Rough beginning for big names at Shinnecock

Scott Piercy and England’s Ian Poulter were the only two golfers to finish under par during Thursday’s morning wave of the US Open as whipping winds in Southampton, New York, wreaked havoc with many of the game’s brightest stars at Shinnecock Hills.

Piercy and Poulter got into the clubhouse with 1-under par 69s. No one else in the morning wave managed to finish at even par, with third-ranked Justin Rose among a group of four players at 1-over.

“It was extremely windy, and it was extremely difficult,” said Poulter, who avoided big numbers on a card that included three birdies and a pair of bogeys. “So to come off the golf course under par is extremely satisfying.”

To put into perspective how solid 1-under rounds were, consider how several of the top-10 players fared during the morning wave.

Fourth-ranked Jordan Spieth and No. 6 Rory McIlroy teed off together on the 10th hole. Spieth bo-geyed his first hole and needed to sink about a six-footer for triple on the par-3 11th. He would go on to add four more bogeys and a double, finishing nine shots back of the early leaders at 8-over.

The going was even tougher for McIlroy. The Northern Irishman followed bogeys on two of his first three holes with a pair of doubles before carding his first birdie of the day. He made the turn at 7-over 42, then promptly doubled the par-4 first hole. He added two birdies and three bogeys the rest of the way in completing a 10-over 80.

Eighth-ranked Jason Day can commiserate. The Australian also found himself at 10-over after a double on No. 15. He birdied the next hole to “salvage” a 9-over 79.

Tiger Woods began play in the afternoon and he immediately ran into problems. Woods had a triple bogey on No. 1 and followed up with a bogey. Through eight holes, he was 3-over-par as of press time.

Seventh-ranked Rickie Fowler’s 3-over 73 looked like a walk in the park in comparison. Ninth-ranked Brooks Koepka, the defending champion, finished at 5-over, as did Japan’s 10th-ranked Hideki Matsuyama, who finished second to Koepka at Erin Hills in 2017.

Phil Mickelson, seeking to complete the career grand slam, hit each of his first six fairways, but even that wasn’t enough to prevent him from making his turn at 4-over 39 on the back nine en route to a 7-over 77. (Reuters)