomas Pieters, who stood one back before teeing off this morning, but made a few early birdies to actually surpass JT atop the leader board. We’ll see what Winged Foot yields as Day 2 goes on.
9:29 a.m.: Thomas Pieters makes the turn in 2-under 33—making a par at the par-5 ninth hole to keep his bogey-free streak of 24 holes going strong. Pieters leads Thomas (yes, that gives us pause, too) by one shot entering his inward nine.
9:18 a.m.: Louis Oosthuizen (-3), who shot a second-nine 30 yesterday, drops his first shot of the day at the fourth hole to move to 2-under. Joaquin Niemann is also struggling a bit after a stellar opening day—he’s 2-over on the day to move back to even-par.
Tony Finau is the latest to player to drop a shot after he had it to 2-under for a bit—he bogeys the 14th hole after a poor drive to move back to 1-under. We’re definitely seeing more over-par rounds than yesterday early on at Winged Foot. It should only get tougher as the greens firm up more in the afternoon.
9:12 a.m.: After two bogeys to start his round, Matthew Wolff gets one back at the par-5 12th—moving back to 3-under, currently three back of Thomas Pieters’ lead. Pieters found the rough at the par-5 ninth hole, forcing him to lay up. We’ll see if he can get up and down to add a birdie.
9:01 a.m.: Thomas Pieters continues to go around Winged Foot unscathed. He saved another par at the par-4 eighth hole to remain in the lead alone at 6-under—Pieters only has one bogey on the week (the par-5 12th hole). Just incredible golf at Winged Foot.
Also … Pieters is giving us a double take every time he’s on the screen. The long hair … the Nike apparel … and the silky swing. He’s giving us serious Tommy Fleetwood vibes. And he’s playing a U.S. Open like Fleetwood often does (Fleetwood, by the way, is 5-over through the championship—so he’ll have to play better to make the weekend).
8:49 a.m.: The best round of the afternoon wave Thursday was Matthew Wolff’s stellar 4-under 66, putting the 21-year-old one back of Thomas entering today. Wolff’s moving in the opposite direction today—bogeying his first two holes to move back to 2-under.
8:41 a.m.: Even NBC’s Mike Tirico can only laugh in amazement with the way Korn Ferry Tour star Will Zalatoris has played the holes-in-one this week. Of course, he made an ace at No. 7 yesterday, then had this unlucky bounce at the 13th hole, too. Well, he nearly made one to start his round at the difficult par-3 10th hole at Winged Foot. Zalatoris capitalized on the birdie to move into red numbers (-1).
8:33 a.m.: Thomas Pieters looked like he might be in a little trouble at the sixth hole—being out of position in the front right rough with his tee shot at the short par 4. But after an OK pitch shot for his third, the Belgian holed his par putt to remain at the sixth hole.
Another former European Ryder Cupper is also making a bit of a surge this morning: Spain’s Rafa Cabrera Bello. Cabrera Bello shot an opening-round 68 and has made two birdies to start his day—one at the 10th and he just drained a long birdie putt at the par-3 13th hole. That has Cabera Bello two back of Pieters’ lead.
8:24 a.m.: Perhaps Winged Foot is getting a sharper set of teeth on Friday. There are only a handful of under-par rounds at the moment—one of which came from the World No. 1 golfer, Dustin Johnson, who started his day with a great birdie at the difficult par-3 10th hole. The NBC announcing crew reported that DJ worked with his instructor Claude Harmon III after his 3-over opening round to shorten his swing a little bit after struggling yesterday. We’ll see if that’s successful today to give DJ a chance to play his way into contention for the weekend.
8:15 a.m.: Much had been made about new father Rory McIlroy entering this U.S. Open. More under the radar was another European golfer who’s now a new father: Thomas Pieters. Pieters is continuing his stellar play from Thursday (a 4-under 66) with two early birdies at Winged Foot—one at the first hole and now one at No. 5.
He’s been quiet for a few years, but Pieters was a force for the European Ryder Cup team in 2016 at Hazeltine (going 4-1). Funny enough, he paired together with McIlroy a lot—and now both guys are new dads. That baby swag is working nicely so far this week at Winged Foot.
8:02 a.m.: One of the familiar names near the top of the leader board on Day 1 was veteran Lee Westwood, who shot a steady 3-under 67 at age 47. But so far it’s been a struggle for Westy, bogeying his first two holes of the day to fall to 1-under.