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June 15, 2023

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Play is officially underway at the 123rd U.S. Open, which is taking place at the Los Angeles Country Club in California. It’s the first time the venue has hosted the championship.

It’s also the first major tournament since the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and the Saudi-backed LIV Golf announced a partnership, and it is sure to be a topic of conversation throughout the weekend. One of the more intriguing storylines is the groupings, one of which features PGA Championship winner and LIV golfer Brooks Koepka with Rory McIlroy, who has been one of the most vocal critics of LIV.

USA TODAY Sports will bring you the latest news, updates, highlights and more throughout Thursday’s opening round. Follow along.

Rory McIlroy birdies five of nine holes

Rory McIlroy came out the gate hot and hasn’t slowed down. McIlroy has birdied five of the first nine holes in the U.S. Open to put him 5-under for the tournament, tied for third place with Americans Brian Harman and Wyndham Clark. That marked McIlroy’s lowest opening 9-hole score in his major career.

Live Leaderboard: US Open Tournament Scores, Schedules, Pairings and More

He is only three strokes off co-leaders Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele, who finished at 8-under

Brooks Koepka struggles early in first round of US Open

Brooks Koepka got off to a slow start in the first round of the U.S. Open. He hit par on hole 7, which kept his score at a lowly +3. He is currently tied for 114th.

On the previous hole, he barely missed the cup with a short putt on a par attempt and had to settle for a bogey.

The American golfer is in the same group as Rory McIlroy, who is currently tied for fifth with a -3 score.

Koepka has won five majors in his career, including last month’s PGA Championship. He was one of the players to join LIV Golf and was the first LIV golfer to win a major with the victory. Earlier this month, the PGA Tour and LIV Golf announced a merger after a heated year-long rivalry.

The 2017 U.S. Open was Koepka’s first major win. He also took home the title in 2018.

Sam Burns hits first career hole-in-one, second ace at US Open of the day

Sam Burns hit his first career ace in the first round of the U.S. Open. He used a wedge to smack the hole-in-one at hole 15. When the ball dropped, he threw his club up in the air as the crowd cheered.

According to the PGA Tour, it’s his first hole-in-one in 401 rounds on the series.

Frenchman Matthieu Pavon also hit an ace at the par-3 hole earlier in the day. It’s the third time that there were two aces at the same hole in the same round in U.S. Open history.

There have now been 50 total aces hit across all U.S. Opens.

Burns is currently tied for eighth with a score of -2.

Nick Hardy hits 60-foot birdie

Birdies are flying everywhere in the first round of the U.S. Open. But Nick Hardy’s stood out.

The American golfer hit a 60-foot putt on the 18th hole. The crowd cheered enthusiastically as he made the shot.

The putt puts him at 2-under, tied for seventh.

Has Rickie Fowler won a major?

No, Rickie Fowler has not won a major in his 13-year PGA Tour career. He finished second at the 2018 Masters and had a successful year in 2014, finishing third at the PGA Championship, second at the British Open and second at the U.S. Open. He has won five PGA Tour tournaments in his career.

Rory McIlroy opens with back-to-back birdies

Rory McIlroy is off to a great start at the U.S. Open. He came out the gate swinging — literally — with a 382-yard tee shot on the par-5 first hole to set him up for a birdie. The Northern Ireland native followed it up with another birdie on the par-4 second hole to put him -2 to start the tournament.

McIlroy won the U.S. Open in 2011.

Brooks Koepka, who won the PGA Championship last month, got off to a less than ideal start, however. He scored a bogey on hole No. 1 to put him at +1 for the day. Koepka won the U.S. Open in 2017 and 2018.

Alejandro Del Rey nearly hits a hole-in-one in debut

Alejandro Del Rey made a statement in his U.S. Open debut, nearly hitting a hole-in-one on the par-4 sixth hole. He smacked the ball up into the air, it bounced on the green and rolled down the bank nearly into the hole. It landed two feet, seven inches away.

He finished the hole with an eagle on the next stroke with a light putt. He is currently tied for 59th with a +1.

Xander Schauffele ties Rickie Fowler at top of leaderboard with historic first round

Xander Schauffele stormed onto the scene in the U.S. Open and tied Rickie Fowler with a score of 62. The duo are at the top of the leaderboard at -8.

Schauffele said he had a “pretty good flow throughout the round.” He got to his record-tying score by way of eight birdies and no bogeys, compared to Fowler’s 10 birdies and two bogeys.

“I was looking at Rickie up on the board all day so every time I made a birdie, it said I was still in second place,” Schauffele said after the first round. “I just felt like if he was doing it, why can’t I?”

This is the lowest score ever posted in the first round of the U.S. Open, one of four majors. It is also only the second and third time in all majors since 1983 that a player has posted a score of 62. Per the PGA Tour, the only previous outing was Branden Grace, who recorded the score in the third round of the 2017 British Open.

