10 Things to Know About Round 1 of the 2024 US Open at Pinehurst

Round 1 of the 2024 US Open is in the books.  Pinehurst No. 2 showed its teeth as expected.  But there were also a few surprises by rounds end.

Here are 10 things to know about round 1 of the 124th US Open.

Number 1: The field scoring average today was 73.25 or +3.25. The last time Round 1 of the U.S. Open had a scoring average of at least three strokes over par was in 2018, when it was 76.474 in the first round at Shinnecock Hills GC (+6.474). The first-round scoring average in 2014 at Pinehurst was 73.231…nearly identical to today.

Number 2: Fifteen players posted under-par scores in Round 1. Number of players to shoot under par in Round 1 in each of the three previous U.S. Opens at Pinehurst: 23 in 1999, 9 in 2005 and 15 in 2014. The first-round scoring averages: 72.859 in 1999, 74.699 in 2005 and 73.231 in 2014.

Number 3: Two players posted bogey-free rounds today: Rory McIlroy (5-under 65) and Sergio Garcia (1-under 69). Only one player played a bogey-free first round at Los Angeles CC during the 2023 U.S. Open (Xander Schauffele, who shot 8-under 62). Over the three previous USOs at Pinehurst (1999, 2005, 2014) only one player played a bogey-free opening round: David Duval in 1999, shooting 67 in Round 1 (-3) and eventually going on to finish the championship at T-7.

Number 4: Brooks Koepka started his day by shooting 33 (-2) over his first nine holes. Here are all the previous U.S. Opens in which Koepka shot minus-2 or better over his first nine holes of the championship:

Year Venue Score to Par Finish

2014 Pinehurst 33 (-2) T-4

2017 Erin Hills 34 (-2) Won

2019 Pebble Beach 32 (-3) 2nd

Number 5: Matthieu Pavon eagled both par-5s day. He is the first player with two eagles in a round in the U.S. Open at Pinehurst. He is the third player in over the last 10 years to have two eagles in a round at any U.S. Open, joining Jimmy Walker in 2018 (second round, Shinnecock Hills) and Tommy Fleetwood at last year’s U.S. Open at Los Angeles CC (final round). Tiger Woods did that once in his U.S. Open career: in the third round in 2008 (Torrey Pines).

Number 6: Sergio Garcia, who is appearing in his 25th consecutive U.S. Open, played his 87th career U.S. Open round this morning. Today marks the first of those 87 rounds that he played bogey-free. The last time he played a bogey-free round at any major championship was in the third round of the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale GC. The last time that he did that in the first round of a major was at the 2017 Masters, which he won.

Number 7: Patrick Cantlay is competing in his 30th career major championship. He has found himself among the top 10 on the leaderboard at the conclusion of the first round twice: 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage (T-9 after Round 1, finished T-3) and 2022 Masters (T-7 after Round 1, finished T-39).  Cantlay has been inside the top 40 after the first round of a U.S. Open twice: T-11 in 2021 at Torrey Pines (finished T-15) and T-22 in 2020 at Winged Foot (finished T-43). Cantlay’s best leaderboard standing at the end of any major championship round was T-3 at the end of the final round of the 2019 PGA Championship.

Number 8: The last time that Scottie Scheffler was more than five strokes behind the leader after a completed round of the U.S. Open was following the second round in 2019 (13 back and missed the cut).

Number 9: This is the sixth time that Rory McIlroy has opened a major championship with a round of 65 or lower. 

Here are the results of the previous five:

2010 Open Championship, 63 (-9), finished T-3

2011 Masters, 65 (-7), finished T-15

2011 U.S. Open, 65 (-6), Won

2022 PGA Championship, 65 (-5), finished 8th

2023 U.S. Open, 65 (-5), finished 2nd

Number 10: Both Bryson DeChambeau and Xander Schauffele shot four rounds in the 60s during the PGA Championship last month. Since 2020, only three players have had as many as five consecutive major championship rounds under 70: Rory McIlroy (6 in a row during 2023), Matthew Wolff (5 in a row, 2020) and Keegan Bradley, whose active five-round streak is currently in jeopardy.