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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Gregg Bakowski

US Open 2016: weather-hampered day one – as it happened

Spectators leave the course during the third rain delay.
Spectators leave the course during the third rain delay. Photograph: Charlie Riedel/AP

There will be no more play today!

So, that’s that. The weather has won. There will be a confusing and busy couple of days’ play providing the weather behaves itself on Friday and Saturday. The outlook is better for those days. I’ll be back tomorrow. Thanks for your tweets and emails. Bye.

Updated

Andrew Landry’s Twitter account is a very short collection of seven photos in which he looks like a pensive catalogue model. I quite like it. He’s economical in his output. Well, I’m assuming it’s his Twitter account. If it is, I’m guessing he is going to have many more than 300-odd followers shortly and feel under pressure to tweet. If he bombs for the three days to follow at least he’ll have a few half-decent photos to upload. He may even upload one this year.

Familiarise yourself with the devilish 1st at Oakmont. It’s playing at 4.32 so far today. Only six players have birdied it, one of those, strangely, being Fowler, who peaked in 12 minutes before disappearing into a trough.

Updated

The heavens have opened at Oakmont, turning parts of some of the greens into mini replicas of the nearby Allegheny river. The clouds above the old course are dark, but perhaps not as dark as Rickie Fowler’s mood. Having birdied the 1st, he’s somehow contrived to reach +6 since. That’s not the worst score today, however. There are a few +9s down among the dead men at the foot of the leaderboard.

Six over on the day for Rickie Fowler.
Six over on the day for Rickie Fowler. Photograph: Andrew Redington/Getty Images

Updated

The leaderboard

Andrew Landry (17) -3
Bubba Watson (14), Danny Lee (13) -2
Scottie Scheffler (a) (F), Kevin Streelman (16), Lee Westwood (13), Harris English (12) -1

So, just seven players are under par. The course is only going to get more difficult too as the wind blows and the rain falls. I’m using this break to get a drink. Back shortly.

The hooter blows. Play is suspended for a third time!

Landry, the leader, has almost finished in fine form. His long iron into the 9th hops up and holds its position obediently to give him a birdie chance. In all the fuss about Landry, an amateur in the group ahead of him, Scottie Scheffler, who like Landry is also from Texas, has carded a 69 for the day. That’s -1, a tremendous effort on such a stop-start day on the most testing of courses. Fantastic. What isn’t fantastic is the weather. It’s stopped Landry just as he was going to attempt to make birdie or par and go in as clubhouse leader. As it stands, Scheffler has that pleasure. The spectators are heading for cover due to the threat of lightning.

Updated

On the 685-yard (yes 685-yard) 12th, McIlroy has sent his par putt racing past the hole. Oh Rory! He holes the bogey putt but that takes him back to +3. Willett runs out of par putts. He can only score six. Back on the 2nd, Spieth has somehow contrived to drop a shot from what I thought was a fine position. Perhaps his approach shot was his third, not his second as reported.

Rory McIlroy is struggling out there at Oakmont.
Rory McIlroy is struggling out there at Oakmont. Photograph: David Cannon/Getty Images

Updated

Bubba Watson has lost his concentration … and a shot, on the 15th, where the wind is blowing in ominous fashion. We could be looking at a third weather suspension here folks. On the 2nd, Spieth takes a look up at the pin, about 100 yards up from him, and plays a wonderfully-controlled wedge into the green, winching the ball back with a little spin as it lands to give himself a chance to go into minus figures again.

Landry pings a beautiful tee shot down his last hole of the day, the tricky par four 9th. He’s put himself in a great position to be US Open leader overnight here. What a day for the rank outsider.

Fowler has had a difficult time of it today. He’s dropped a shot at the 11th to go +5 and is in trouble on the 12th, where McIlroy has dumped his approach shot in the dense rough over the bunker to the right of the green. On the 1st, DeChambeau did well to escape with a double-bogey. His second in a row. From the heights of -3 and second place in the US Open, he’s now at +1 and mingling with the throng below.

