J.J. Spaun tames Oakmont, takes early first-round lead at U.S. Open

OAKMONT, Pa. -- Riding a hot start fueled by a chip-in birdie on his opening hole, J.J. Spaun set the early pace at the U.S. Open with a 4-under-par 66 on Thursday at Oakmont Country Club.

Spaun began the first round on the inward nine and birdied Nos. 10, 12, 16 and 17 for a 4-under 31, a U.S. Open Oakmont record for the first nine holes of a championship. He held steady with all pars on the front nine.

"It kind of set the tone for how the day was going to go," Spaun said. "You're not really expecting to chip it in. You're just trying to get yourself within making distance for par. It was really nice to predict the lie, hit the shot exactly how you want to, and it kind of comes out, and it's just feeding towards the hole and it goes in. It was a nice little wake-up call at 7:10 in the morning or whatever it was."

It marked just the eighth bogey-free round at Oakmont in U.S. Open history and tied Andrew Landry in 2016 for the lowest U.S. Open first-round score here.

As of 1:45 p.m. ET, Spaun was two shots ahead of Si Woo Kim of South Korea, Thomas Detry of Belgium and Thriston Lawrence of South Africa, each of whom were finishing his round.

Spaun, 34, has never finished inside the top 20 of a major. He has one title on the PGA Tour (Valero Texas Open, 2022) and lost a playoff to Rory McIlroy at The Players Championship in March.

The native of Los Angeles narrowly missed the green at the par-4 10th hole but lined up his chip out of Oakmont's 5-inch rough perfectly. He added a tap-in at the par-5 No. 12, a 5-foot birdie at the par-3 No. 16 and an 11 1/2-footer at No. 17 a par-4 hole.

And he managed to make it through the toughest of holes at the tough Oakmont course.

Spaun's drive at the par-5 fourth landed in Oakmont's famed "church pews" bunker, but he punched out, reached the green in three and two-putted from 56 1/2 feet to save par.

"It was literally on the wall of the church pew, and I had to almost kneel my left leg, foot down in the bunker," he said. "It was a good lie and I knew if I made contact with any club, that it would come out pretty good. I played a little baseball growing up, tee ball, which helps."

McIlroy, starting on the back nine, birdied his second and third holes for an early share of the lead Thursday before coming apart. After piling up four bogeys, he needed two tries to get out of the rough at the long par-3 eighth and made double bogey en route to a 4-over 74.

The Masters champion from Northern Ireland was using an older model of a TaylorMade driver after struggling with a newer model at the RBC Canadian Open. McIlroy had a driver ruled as non-conforming during the PGA Championship, owing to the original switch.

Xander Schauffele birdied his final two holes to card a 2-over 72. Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau opened with a 3-over 73.

The afternoon wave began at 12:30 p.m. and several notable names were just starting their round, including Scottie Scheffler, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Collin Morikawa, Spaniard Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland of Norway and Dustin Johnson, the winner here in 2016.

--Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media