Rory McIlroy shot a fine bogey-free 65 to move into a tie with Patrick Cantlay atop the leaderboard on the first day of the U.S. Open at Pinewood.
The Northern Irishman won his first major at the event in 2011 and has gone on to win three more titles since, but his last triumph in one of golf's four majors was nearly a decade ago.
Upon arriving in North Carolina, he said he was “the closest he’s ever been” to breaking the record, and his confidence was evident when he shot five under on the famously difficult No. 2 course.
American Cantlay set a target early in the day, finishing one shot ahead of Sweden's Ludwig Öberg and two ahead of compatriot Bryson DeChambeau and Mathieu Pavon of France with six birdies and one bogey.
“There was a period where I wasn’t getting off to the best start in the majors,” said McIlroy, who won the 2011 U.S. Open, 2012 PGA Championship and 2014 Open Championship after bogey-free starts.
First bogey-free first round at a major since the 2014 British Open ✍️
Rory serves as co-lead. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/trIqrlFRSw
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) June 13, 2024
“I was probably a little too excited at the beginning of the week.
“But going back to the (U.S.) PGA Championship, I started at five under at Valhalla. Even going back to last year's championship, I started at five under. Not as low as Ricky (Fowler) and Xander (Schauffele), but it felt good to start low and feel like I was in a tournament from day one.
“Of course, in the majors that I’ve won or the ones where I’ve played well, I always seem to get off to a good start and it would be great to win a major again.
“I played my short game pretty good at the beginning. I chipped in on the 5th, and I played really good up and down on the 6th and 8th holes. But other than that, I felt like I hit every other green. It was a pretty controlled round of golf.”
The world number three holed out from seven feet for birdie on the fourth hole and chipped in from just before the green for another birdie on the next hole to finish at 33.
He two-putted from just off the green on the par-5 10th, then holed his approach to 11 feet on the 16th and holed it from 20 feet on the final hole.
Starting from the tenth hole, Cantlay hit a shot into a bunker on the eleventh hole, but he failed to hit the green on the par-3 fifteenth hole and gave up the shot.
He closed in at an incredible pace on the first hole after making progress from 17 feet on the 18th, then two-putted for birdie on the fifth, holed a 21-footer on the sixth and closed to 4 feet on the eighth with another excellent pace.
“It started out well, hitting the bunker on the 11th hole,” he said.
“Just played it pretty solid most of the time. I think this golf course is tough to play. But I drove it pretty well. A lot of balls landed in the fairway. Just hit it in the right spot most of the time.
Club Manager👏 pic.twitter.com/EYbbkZwZi7
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 13, 2024
“I’ve been working really hard on my game and usually when you just make a few changes and you work really hard, it’s just a matter of time.”
Aberg started his day on the 10th hole with three birdies on the front nine, and although a rare miss on the green on the par-3 sixth cost him his second shot of the day, he quickly clawed his way back with a great tee shot on the short ninth, setting him up for a final birdie.
Pavon made two eagles at the fifth and 10th holes and a birdie at the eighth hole to take a two-stroke lead, but then lost a few more strokes at the 11th and 16th holes.
DeChambeau started at the 10th hole and went on to birdie the 13th, 18th, third and fifth holes but lost a shot on the seventh.
Americans Akshay Bhatia and Tony Finau and England's Tyrrell Hatton were all two under, one shot ahead of a group that included another Briton, Aaron Rai, and Belgium's Thomas Detry.
