Robert TheodorsonOakmont Country Club lived up to its billing as ‘the most difficult course in America’ as the course left only ten men below par after a brutal opening round which took down favourites like Scheffler, DeChambeau, and McIlroy.
Smash captain Brooks Koepka led the way for LIV Field, finishing 2-under par on the day, good for a score of 68.
Not far behind Koepka, Jon Rahm (1-under par) was also one of the ten to finish the day under par, ending Thursday with a score of 69.
Starting the day off right with an eagle on the Par 5 4th, Koepka used the early 2-under advantage to mitigate some early damage encountered on the beginning of the back nine.
At Oakmont, finish a round even par is an accomplishment, and it looked like Koepka would do just that after losing his advantage after the 14th hole.
Then, in true Brooks Koepka fashion, the former two-time U.S. Open winner vaulted himself up the leaderboard after birdieing the last two holes, finishing top amongst his LIV peers and only two behind leader J.J. Spaun going into Friday.
LIV After U.S. Open Round One
| Brooks Koepka | -2 | T3 |
| Jon Rahm | -1 | T6 |
| Marc Leishman | +1 | T20 |
| Carlos Ortiz | +1 | T20 |
| Bryson DeChambeau | +3 | T49 |
| Patrick Reed | +3 | T49 |
| Tyrrell Hatton | +3 | T49 |
| Phil Mickelson | +4 | T62 |
| Cam Smith | +5 | T79 |
| Jinichiro Kozuma | +5 | T79 |
| Dustin Johnson | +5 | T79 |
| Joaquin Niemann | +5 | T79 |
| Jose Ballester | +6 | T98 |
| Richard Bland | +6 | T98 |
Both Patrick Reed and Joaquin Niemann looked to have something special going on until late-day collapses.
Reed’s albatross on the 4th was the talk of the day. Unfortunately, that good work was for nought after putting up a 7 on the Par 4 18th.
Nevertheless, two, three, four over par is not a terrible way to end the day at Oakmont and most of the LIV field are certainly still in contention despite the seemingly inflated scores.
Tomorrow, favourites like DeChambeau and Niemann will look for their fortunes to change as start times are flipped (morning-afternoon) and the round should be slightly cooler with decent cloud cover and some late precipitation.
