Signature Scroll: Windy wonderland, until it wasn't, in Round 1 of U.S. Open

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. – “That’s a good one,” the foolish man prematurely said, watching Rory McIlroy’s ball soar toward the par-5 16th fairway.

The man watched McIlroy’s ball fight the wind and remained confident even as the ball precariously climbed higher and higher and the breeze took hold.

Oh, the naivete.

Not until the ball fell 50 yards short, failing to clear a fairway bunker 250 yards from the tee, did the foolish man realize his mistake.

Hello, I’m the foolish man. This was my welcome-to-Shinnecock moment. Make no assumptions until the ball comes to rest. If I learned anything walking my first competitive U.S. Open round at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, it was that.

At least in the morning.

The weather gods didn’t deliver all the carnage we expected – wind gusts were only 25 mph, instead of 40+ – but Shinnecock showed its mettle on Thursday morning as a premier test of golf anywhere in the world. It flummoxed the early wave, which got the short end of the stick with a weather delay and the windiest of conditions, forcing creativity and patience.

By the time the afternoon wave reached the midpoint of their rounds, the wind had laid down and laid bare the delicate balance the USGA had to strike on Thursday. With tropical storm-level winds in the forecast, the setup team kept the greens rolling slower and stuck the pins in benign spots to avoid the tournament spinning out of control before it even began. After accusations of “losing” the golf course in 2004 and 2018, letting chaos rain before the field completed 18 holes would have been a disaster. The flip side of that coin was that when the conditions became benign in the waning hours of the day, it allowed the lucky few to pin their ears back and go. Dustin Johnson birdied four straight. Matt Fitzpatrick went from 2-over to 2-under in five holes. Wyndham Clark raced out to a four-stroke lead.

“They’re probably 18 of the easiest pins that they’ll ever put out on the golf course,” said Padraig Harrington.

And that’s the thing. The next few days should be tougher, even as the winds die down. The USGA got through the problem day. Now it’s time for them to pin their ears back and go.

Playing through

• 🖊 Need a full review of Round 1? We provided live updates all throughout the day.
• 🏗 Rory McIlroy’s evolution was on full display at Shinnecock Hills on Thursday.
• 🤕 Jason Day withdrew mid-round with a back injury

Grand Slam hunting

An observation: Scottie Scheffler is using a TrackMan much more often than he used to.

That’s what I was thinking as I watched the world No. 1’s animated post-round practice session on Thursday. These venting sessions have become more common this season as Scheffler works through the inevitable kinks that golf delivers, and the TrackMan has accompanied him more often than I can ever recall.

Why does that matter, you ask? When Scheffler is rolling, he keeps things incredibly analog. He checks his grip, his setup and his alignment and that’s about it. It’s that simplicity that has made him largely immune to extended slumps. It’s hard to get too far afield if the fundamentals are intact. Seeing him add another data point (the TrackMan) is a sign, at least to me, that he’s trying to find something he hasn’t lost before, or, at minimum, something that he hasn’t lost recently.

It was going to be incredibly hard to maintain the torrid dominance of the last few years. Golf has allowed only a select few to maintain lengthy runs at the top. Scheffler isn’t out of this tournament by any means. He’s 2-over and only four shots back. In all likelihood, he will make a run for this title.

It all just feels a little harder right now. Maybe it’s the weight of being the world No. 1 finally showing itself. Or the weight of the possible career grand slam. Or the weight, however light, of people like me caring enough to go watch him hit balls for 30 minutes.

Parting shots

• 💪 McIlroy’s first-round 69 was an 11-shot improvement from 2018, the height of his U.S. Open struggles. The 1-under round is more impressive than it looks. He dealt with the hardest conditions. Unlikely? Sure. Helpful in the long run? We’ll find out.
• 🤯 One nugget on how the strong winds affected the morning round: McIlroy hit his 37-foot birdie putt a good 8 feet past the hole. The putt was downwind and as McIlroy walked off, he said, "Greens are (rolling at) a nine, that was playing at a 14."
• 🗣️The best quote of the day came from 18-year-old amateur Harrison Coleman. He shot 81 and spent hours at the practice area afterward, which is where I overheard him say this: “I couldn’t accept I missed something when sometimes that’s just how golf goes.” Found it incredibly insightful that the teenager was able to process the tough day and have an introspective takeaway that quickly.
• 7️⃣ The seventh hole was diabolical on Thursday. Only 29% of the field hit the green.
• 🍇 Clark’s renaissance is a sight to behold. He admitted that he had no clue which direction his game would go at the beginning of the year. He reached the winner’s circle again earlier this year and might just nab his second U.S. Open. Heady stuff.
• 🇸🇪 Something to monitor if Ludvig Åberg continues to play well. He's using a different putter than the PGA Championship. He led the field in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green that week, but couldn't make a thing. On Thursday, Åberg was 13th in putting. If that continues, watch out.