Fowler leads first round of US Open with record score

The American golfer shot -7 on the first day at Erin Hills, and is aiming for the first major of his career.

Rickie Fowler's total strokes were 65 (par 72), helping him to re-establish the record of Jack Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf at Baltusrol course at the 1980 US Open. At that time, these two former golfers achieved a total stroke of 63 (par 70).

Fowler played very steadily on the first day. Photo: Reuters.

Fowler had a perfect round with seven birdies and no bogeys. The 28-year-old showed excellent driving ability, hitting the ball in the fairway on 12 of 14 holes and green in regulation on 15 of 18 holes. This is a very encouraging result for Fowler, who was cut in his last two US Open appearances at Oakmont and Chambers Bay.

Paul Casey and Xander Schauffele finished second, both at under-6. Casey opened the round with an eagle on the first hole and then added six birdies. He had two bogeys on holes 4 and 10. Schauffele, meanwhile, became the first player in 30 years to score under-6 without bogeys in his first US Open appearance.

Brian Harman, Tommy Fleetwood and Brooks Koepka all finished at -5. Patrick Reed, Kevin Na and Marc Leishman were at -4.

Only 44 of the 156 players were under par in the first round. Fowler and Sergio Garcia (-2) were the only two golfers in the world's top 10.

Spieth and Johnson, the championship candidates, struggled in the first round. Photo: Reuters.

Jordan Spieth (+1) hit 13 fairways but struggled with his putts. After a birdie on 11, the former world number one made 10 consecutive pars before bogeying on holes 4 and 5. Spieth joked that he and Dustin Johnson could have a dream putting contest after hitting just one of 15 putts from a hole-in-one position.

Dustin Johnson (+3) only hit the fairway nine times, which is a surprise considering the reigning US Open champion leads the PGA Tour in driving stats. He also had only 11 of 18 greens in regulation. Johnson failed to birdie on four par 5s, which are considered his strong points. Johnson even had a double-bogey on the 14th after hitting the ball into the wild grass and failing to get it up the hill on his next shot.

Former world number one Rory McIlroy (+6) and Jason Day (+7) got off to a good start but then made a series of mistakes. Day birdied the first hole and McIlroy eagled the second. However, the Northern Irishman did not play under par on any hole from then on. He double-bogeyed the 15th and 17th. Day added three more birdies at the 7th, 14th and 18th but was three over par at the 4th and 10th and had five bogeys. With those scores, McIlroy and Day will have to work hard to make the cut, let alone break into the leading group.

McIlroy is 13 strokes ahead of the lead. Photo: Reuters.

Phil Mickelson failed to make it to this year's US Open. The PGA Tour veteran had hoped the round would be postponed due to bad weather so he could make it after attending his daughter's high school graduation, but that didn't happen. This is the first US Open since 1994 without Tiger Woods or Mickelson.

Overall, the first round of the 2017 US Open witnessed poor performances from big stars, including those who were considered top championship candidates.

The last six majors have seen their champions win their first major title. That could be the case again this year, with the current top-ranked major winners, Jim Furyk, Sergio Garcia and Ernie Els, all tied for 18th.

Results of some notable golfers: -3 Lee Westwood, Si Woo Kim; E Adam Scott, Justin Rose, Martin Kaymer; +1 Alex Noren; +2 Henrik Stenson, Hideki Matsuyama; +4 Jon Rahm.

According to VNE