Tommy Morrison and Charlie Forster recorded a pair of 4-under 66s on Monday to share the lead after the first round of the 125th U.S. Amateur at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, Calif.
Celebrating his 21st birthday under seasonal Bay Area cloudiness, Morrison turned in the only bogey-free scorecard of the day while playing on the Ocean Course – the championship’s stroke-play co-host – in a marquee grouping that featured world No. 4 Preston Stout, of Dallas, Texas, and No. 5 Filip Jakubcik, of Czechia.
Morrison, the 6th-ranked amateur in the world, birdied the par-3 10th (his first hole of the day) before stringing together 12 consecutive pars and closing with three birdies in his last five holes.
“I think my process on each and every shot, and the lines I took, were really clean,” said Morrison, a 6-foot 8-inch rising senior at the University of Texas. “I felt I was almost 100% ready to go while I was over the ball – which, obviously, you should be all the time – but that was a big focus for me today. I think I did a nice job of that.”
Forster, a 22-year-old from England, who also began his round off No. 10 on the Ocean Course, started strong with birdies on his second and fourth holes, before a double bogey on No. 18 – his ninth hole of the day – ahead of the turn.
Unfazed, he completed his inward nine bogey-free, with pars on hole Nos. 10-13 before tallying four birdies in his last five holes.
“Yeah, it feels good. In these sorts of events, it’s always nice to get off to a hot start,” said Forster, a rising senior at Long Beach State University. “But you’re really only trying to get through to match play. So, we just kept it steady today, stuck to the game plan, and a few putts dropped, which was very nice.”
Despite four bogeys on the card, Logan Reilly of Lovettsville, Va., turned in a 3-under 67 on the Ocean Course to finish tied for third with Stout. Reilly, a rising sophomore at Auburn University, made the turn at 2-under before recording three consecutive bogeys.
“I wasn’t too worried because they weren’t bad shots. They were just kind of ‘wrong place at the wrong time,’” said Reilly, who advanced to the Round of 32 at the U.S. Junior Amateur just a few weeks ago at Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas, Texas.
The 18-year-old was quick to recover, however, tallying four birdies in his final six holes and crediting his precise approach play on the way in.
“Those last six holes I just kept putting myself in play,” Reilly said. “I had a couple of mid-irons and wedges that I just stuck to about 10 to 12 feet and rolled some putts in.”
Stout, who recently won the 2025 Northeast Amateur by eight strokes, carded six birdies during his opening round 67 on the Ocean Course.
“I drove it nicely, which is super important out there to just stay out of the rough,” said Stout, a rising senior at Oklahoma State who was named to the USA Walker Cup team last month. “The Ocean Course is a lot shorter, so there will be more middle irons on the Lake Course tomorrow, but I hit those well today so we’re going to build off that.”
Not far behind, eight players sit T-5 at 2-under 68 – among them are world No. 1 Jackson Koivun and Arni Sveinsson, the first player representing Iceland to compete in the U.S. Amateur.
Koivun arrived at The Olympic Club after a summer that featured three top 10 finishes on the PGA Tour, notching four birdies in the opening round against two bogeys. Sveinsson, a rising sophomore at LSU who earned second team All-SEC honors in his freshman season, carded three birdies against a single bogey on the Ocean Course.
“It’s great to be out here and it’s an honor to be able to play the best amateur event of the year, so I’m enjoying the week so far,” Sveinsson said. “We had a pretty good game plan going into it… I think just discipline and hitting the right shots at the right time worked out very well.”
What’s Next
The 312 competitors will switch stroke-play venues on Tuesday for the second round, after which the field will be trimmed to the low 64 scorers for match play, which begins on Wednesday. Should a playoff be necessary to determine the final match-play spots, it will take place Wednesday morning. Match play continues through Sunday’s 36-hole championship match. Tickets are available for purchase, while Peacock will stream the Round of 64, beginning at 6 p.m. EDT, with Golf Channel picking up the coverage from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Notable
San Francisco native Jacob Goode, a member of The Olympic Club and fifth-year senior at the University of Washington, had the honor of hitting the championship’s opening tee shot on Monday morning at The Olympic Club’s Lake Course.
Arni Sveinsson, 19, is the first player representing Iceland to compete in the U.S. Amateur. The Louisiana State University rising sophomore carded a 2-under 68 in the first round Monday afternoon.
20-year-old Luke Poulter, son of English professional golfer Ian Poulter, and John Daly II, 22, are both competing at The Olympic Club this week – their fathers both competed in U.S. Opens at The Olympic Club, Poulter in 2012 and Daly in 1998.
Jackson Koivun, the No. 1-ranked player in the WAGR, fresh off of three top 10 finishes on the PGA Tour this summer, carded a 2-under 68 at The Ocean Course, playing in a marquee group that featured the other two top-ranked players in the world: Ben James (No. 2) and Ethan Fang (No. 3).
Despite The Olympic Club’s Ocean Course playing nearly an entire stroke easier in the first round, it was the Lake Course that gave up seven eagles, while only one was recorded on the former by Brian Blalock, of Yucaipa, Calif., who holed out on the par-5 fourth.
Matt Vogt, a 34-year-old dentist who survived golf’s longest day to qualify for the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club, turned in an even-par 70 on The Olympic Club’s Lake Course in Monday afternoon’s first round.
Quotable
“That was probably the most nervous I’ve ever been. It was pretty surreal. I hit it okay, and it went really far, which was nice. Hearing my name called was a great feeling.” – Olympic Club member Jacob Goode on hitting the opening tee shot of the championship Monday morning
“You know, you don’t have to play your greatest to get to match play, in my opinion. You just have to play smart, take advantage of holes you can.” – Jackson Koivun on his mentality towards the stroke play portion of the championship
“Yeah, I think it's definitely the biggest one of the year for amateur events for us college guys… It's kind of like a major for us, I guess you could say. You always want to make sure your game's sharp around this time of year.” – Preston Stout’s perspective on the significance of the championship
"A former player recommended me to [LSU men's golf head coach Jake Amos], and he watched me at the Junior Orange Bowl in Miami, and I guess he liked something he saw. I didn't play great, in the middle of the off-season, not playing any golf for three months because it was winter back home. So, to be honest, I don't really know what caught his eye..." – Arni Sveinsson on how he was scouted and recruited to play college golf
“We played the practice rounds together, so that was pretty much it, but I’m staying pretty close to Ethan Fang, so I’ve been hanging around him a lot. Yeah, just enjoying some good food out here.” – Eric Lee on competing in the U.S. Amateur alongside his Oklahoma State University teammates
“Curtis, my caddie, knows this course really well, which was great today. That’s the plan I was applying – even if it went bad, just stick to the six clubs we said we’d hit off the tee, whether that meant being a little farther back but still in the fairway. We did that, and again, hit a couple of good shots in there and took advantage of them.” – Charlie Forster on his approach to playing The Olympic Club’s Ocean Course
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