Rickie Fowler hits lowest round at US Open ever

For Rickie Fowler, it was smooth sailing through the first round of the U.S. Open. So smooth that he posted the lowest single-round score in the tournament history with a score of 62.

The American golfer hit 10 birdies on the day at Los Angeles Country Club as he powered his way to the top of the leaderboard, finishing -8. He’s the first player to hit 10 birdies in the first round of the tournament’s history.

“I knew it was close, I wasn’t sure the exact number,” he said on the USA broadcast. “I was really just trying to keep moving forward, made a lot of good swings. It’s been a while since I made some mid-range putts, so it was nice to make a lot of those. I kept putting myself in great positions and kinda picked my way around the course.”

What putter does Rickie Fowler use?

Rickie Fowler switched to a Odyssey Versa Jailbird putter earlier this year after trying out his caddie’s putter and taking a liking to it, according to PGATour.com. The putter has a SuperStroke Tour 3.0 17-inch grip and 20-25 grams of lead tape on the sole, per PGATour.com.

Scottie Scheffler hits back-to-back birdies

Scottie Scheffler hit back-to-back birdies on Thursday to put him at -4, which places him third overall.

Brooks Koepka tee time today

Brooks Koepka tees off at 4:54 p.m. ET. Rory McIlroy and Hideki Matsuyama are also in the group.

Rickie Fowler extends lead with ninth birdie, but Americans on his heels

Fowler took the lead early Thursday and he is keeping his foot on the gas. He extended his lead to 7-under par with a birdie on hole No. 6, his ninth birdie of the day as he closes out his impressive first round.

The birdie put Fowler two strokes ahead of the competition, but not for long. Fellow American Xander Schauffele cut into Fowler’s lead after sinking a birdie on hole No. 5. Schauffele is in second place at 6-under. Americans Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau are tied for third place at 3-under.

France’s Matthieu Pavon records 2023 US Open’s first hole-in-one

The par-3 15th hole at the Los Angeles Country Club drew considerable attention before this year’s U.S. Open began because it was set to become the shortest hole in major championship history. Could an ace (or more) be in the works?

That question was answered early in Thursday’s opening round when France’s Matthieu Pavon sent his tee shot on the 124-yard hole spinning back into the cup.

The hole-in-one put Pavon at even par with three holes to play in his opening round.

Rickie Fowler surges into US Open lead

A rapid turn of events propelled Rickie Fowler ahead of the pack as he made the turn in his opening round. Fowler tapped in his third birdie in a row and seventh of the day on the 485-yard, par 4 second hole to move to 5-under par for the tournament. That gave him a two-shot lead through 11 holes.

Jacob Solomon had just grabbed the outright lead with a birdie on the short par-3 15th, but he gave the shot right back on 16 with a bogey to drop him one shot behind Fowler.

But Fowler nailed his approach from 171 yards to just about a foot from the cut on No. 2 to complete the two-shot swing. Shortly after Fowler’s birdie, however, Xander Schauffele rolled in one of his own to move to 4-under through 10 holes.

Xander Schauffele takes aim at top of leaderboard

Ranked No. 6 in the world, Xander Schauffele is no stranger to being in contention for a major title. The 29-year-old California native has twice tied for second place (2019 Masters, 2018 British Open) and also tied for third (2021 Masters) … putting him on a short list of the best active golfers yet to win a major.

Starting his opening round on No. 10 at the Los Angeles Country Club, Schauffele recorded three birdies and no bogeys on his opening nine to get within one stroke of leader Jacob Solomon.

That put him in a four-way tie with Ryan Gerard (through 15), Dylan Wu (through 13) and Rickie Fowler (through nine).

Solomon was in the first group off the tee this morning, along with amateur Omar Morales. The two have set a sizzling pace with each grabbing the lead at different times in the early going.

Hole No. 3 yielding both greenside highlights, lowlights

Many of the participants in this year’s U.S. Open had never played the Los Angeles Country Club before they arrived this week. So the course’s danger spots could pop up in some surprising ways.

Take, for example, Canadian Adam Svensson. Hitting out of a bunker on No. 3, Svensson flew the green, but his ball had so much spin it ended up rolling back down the slope to the front fringe.

Svensson ended up with a bogey on the hole.

On the other hand, Wake Forest golfer Michael Brennan showed some serious imagination when he found himself with a tricky lie on the same hole. But unlike Svensson, his chip shot rolled into the cup for a birdie.

Youth is serving well on front nine

The youth infusion of the PGA Tour is showing during the early holes of the U.S. Open.

Jacob Solomon, 23, and 26-year-old Dylan Wu are at the top of the leaderboard at 3-under along with Xander Schauffele as they make the turn to the second nine in Thursday’s opening round. And Omar Morales, a 20-year-old amateur, is one shot off the lead after he bogeyed at 11th hole.

