U.S. Open: The Good, Bad, and Ugly from Day One at Pebble Beach

With Day One of the U.S. Open in the books, let’s take a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly from the opening round at Pebble Beach.

We are through the first round of the U.S. Open, and scores are a little nicer than people expected. The course isn’t as fast as it is going to be this weekend, and players took advantage of it. Whether it was a hot start, or a nice solid round, plenty of golfers got off to a nice start this week.

Then there were the ones who wish they could take a nice big mulligan and start over. It’s time to look at the good, the bad, and the ugly from day one.

The Good from Day One at The U.S. Open

The starts of Viktor Hovland (my dark horse amateur) and Scott Piercy. Piercy was -5 through six holes, and Hovland was less than a foot away from joining him, leaving his long eagle on six just short. Piercy ended up -4 for the day, and Hovland struggled a bit after the hot start, playing up and down a bit, finishing -2.

The approach shot by Rose on the Par 5 6th, was a beauty. Playing blind uphill, he launched it from 235 and it rolled on, leading to an opportunity for eagle from around ten feet.

Koepka had one of the nicer chips of the day, playing out of the high side rough on the par 3 5th hole, where he chipped in for birdie.

Charlie Danielson showed he could do it a little more impressively than the two time defending champ, one hopping it in out of the bunker on the same hole just a few groups ahead of Koepka.

We can’t do this without mentioning the leaders. Rose ended up finishing quite strong, going birdie-birdie-birdie to take sole possession of the lead at -6.

Following him are a large group consistent of Fowler, Schauffele, Wise, and Oosthuizen all sitting at -5 after shooting 66. Oosthuizen jumped into Pebble Beach history, becoming only the second player to ever eagle the 11th hole in U.S. Open history.

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Schauffele finished his round on a strong note to get into that tie with Louis and Rickie. Heading into 18 at only -3, he decided he -5 sounded a lot nicer, and eagled the hole with a nice medium length putt to finish off his day.

The Bad from Day One at The U.S. Open

The round by Erik van Rooyen left a fair amount to be desired. He managed six birdies. How could that be a bad round? When you pair it with two doubles and two bogeys, that’s how. Still, sitting even isn’t too rough of a spot to be in.

Justin Thomas did him one better, as he carded an eagle, although he only paired it with two birdies. Like van Rooyen, he carded six bogeys as well. This left him +2 for the day, with an opportunity to score well squandered away.

Thomas was joined by a couple of other golfers who finished +2 that played similarly to him and van Rooyen. Ryan Sullivan had an eagle, three birdies, and five bogeys. Nick Hardy finished with five birdies, three bogeys, and two doubles. Sullivan’s eagle was pretty nice though, as he pulled it back with style.

The Ugly from Day One at The U.S. Open

Keith Mitchell’s start in the afternoon takes the cake for me. A fan favorite of many since his win earlier this year at The Honda, most root for Mitchell to do well. It did not start out well for him today. Through five holes, Mitchell found himself T-152nd, with only three players behind him. Par, Double, Double, Par, Triple was his start, putting him +7 through five holes. Not a good start at all.

Next up is C.T. Pan. Another of this year’s first time winners, today is one that Pan wishes he could forget. Finishing with a +9 80, Pan had two birdies, three bogeys, and four double bogeys. The back nine was a little nicer, where he managed a +3 39, to slightly make up for the +6 41 on the front.

We have to mention Tiger Woods tee shot on the par 3 5th hole as well. It started left, going left, hit the cart path, and went further left. Lucky for him it stayed in bounds. The shot was so far left, amateurs would struggle to miss by that much. He then blasted it over the green, and into more trouble. His chip ran over the edge of the hole, and would follow it up with a two-putt to double bogey the hole.

Zac Blair and Eric Dietrich almost took the title of worst of the day. Each shot a +12 83, tying for the worst round of anyone at the tournament. Neither of them did anything as bad as our champion though.

I thought Lucas Bjerregaard was having an okay day. That was until he got to the 18th AND OH MY GOODNESS COVER YOUR EYES!

Yeah, that’s not good. Not good at all. He finished the day at +9. He takes the cake in the ugly category for today.

There you have it. The good, the bad, and the ugly from day one at The U.S. Open.