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The world’s best line up at the 122nd US Open while big names have burst from the gates at The Country Club. It started early Thursday with Rory McIlroy jumping to the top of the leaderboard with a near-clean 3-under-67 performance. McIlroy dropped a shot late in his round and was later matched 3-under by Joel Dahmen, MJ Daffue and two fellow Europeans.
“They would drive 67 around this golf course every day,” McIlroy said. “Even though I’m standing up here a bit frustrated that I missed the last bogey, it’s a great start to the tournament. I felt like I did most things well today. I definitely putted well and hit the ball in the right places.” And I hit a lot of greens, gave myself a lot of chances. Basically, I just did everything you have to do at a US Open.
However, that entire group was surpassed by Adam Hadwin, who finished the day’s round with a 4-under-66 in the afternoon session. The Canadian is in the midst of a sneakily strong season that included three consecutive top-10 finishes at one point but has yet to see competition in a major championship.
Hadwin has a lot to do the rest of the way, with suitable pursuers queuing outside the door. Defending champion Jon Rahm, PGA championship winner Justin Thomas and two-time major champion Collin Morikawa are all just three shots behind at 1-under and they will be looking to climb the ladder in round two on Friday.
There’s still work to be done, and that’s what we’re aiming to do here as we break down the top of the first-round leaderboard at the 122nd US Open.
2022 US Open leaderboard breakdown
1. Adam Hadwin (-4): The Canadian came into the field this week when Paul Casey was out through injury. Hadwin, who was drafted into section qualifiers as a substitute, looked little like one on Thursday as all facets of his game were in sync. The 34-year-old, who leads the field in strokes won to the green, still has some room for improvement as the 34-year-old won in Round 1 in 60th place in putting strokes. That should scare his pursuers, but it’s not as if he’s been in that position many times, as his best career finish in a major championship is T24 at the 2018 Masters. He’s had a fine 2022 season, finishing a T9 at the Players Championship, but the next three days will be a whole different beast.
T2. Rory McIlroy, Joel Dahmen, Callum Tarren, MJ Daffue and David Lingmerth (-3): McIlroy, the four-time major champion, has been rolling since his last round at the 2022 Masters. He continued his good game Thursday at the country club, but it wasn’t without a few head-scratching moments. The Northern Irishman achieved the third-best flat-handed performance of his PGA Tour career with more than four shots won in his putting. Strong off the tee and fairly proficient with his irons, it was around the green where he fell short.
Kyle Porter called McIlroy’s “underrated” around the green game, and I’m inclined to agree given that he’s fourth in that category this year, ahead of the likes of Jordan Spieth, Cameron Smith and Patrick Reed, but he’s getting rare mentioned in one breath. He’ll need that area of the bag to recover as he’s had some trouble backing up one big round with the next.
T7. Matt Fitzpatrick, Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose and four others (-2): Nine years later, the 2013 US amateur didn’t miss a beat as Fitzpatrick looked extremely relaxed on his first lap at The Country Club. 10th in shots, Tee to Green won, the Englishman continued to thrive off the tee and was able to conceal an extremely loose iron performance thanks to a strong performance in the short game. He’s been knocking on the door for what feels like forever, and on paper the 2022 version of Fitzpatrick is different. After being in the final pairing at the 2022 PGA Championship, it’s possible Southern Hills’ heartbreak will lead to celebrations at Brookline.
T14. Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Will Zalatoris, Justin Thomas, Max Homa and seven others (-1): Many big hitters check in at this number and are still firmly in contention. Homa is of considerable interest for his iron performance as he posted a career-best approach count on Thursday after gaining nearly 4.5 shots in the approach. Maybe we should be encouraged by that, or maybe we should be encouraged by the likes of Rahm and Zlatoris who don’t have their “A” game but still sign for underperforming rounds. A handful of those players could make a move on Friday, however, and I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them lifted the US Open trophy next Sunday.
T26. Xander Schauffele, Hideki Matsuyama, Daniel Berger, Scottie Scheffler and 12 others (E): World No. 1 Scheffler ended birdie-birdie to get back to even levels; However, there is another American worth highlighting. Schauffele only hit 50% of the fairways and still managed to get home consistently in what seems like a robbery. It felt like he was everywhere on Thursday as he carded four birdies to equal four bogeys. He has five top 10 finishes in his five US Open appearances; However, he has yet to really fight as his average deficit before entering the finals was 5.4 shots. A big round Friday afternoon could give him a realistic shot at going into the weekend within reach.
T42. Joaquin Niemann, Sam Burns, Bryson DeChambeau, Corey Conners and eight others (+1): After an eagle on the par 5, it appeared that Niemann would threaten the front end of the leaderboard as he was 2 under for the day. With three bogeys in his last four holes, the young Chilean is not eliminated from this championship, but the mountain is certainly steeper than it could have been. Some strong names are alongside Niemann, and after rounds of 1 over they have little room for error over the next 54 holes.
T57. Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay, Cameron Young and 19 others (+2): It was a typical Spieth round as he started his day with three bogeys in his first four holes and had to fight his way back to 2 overs. He remains less than 100% healthy but overall I would consider Thursday’s effort a small win as he ranks in the top 10 on approach shots. Though the short game is less than stellar, he’s only six shots off pace. While Young was in a similar position to Spieth statistically, Cantlay wasn’t as his iron play was just terrible. If he’s going to reverse the narrative of his major championship troubles in any way, these clubs need to get going as he was solid off the tee and on the greens alike.
