Woods chasing Rose as US Open 2nd round begins BEST FIRST-ROUND SCORES
pebble beach — Pebble Beach looked primed for another scoring onslaught on Friday, as Justin Rose headed out on a misty morning aiming to build on his record-tying first-round 65 in the US Open Golf Championship.
England’s Rose teed off alongside Tiger Woods at 8:24 am on No. 10. “Off of 10, right away we’ve got a tough par-four right from the get-go,” noted Woods, who struggled with his irons on Thursday but one-putted 11 greens to finish one-under par. “We have the harder side to start off on.”
Although he started out five adrift, in the damp, overcast conditions, the 15-time major champion could look forward to another day of ideal scoring conditions.
Woods had a ringside seat as Rose matched the lowest US open round ever posted at Pebble Beach — Woods’ own first-round 65 on the way to a devastating 15-shot victory in 2000.
Rose closed birdie-birdie-birdie on Thursday to vault to the top of a leaderboard that featured 39 rounds under par, with 14 players within three shots of the lead.
Former British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen and 22-year-old Aaron Wise and Americans Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele were a stroke back on 66 and Americans Scott Piercy and Nate Lashley were at four-under.
A group of eight on three-under 68 included four-time major champion Rory McIlroy, reigning Open Champion Francesco Molinari and 2016 British Open winner Henrik Stenson.
The US Golf Association, which faced withering criticism over conditions bordering on unplayable on the wind-dried greens at Shinnecock Hills last year, kept Pebble Beach generously watered during the hot, sunny practice days.
Come tournament time, the Pacific kicked in with a damp “marine layer” of cloud, but McIlroy warned that Pebble Beach would certainly toughen up.
“All this golf course needs is just a little tweak here and there, and it can play a lot more difficult,” said McIlroy, who is aiming to add to his cache of four major titles for the first time since 2014.
“So while the conditions are this benign and the golf course is still sort of soft and slow, you need to take advantage of it.”
Justin Rose (ENG)
- Louis Oosthuizen (RSA), Rickie Fowler (USA), Xander Schauffele (USA), Aaron Wise (USA)
Scott Piercy (USA), Nate Lashley (USA) Emiliano Grillo (ARG), Sepp Straka (AUT), Francesco Molinari (ITA), Henrik Stenson (SWE), Gary Woodland (USA), Chez Reavie (USA), Chesson Hadley (USA), Rory McIlroy (NIR)
Marc Leishman (AUS), Adria Arnaus (ESP), Jon Rahm (ESP), Sergio Garcia (ESP),
Martin Kaymer (GER), Hideki Matsuyama (JPN), Viktor Hovland (NOR), Bryson DeChambeau (USA), Brooks Koepka (USA), Matt Kuchar (USA), Matthew Fitzpatrick (ENG), Graeme McDowell (NIR)
Jason Day (AUS), Adam Scott (AUS), Rafael Cabrera (ESP), An Byeong-Hun (KOR), Carlos Ortiz (MEX), Jovan Rebula (RSA), Jason Dufner (USA), Zach Johnson (USA), Tiger Woods (USA), Tyrrell Hatton (ENG), Matt Wallace (ENG), Paul Casey (ENG)