Solomon, who went to Auburn University, is currently ranked No. 737 in the world.

Amateur Omar Morales taking advantage of par 5s to grab early lead

Amateur Omar Morales is making the most of his opportunities on the long par 5s during his first round, birdieing both the first hole, measured at 594 yards, and the 537-yard No. 8. Morales, 20, finished the front nine tied for the lead at 3-under par with Dylan Wu, whose best showing at a major is finishing tied for 31st at the 2021 U.S. Open.

Some other notables: Francesco Molinari, Shane Lowry, Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler and 2020 winner Bryson DeChambeau are all at 1-under. 2021 winner Jon Rahm is even through four holes and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is at 1-over through four.

Logjam atop US Open leaderboard through first few holes

Dylan Wu, Omar Morales and Jacob Solomon find themselves at the top of the leaderboard early at 2-under.

But early on, 10 players have found themselves under par, including amateurs Morales and Michael Brennan. For those teeing off on the par 5 1st, that and the par 4 3rd hole are where most golfers are earning their early scores.

Michael Kim, Scott Stallings, and 2018 British Open champion Francesco Molinari started their first round on the 10th and birdied that hole as well.

2023 US Open golf TV schedule

Coverage starts Thursday at 9:40 a.m. ET on the Peacock streaming service. USA Network will continue at 1 p.m.-8 p.m., and then coverage will switch to NBC from 8 p.m.-11 p.m.

How to watch the US Open 2023

Golfers can be followed on the live stream at USOpen.com and Peacock.

Meet the amateurs playing in the 2023 US Open

It’s no surprise to see amateurs in the field at major championships. Yet at the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course, more than 10% of the field will be amateurs.

Among the 19 amateurs who will tee it up this week in Los Angeles, only three weren’t on a college golf team this spring or, in the case of Wenyi Ding, will be on campus come this fall. College golf has never been stronger, and it shows in the number of golfers who played their way into the field.

Here’s a look at the amateurs competing at the 2023 U.S. Open. — Cameron Jourdan

US Open broadcasters

Play by play: Dan Hicks / Terry Gannon / Steve Sands
Analysis: Paul Azinger / Brad Faxon / Brandel Chamblee / Morgan Pressel / Paul McGinley / Nick Dougherty
Tower: Brad Faxon / Curt Byrum / Peter Jacobsen / Steve Sands / Jimmy Roberts
On-Course: John Wood / Notah Begay III / Smylie Kaufman / Arron Oberholser / Jim Gallagher Jr.
Interviews: Damon Hack
Essays: Jimmy Roberts

Rory McIlroy discusses LACC, US Open strategy

Rory McIlroy has played well at the U.S. Open for the last four years, tying for fifth at The Country Club, for seventh at Torrey Pines, for eighth at Winged Foot and for ninth at Pebble Beach. Now he steps onto a golf course he has never seen — except for a few videos on YouTube — hoping to rekindle his 2014 major magic.

But does LACC fit his game?

It should, especially with his power off the tee. On several holes where most of the field will have to hit driver to get into position, McIlroy plans to utilize his 5-wood.

“With the way the fairways are running, my 5-wood down that eighth hole (a par 5) is going 300 yards, then you leave yourself a 4-iron into that green. You’re taking some of the trouble out of play with your tee shot by doing that,” McIlroy told Johnson Wagner during a walk-and-talk for Golf Central. — Riley Hamel

What is the weather forecast for Los Angeles on Thursday?

The forecast calls for temperatures in the low to mid-70s with partly cloudy skies, with the sun breaking through later in the day and light winds.

L.A. Country Club’s tiny par-3 15th hole shows distance can be deceptive

Brute force will serve golfers well at times during the U.S. Open. But they’ll need to be far more surgical to survive what is set to become the shortest hole in U.S. Open history.

It’s the par-3 No. 15 at The Los Angeles Country Club. Although the hole is listed at 124 yards, in one round of the tournament it is expected to be shortened to 80 yards when the tee boxes are moved forward.

However, the green provides a small landing pad that requires players to control not only distance but the spin of their ball.

“It’s really kind of a genius design with the way the green is,” said Scottie Scheffler, the world’s top-ranked golfer. “I love those little short par-3s. I think that’s the way most par-3s should be, just because there is opportunity for birdie and bogey. I think they’re good separator holes.” — Josh Peter

Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka will start 2023 US Open in same group

Whatever issues remain between PGA Tour golfers and those who left to join the lucrative Saudi-funded LIV Golf, will certainly be one of the main storylines when the 123rd U.S. Open starts Thursday at the Los Angeles Country Club.

PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlroy are set to tee off together at 4:54 p.m. ET with 2021 Masters champ Hideki Matsuyama also in the group. All three golfers are among the betting favorites to win the U.S. Open, according to DraftKings. — Scooby Axson

Tiger Woods’ reign yet to result in surge of Black golfers

Tiger Woods, recovering from ankle surgery, won’t be at this year’s U.S. Open. Neither will the impact on golf many thought he’d have.

In 1997, Woods stoked imaginations when he became the first Black player to win the Masters. At just 21, he was the superstar some hoped (and others predicted) would revolutionize the sport by attracting more Black people to the golf course and inspiring the development of top Black pros.

Now look.

More than 26 years later, the 156-player field at the U.S. Open to be played at The Los Angeles Country Club has a clear void: no known Black players. — Josh Peter

What have PGA Tour pros learned about this year’s US Open venue?

It’s a mere seven-mile drive — which could stretch a good hour in the city’s gridlock — to get from famed Riviera Country Club, circa 1926, in Pacific Palisades to venerable Los Angeles Country Club, which is even older, dating to 1896, and occupies nearly a mile of frontage on both sides of Wilshire Boulevard between Beverly Hills to the east, Century City to the south, Westwood to the west, and Bel Air to the north.

It was a popular choice earlier this season among competitors at the Genesis Invitational to sneak over to LACC and do an advance reconnaissance mission.

Here’s what defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick, Adam Scott, Rory McIlroy, Max Homa, Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry had to say about the venue for the third major of the year. — Adam Schupak

2022 US Open champion

Defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick will try to become the first golfer to repeat at the U.S. Open since Koepka pulled off the feat in 2017 and 2018. Fitzpatrick is currently at +3500 odds to win the tournament, according to DraftKings Sportsbook. — Scooby Axson

US Open favorites

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is the betting favorite to win the 2023 U.S. Open with +600 odds, according to DraftKings Sportsbook. He is followed by 2023 Masters winner Jon Rahm (+900) and current PGA champion Brooks Koepka (+1200) to round out the top three.

Other notable names with significant betting interest are Rory McIlroy (+1600), Viktor Hovland (+1800) and Jordan Spieth (+3000).

USA TODAY readers can claim an exclusive offer to add +1000 odds on any golfer to win the 2023 U.S. Open. — Richard Morin

US Open sleepers

There are also several golfers who could interest bettors as sleeper picks with certain sportsbooks. Hideki Matsuyama, an eight-time winner on tour and 2017 U.S. Open runner-up, could see some action at +4500 to win at LACC.

Another intriguing option is Jason Day (+5000), who has seven top-10 finishes and one win on tour this season. The Australian could be due for a rebound after missing the cut in each of his last two tournament appearances. — Richard Morin

L.A. Country Club layout

Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course, site of the 2023 U.S. Open, was designed by George C. Thomas Jr. and opened in 1928. It was restored by the team of Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner and Geoff Shackelford in 2010.

Situated on a terrific piece of rolling ground and serving as an urban oasis off the busy Wilshire Boulevard, the North Course will play to 7,421 yards with a par of 70 for the U.S. Open. The course features three par 5s and five par 3s, with two of the downhill par 3s playing longer than 280 yards.

Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course ranks No. 2 in California on Golfweek’s Best list of top private clubs in each state, and it is No. 14 on Golfweek’s Best list of top classic courses built in the United States before 1960. — Jason Lusk

LOS ANGELES COUNTRY CLUB: Full course map, yardage book

Is Tiger Woods playing in the US Open?

No. In May, Tiger Woods withdrew from the U.S. Open as he recovers from ankle surgery.

Past US Open winning scores

2022: Matt Fitzpatrick: -6, 274 (The Country Club, Brookline, Mass.)
2021: Jon Rahm: -6, 278 (Torry Pines Golf Course, La Jolla, Calif.)
2020: Bryson DeChambeau: -6, 274 (Winged Foot Golf Club, Mamaroneck, N.Y.)
2019: Gary Woodland: -13, 271 (Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach, Calif.)
2018: Brooks Koepka: +1, 281 (Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, Shinnecock Hills, N.Y.)
2017: Brooks Koepka: -16, 272 (Erin Hills, Erin, Wis.)
2016: Dustin Johnson: -4, 276 (Oakmont Country Club, Oakmont, Pa.)
2015: Jordan Spieth: -5, 275 (Chambers Bay, University Place, Wash.)
2014: Martin Kaymer: -9, 271 (Pinehurst Resort, Pinehurst, N.C.)
2013: Justin Rose: +1, 281 (Merion Golf Club, Ardmore, Pa.)
2012: Webb Simpson: +1, 281 (The Olympic Club, Daly City, Calif.)
2011: Rory McIlroy: -16, 272 (Congressional Country Club, Bethesda, Md.)
2010: Graeme McDowell: E, 284 (Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach, Calif.)