Updated

Well, it couldn’t all be dreams and fairy dust. Landry has dropped a shot at the 7th and the 8th. Neither of them are easy hole, mind, this is Oakmont after all. But he’s back to -3, just a shot in front of Watson.

Updated

McIlroy grimaces as he watches a 10ft downhiller come off the left hand side of his club and trickle up to the hole, then to the left of it, where it slips away from the cup. The birdies aren’t coming. Willett, having had to play in the sand on the left of the green, holes another putt from knee-trembling distance. McIlroy could do with borrowing his putter.

So, DeChambeau somehow found his ball on the 1st. It was deep, deep in the undergrowth beneath a cluster of trees. He’ll take three off the tee. This time his drive his dead centre. Spieth’s approach is slightly right of the green. “You scared me out of going left,” he tells his caddie. DeChambeau finds the green safely with his fourth shot. He has the chance of a double-bogey.

Westwood continues in reverse having been motoring earlier on. He’s sent his approach on the 2nd way past the hole and he can’t recover it. That’s a bogey. He’s back to evens.

DeChambeau sticks with the driver for his provisional … and lands safely in the semi rough.

DeChambeau was probably hoping to put his double-bogey behind him by knocking a nice drive down the 1st fairway. Instead, he’s given himslef a mini-crisis to handle, slicing his tee-shot in the style of a hacker, right off into the few trees that are left at Oakmont. He’ll have to take a provisional. It’s gone. Spieth and Johnson, meanwhile, have no such trouble. They’re nicely on the fairway.

McIlroy, Willett and Fowler all take par on the 10th. They got there in very different ways but they’re there all the same. Willett is showing steely nerve to hole some very missable putts for par. You could say he’s hanging in there but I mean that as a compliment.

Rickie Fowler hits his tee shot on the tenth.
Rickie Fowler hits his tee shot on the tenth. Photograph: Michael Madrid/Reuters

Updated

DeChambeau is muttering to himself in the Woody Allen style on the 18th and shaking his head. The reason? He landed in a bunker over to the right of the green, splashed out way past the green, missed with his long-range effort for par, dribbled past with his bogey putt and watched two shots fall away from his score. He’s back to -1 now.

McIlroy has landed his tee-shot in the semi-rough on the par four 10th. His approach shot makes it onto the green but it’s well short of the pin. Willett, who has slipped back to +3, is a few feet in front of him, while Fowler has given himself a great birdie chance with a lovely thwack into within 15ft.

Andrew Landry has the chance to take a birdie and a four shot lead on the 14th. It’s a downhill 8-footer that stays straight … until the final moment, when it takes off right and just misses. He’s still the US Open leader, mind. He’ll be happy with that. Lee Westwood has dropped a shot though. He left himself a 10-footer on the 1st that he couldn’t sink.

Bubba Watson is enjoying himself out there. He’s made three bogeys and five birdies today. He’s -2 and wearing a gameface.

Jason Dufner has just suffered an horrendous slice of luck on the 18th. He dinks a lovely little wedge on to the green and watches it hop along to the hole, bounce off the pin and end up back near his feet, a full 30 yards back. As if Oakmont isn’t already tough enough!

DeChambeau continues his fine start to the tournament. He dead-eyes his putt and climbs up to second place, on -3, just two shots behind the surprise leader, Landry. Spieth makes par with a similarly confident putt. He stays at even.

Bryson DeChambeau high-fives a fan during the first round.
Bryson DeChambeau high-fives a fan during the first round. Photograph: Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Updated

The hooter blows! We're back under way at Oakmont!

We have golf. Very good golf too! DeChambeau, who is in Spieth’s group, has just dug a lovely iron shot out of the rough to within 6ft of the 17th pin. He’s given himself another birdie chance. Spieth shows no rustiness after the break, either. He splashes out of the huge bunker on the right of the 17th to similar distance. He’ll have that for par.

