U.S. OPEN POUNDED BY STORMS
Drama continues at Oakmont with a one-putt day and marathon play
Confusion is not an especially unusual condition for a U.S. Open beset by spectacular thunderstorms, but this one may go three days before the first game story can be written with a final score from any round.
There was the overnight clubhouse leader, amateur Scottie Scheffler, the only one under par of the nine players who completed their rounds in between deluges Thursday.
There was the practically but not officially clubhouse leader, Andrew Landry, because he was still 12 feet away from finishing his opening round (though he was two strokes better than Scheffler) when play was called for the third and final time Thursday afternoon.
And then there was the horse that ought to have been leading by several lengths at nightfall Friday, if he had been able to take advantage of one of the most beautiful ball-striking rounds since … well, last year’s final round.
But just as it was at Chambers Bay, Dustin Johnson’s putter wouldn’t let him grab it by the throat.
Really, though, it could have been anyone from the selection of major championship close-but-no-cigars who were stacked up near the top of the leaderboard like cordwood: Johnson, who had the full 36-hole experience Friday, shooting 67-69, or Lee Westwood, or Sergio Garcia, even Henrik Stenson.
But it was Johnson, putting out seconds after play was suspended for darkness, sharing the lead at four-under-par with Landry, who has his entire second round to play Saturday morning.
But however true the words of the great sports columnist Jim Murray might have been — something like “the L.A. phone book is full of guys who led the U.S. Open after the first round” — Landry’s name will still be in the historical record for his grandkids to admire.
All he had to do Friday at 7:30 a.m. was bring a putter and a golf ball to the course (and, quite unnecessarily, his caddy), walk onto the 9th green, put his ball down where he had marked it before the animals began pairing off two by two, roll a 12-footer in for birdie and a 66, and stand three shots clear of the field.
And that was all the golf he would play Friday.
“I read the putt yesterday. I knew it was a cup and a half out to the right,” said Landry. “So I thought about it a little bit last night, but I didn’t dream about it. I’m not that (obsessed).”
Landry may or may not have told his father that he intended to win the U.S. Open this week, but it made a good story and sounded even better when the entire field finally got through Round 1 in mid-afternoon Friday and, lo and behold, he was still at the top of the board.
Even so, we’ll assume he knows he’s very much a long-shot here. Qualifiers have won this championship before, but few were as far outside the loop as Landry. This would be akin to Orville “Sarge” Moody winning in 1969.
“It was just one of those rounds that comes to you once, twice, three times a month, and I’m lucky it was in the first round of the U.S. Open,” said the 28-yearold Texan, playing in his first major.
Landry’s 66 not only led after 18 holes, his 66 surpassed the previous best first-round score ever in an Oakmont U.S. Open: 67, by guys named Ben Hogan and Gary Player.
His lead was one stroke over Johnson and Lee Westwood. At sundown, he and Johnson were a stroke clear of Westwood, and two ahead of Garcia, Irishman Shane Lowry and 2012 Canadian Open winner Scott Piercy.
Getting his last putt holed as darkness fell was “definitely big,” said Johnson. “I can sleep in, get some rest, and we’ll tee off late tomorrow afternoon.
“I just need to stick to what I’m doing. I’ve got a good game plan for this place. If I keep driving it like I have, I’ll be tough.”
“It’s a good way to start this championship,” said the 43-yearold Westwood, who tied for second at the Masters in April.
“You don’t really want to be shooting a lot over par and having to chase.”
He might have been referring to the guns at the top of the world rankings: No. 1 Jason Day and Rickie Fowler shot unsightly 76s, Rory McIlroy a clumsy 77. Masters champ Danny Willett could do no better than 75.
In fact, McIlroy-Willett-Fowler were a cumulative 18 over par.
Only defending champion Jordan Spieth, among the young luminaries, held it together with a 72.
“I’m not sure how my score stands right now,” Spieth said, “but I know that at the end of the day, the USGA is going to try to have even par win the golf tournament, and I know that I can shoot 2 under in the remaining 54 holes, no matter how the course plays. I know I’m capable of it. I’m in it.”
Like Landry, Westwood and half the field, he’ll play 36 holes Saturday.
From early afternoon onward Friday, it was a dramatically different golf course, because in between rounds, the greens were double-cut and rolled and — combined with the return of heat and sun and breeze — Oakmont was rapidly recovering its firmness.
“When you play 36 holes on this golf course,” said an exhausted Garcia, “it takes a lot out of you.”
Alert the paramedics. This is going to get interesting.