Updated

McIlroy is practising his putting at the side of the 9th, where he’ll resume at +2, seven shots behind the leader, Landry. Meanwhile, Spieth will get back under way deep in a cavernous bunker on the 17th (his 8th hole of the day as he began on the 10th). He’s probably still trying to figure out how he got there. His approach shot looked great … but started to travel backwards, cruelly picked up pace and … plop! Try that for size.

Right, not long till play resumes. Here’s a reminder: Andrew Landry, ranked 624 in the world, leads the US Open.

Landry
Oakmont’s chief tamer, so far. Photograph: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images

The players are back out on the practice range! Play is expected to resume in 20 to 30 minutes.

Oakmont
The 5th green might not be so fast when we’re back under way. Photograph: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images

Perhaps Rory McIlroy used his vast wealth to engineer this storm. It’s allowed him to watch Northern Ireland beat Ukraine 2-0 at Euro 2016, a quite fantastic result.

Updated

Ice hockey’s Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup a few days ago. Oakmont is just up the road. So the trophy is being paraded around the course to give spectators something to look at. It’s quite possibly the biggest trophy in sport – and there are some huge, quite ridiculous ones in golf. Just look at it!

Stanley Cup
A big gong, earlier. Photograph: Charles LeClaire/USA Today Sports

“Evening Gregg, last year the broccoli like greens made some of the lads launch all the toys out of their prams,” begins John McEnerney. “Wonder what it’ll be this year? Too many bunkers, the course is too long, pin placements etc. Can’t complain about the weather can they?” At the moment, I expect they’ll be more bothered about a lack of Wi-Fi.

It’s not just the golf that’s being hampered by biblical weather. Northern Ireland’s match with Ukraine was briefly suspended due to hail. They lead 1-0 in case you’re interested.

Meanwhile, our golf correspondent may have to hit a creative peak to fill his slot in tomorrow’s newspaper.

Here’s a reminder of the leaderboard. Makes happy viewing for Andrew Landry.

Andrew Landry (13) -5

Bubba Watson (10), Danny Lee (8), Lee Westwood (9), Bryson DeChambreau (7), -2

Romain Wattell (11), Kevin Streelman (11), Matt Fitzpatrick (8), Harris English (8), Zach Johnson (7) -1




Updated

Shane Lowry, who is even after seven holes, has just been speaking about the delay. He’s a bright and breezy chap but he has a gloomy outlook about the chances of the first round being finished today. I don’t think he was too happy about the way the USGA have handled the players during the weather breaks either – particularly the earlier one.

I’d just hit my shot into the 8th [when the delay came] it was a good one. I’ll have a 15-footer for a birdie when I get back out there – whenever that may be. Some of the older guys need a little more time [to warm up]. We were held in a little cabin with no seats for over an hour. Thankfully we had England and Wales to entertain us for a bit. We can handle that but … it is what it is.” On the green speeds. “They’re incredible. A gave one putt – a 40-footer – on the 3rd about 15 foot’s worth. But the greens are incredible. the best I’ve seen.” On his own chances. “ I know I’ll make bogeys but I battle well.”

Updated

Simon Thomas has been mulling over one of Oakmont’s difficulties. “A couple of holes are only 4 paces from the edge of the green. That’s ridiculously tight. I remember Nick Faldo chuntering about this several years ago, amongst other things, saying that there should be a minimum distance from the edge of the green to the hole. Anyone know what the rule is?” I haven’t got my rule book handy. I’ll open that out to the readers?

Boo! The players have been called back in after initial optimism that the storm may miss Oakmont and that golf may happen. It’s not happening. Yet. Still gloomy out there.

Hello. Gregg here again. thanks to Niall for breaking the stormy news. Here’s some more for you: we should be back under way again within around 30 minutes.

It looks like it could be a long, stop-start and mighty frustrating afternoon for the players, with further storms forecast. No word on just how long this will last yet, so spend some time with this tidy graphic from USGA:

Play suspended

With Spieth muttering to himself in the bunker, the horn is sounded to signal another stoppage in play. More thunderstorms are expected, and there are dark clouds all around Oakmont.

Another man on a run of birdies is Bubba Watson, who has just notched his third in a row on the 10th. He joins Lee, Watson and DeChambeau on -2. Meanwhile, back on the 17th, Spieth is vexed as his approach shot drops sweetly on the green and spins back into the Big Mouth bunker.

Updated

Hello, Niall McVeigh here, stepping in for Gregg for a little while. Westwood got himself in a right mess on the 17th, three-putting for par. He’s still on -2, while Andrew Landry’s fairytale continues – he’s just hit a third straight birdie to lead by three.

Updated

Westwood, fresh from watching England beat Wales during the weather break, is having a fine time of it out there. He’s clattered a tee shot all the way to the green on the short, albeit very difficult, 17th. He’s unfortunate. The ball rolls back from a lovely position along the tricky slope that leads up to the pin. He’ll have an eagle chance from around 25ft.

Mini leaderboard

Andrew Landry -4

Danny Lee, Lee Westwood, Bryson DeChambeau -2

Updated

De Chambeau’s putter is singing all right. He’s followed up his birdie heroics on the 14th with another long-range beauty on the 15th for birdie. He’s -2 for the day. He’s almost on a march.

Updated

Willett trundles a 6-footer home on the 7th but McIlroy makes a right meal of the hole after after a fine tee shot. His approach shot has too much juice on it and lands in the semi rough just behind the green. His chip has so little belief in it too, and lands short. More of a waft really. And then his right-to-left putt stays left. Bogey. Fowler has no such trouble, recovering from finding the rough off the tee to make par.

Rickie Fowler plays out from a bunker.
Rickie Fowler plays out from a bunker. Photograph: David Cannon/Getty Images

Updated

Both Zach Johnson and Jordan Spieth have found their way on to the 15th green after having to chop into the semi-rough surrounding the church pews bunkers to send their iron shots hurtling forwards. Spieth is way, way back on the front of the huge putting area, though. He’ll have to say a prayer to hole that.

Andrew Landry, the 624th best golfer in the world, still leads the US Open! He’s birdied the 2nd (his 11th for the day as he teed off on the 10th). What a day he’s having. His approach shot was nothing short of exceptional, drifting in from 140 yards to within 5ft of the hole. He’s -4. Oakmont? Pah.

Early leader Andrew Landry tees off.
Early leader Andrew Landry tees off. Photograph: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images

Updated

McIlroy has ignored the long iron and unshackled the driver on the 488-yard 7th. He takes a smooth swing. Ping! Off it goes hurtling down the course and on to the fairway. Lovely shot. Willett found the fairway too. Meanwhile, Westwood rolls home for par on the 8th and Zach Johnson sends his drive on the 15th this close to the church pews bunkers. Spieth lands on the green stuff between the pews. He dropped a shot on the 14th when play resumed.

DeChabeau has just clattered a 20ft putt against the pin and home for a birdie on the 14th. He’s -1 after a shaky start. He’s got talent _ and confidence – in spades.

Updated

Well, we’re still waiting for the horn to blow to signal the resumption of play. Spieth has had a very steady start. He’s at -1 and resumes on the 14th, his fifth hole of the day, alongside Zach Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau.

Move over Shane Lowry. There’s a new shot of the tournament contender. Here’s Westwood’s eagle on the 14th before the rain fell. It has more backspin than a Ronnie O’Sullivan cue ball.

There is still a lot of cloud hanging over Oakmont but it’s stopped raining and the threat of lightning has passed over with the worst of the storm. Time for some more golf. McIlroy and Fowler are lining up at the 7th tee. Willett must have knocked his tee shot down the fairway before the break as he’s nowhere to be seen. It’s a 488-yard par four in case you were wondering.

The worst of the filthy stuff appears to have blown over. There were only a few claps of thunder and zaps of lightning. So, we should be back under way shortly. There’ll be no time to warm up. The golfers have to get back to it. Bad news for them. Good news for us.

Still raining!

There’ll be some golfers glad of this delay. I’m guessing mainly English ones.

There’s a rumour play may resume in 20 minutes. Only a rumour, mind. It’s still hammering down as far as I can tell.

I’ve just seen a replay of Fitzpatrick’s birdie at the 6th. It was a monster putt, all of 45ft. Some effort. But shot of the day so far – and probably for the rest of what may be a very long day, goes to Shane Lowry. How do you like this at the 1st …

I’ll be back when the weather clears up. It’s currently lashing down, however, so it may be a while.

Leaderboard

Andrew Landry -3 11th

Kevin Streelman -2 9th Matt Fitzpatrick-2 6thDanny Lee -2 6th

Lee Westwood -2 6th
Kevin Chappell -1 7th
Harris English -1 5th
Shane Lowry -1 4th
Jordan Spieth -1 4th

So a 28-year-old Texan with only three minor tour wins to his name, is currently taming the beast. And what an audacious start the 21-year-old Matt Fitzpatrick has made! He’s started in fearless fashion, birdying the 2nd and 6th. oh, and Lee Westwood hasn’t made a shabby start either. In fact, he’s had an adventurous time of it on the 12th, 13th and 14th, scoring birdie, bogey, eagle.

Spectators walk across the course after play was suspended due to the threat of lightning
Spectators walk across the course after play was suspended due to the threat of lightning Photograph: Andrew Redington/Getty Images

Updated

Play suspended due to threat of lightning!

The hooter blows … and so does the Pennsylvania wind. An approaching thunderstorm has led to the players being held in position on the course (well, shelters to be precise). Highly frustrating but you can’t mess around with Mother Nature when she’s angry. I’ll have an update of the leaderboard shortly.

Updated

McIlroy is having some awful trouble with his irons off the tee. He hasn’t hit one straight one yet. This time, on the par-three 6th, he drags his tee shot into some thick stuff over to the left of the green in a difficult downhill lie. His recovery shot is incredibly good though. He’s within range. And saves par.

Rory McIlroy reacts after dragging his tee shot on the sixth.
Rory McIlroy reacts after dragging his tee shot on the sixth. Photograph: Charlie Riedel/AP

Updated

Speith makes par at the 13th to remain -1 but Johnson slips back to even. He gave himself a chance of making par by blasting out of the bunker to within range. But his putt fell short.

McIlroy misses his 7ft birdie-putt by this much to the right. He leaves himself a knee-trembler to save par. But he stays zen about it and rattles it back uphill and into the cup. Meanwhile, Fowler is having a torrid time after making a birdie start. He bogeys again and is now back to +2. Willett shows great nerve to save par with a 10-footer. Every par appears to be from that length. He could do with making his life easier.

Johnson’s a bit loose with his drive off the par-three 13th. Thud! Right into a bunker on the right of the green. He’ll do well to rescue par.

Zach Johnson hits his second shot on the eleventh.
Zach Johnson fires in his second shot on the eleventh. Photograph: Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Updated

McIlroy has hit a muscular drive on the short par-four 5th. It gives him the opportunity to knock a wedge to within 10ft of the pin. He’s found his mojo after a shaky start. Perhaps because he’s binned his iron off the tee and reverted to his driver.

Kevin Streelman, somewhat of a journeyman, has shown no fear out there. He’s birdied the 10th and not dropped a shot in his first eight holes. Not a bad morning’s work. He’s joint leader of the US Open!

Spieth has birdied the 12th. He joins Johnson, in his group, on -1.

McIlroy shows wonderful dexterity, chipping off the green with an open-faced wedge and landing his shot with a dull thud 3ft from the hole. Fowler makes par after double-bogeying the 3rd. Willett makes six. Ouch. He’s back to +1 with Fowler. McIlroy’s ball wobbles as it goes down. Ooh. That was a shaky putt but a birdie nonethless. His group are all on +1 now.

Spieth will do well not to birdie the 12th. He’s played a beautiful short-iron in to within 4ft. That will take him to -1.

Updated

McIlroy’s group have all found the fairway on the monstrous par-five fourth. Fowler lays up with his second shot but Rory hammers a glorious 3-wood off the fairway all of 300 yards, bouncing and skidding and then rolling up to the green. What a hit! He’s +2 but now has the chance to get one, or two, of those shots back. Fantastic. Willett takes three shots to get there. He’s even, Fowler is +1 and McIlroy is +2.

Here’s how the early leaderboard looks.

Andrew Landry -2 9th
Soren Hansen -2 6th
Kevin Streelman -2 7th
Bubba Watson -1 5th
Matt Fitzpatrick -1 3rd
Lee Westwood -1 3rd

Earlier, Andres Gonzales was leading. He’s dropped shots since then as Oakmont got a little tetchy. His moustache is something else. Here, look …

Oakmont starts to get nasty! Willett and McIlroy both drop shots on the 3rd. McIlroy nicks the cup with his attempt to save par. It’s an awkward left-to-right putt from 10ft. He’s dropped a shot there not because his putting wasn’t up to it. His iron shot off the tee was wayward. Again. Fowler, after his confident start, drops two shots. McIlroy is +2 already. Ah well, at least it’s the 616-yard par five next. Yikes.

Updated

DeChambeau has birdied the 11th! He’ll be able to afford a smile again now after three-putting the opening hole. As for Rory, he made a hash of his iron shot off the tee again but has recovered admirably to find his way to the green.

Spieth and Johnson will be happy with their start on the 10th. Johnson recovered well to escape with a par after finding the rough with his tee shot. DeChambeau, who perhaps hit the best shot off the tee, three-putted and takes a bogey. He’s wearing an outlandish red outfit with a matching red beret. He looks like a cartoon character.

McIlroy blasts out of the bunker and then does his very best to save par on the 2nd, finding the green and rolling a 35-footer to within a couple of feet. Fowler is inches away from a consecutive birdie, leaving his ball peering into the cup from inches away. Willett shows nerves of steel to birdie the 2nd with a 10-footer. He joins Fowler on one under. Well done.

Kevin Streelman watches his tee shot on the 14th.
Kevin Streelman watches his tee shot on the 14th. Photograph: Charlie Riedel/AP

Updated

Zach Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Jordan Spieth are under way on the 10th. Spieth and DeChambeau are safely on the fairway but Johnson’s found the rough. Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy has hit an awful iron shot on the 2nd and has landed in bother. He’s deep in a bunker and has it to do to save par.

Rickie Fowler birdies the 1st! A very nice start. He centred his 5-footer aggressively. He’s started this round like he means business. McCIlroy and Willett make par. The Masters champion, Willett, will be very happy with that having left himself a monster putt to get within range of the hole.

Fowler leaves himself a birdie chance on the 1st. He’s got around 5ft to the hole. But these Oakmont greens are insanely fast. McIlroy is on the green safely but a bit further from the pin, while Willett is way back on the fringes of the green and has a difficult task to make par. He has a downhill putt from right to left. Good luck.

Right. Time for some golf. Rory McCIlroy, Danny Willett and Rickie Fowler stroll out to the 1st. It’s an intimidating start to any major. A bunker-pocked fairway. McCIlroy goes with an iron, sending a reasonable shot arcing nicely and landing in the semi-rough just short of a small bunker. He’ll be happy with that. He has around 180 yards to the green.Willett, the Masters champion, hits a straighter iron … and finds the fairway a similar distance from the flag. That will do nicely. There was a lot of pressure on that shot. He’s a major champion after all – and this is a major. Fowler shows chutzpah. He drags his driver from his bag and wallops one right down the centre of the fairway. He’s a good 40 yards ahead of his playing partners. What’s the problem?

Updated

Hello. Welcome to coverage of the 116th US Open. What a testing four days’ golf we have in store. The US open is usually tough. The US Open at Oakmont Country Club especially so – apart from when Johnny Miller tore it up on the final round in 1973 that is, but that was a glorious and quite remarkable rarity. The last time it was held at the course nestled by the side of the Aleghenny river in Pennsylvania was nine years ago, when Ángel Cabrera kept his nose in front of Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk with a score of five over to win the first of his two majors. We could be looking at a similarly high total come Sunday. The course is exposed, giving it a links feel, and is littered with bunkers, 210 over the 18 holes. Truly brutal. The par-three 8th is 300 yards long too. Yes, 300 yards! How do you fancy that one?

If you don’t put the ball in the fairway you not only won’t have a chance to contend you won’t be here on the weekend

That’s the opinion of Butch Harmon, who was Cabrera’s coach back in 2007. He thinks it’s harder now than it was then. Gulp.

So this course requires concentration and the ability to play good rescue shots at alarming regularity. Nerveless putting is also handy. It is one for the trusty all-rounder rather than the maverick. Predicting who will win the thing is a ludicrous task. You can look towards the world No1, Jason Day, as he’s solid. Yes, really putting my neck out there. And Jordan Spieth is the champion and, um, Jordan Spieth, so expect him to rank highly despite recent travails. Dustin Johnson too. But it may be that the winner comes from further down the world rankings. A wise old head such as Phil Mickelson, who would dearly love this title to complete the career grand slam.

How will Rory McIlroy fare? Well, despite holing an 80ft putt by accident in practice, I feel he may struggle on this course. He said winning at Oakmont would be his greatest achievement so he realises the enormity of the challenge. Of the Europeans, perhaps keep an eye on Justin Rose, Danny Willett and Henrik Stenson. They have the steady temperament required to stay calm while being chewed on by the beast.

The players go out in two separate chunks today, using the 1st and 10th to tee off. Spieth and McIlroy go off in the early group. Mickelson, Rose and Day in the later group. I’ll be back shortly.

Tee times (local time/BST)

6.45am/11.45am: Denny McCarthy, Aron Price, Mikael Lundberg (off 1st)
6.45am/11.45am: Andres Gonzales, Scottie Scheffler, Derek Fathauer (off 10th)

6:56am/11:56am: Nick Hardy, Mike Van Sickle, Tom Hoge (off 1st)
6:56am/11:56am: Andrew Landry, Matthew Baldwin, D.J. Trahan (off 10th)

7:07am/12.07pm: Patrick Rodgers, Sam Horsfield, Andrew Johnston (off 1st)
7:07am/12.07pm: Rob Oppenheim, Dicky Pride, Wes Short Jr (off 10th)

7:18am/12:18pm: Justin Hicks, Soren Hansen, Jason Allred (off 1st)
7:18am/12:18pm: Patton Kizzire, Yuta Ikeda, David Lingmerth (off 10th)

7.29am/12.29pm: Romain Wattel, Sung Kang, Yusaku Miyazato (off 1st)
7.29am/12.29pm: Hideto Tanihara, Gregory Bourdy, Kevin Streelman (off 10th)

7.40am/12.40pm: Bernd Wiesberger, Matteo Manassero, Daniel Berger (off 1st)
7.40am/12.40pm: Jon Rahm, James Hahn, Robert Streb (off 10th)

7.51am/12.51pm: Matt Kuchar, Bubba Watson, Patrick Reed (off 1st)
7.51am/12.51pm: Thomas Aiken, Jeff Maggert, David Toms (off 10th)

8.02am/1.02pm: Rafa Cabrera Bello, J.B. Holmes Kevin Chappell (off 1st)
8.02am/1.02pm: Marc Leishman, Jimmy Walker, Paul Casey (off 10th)

8.13am/1.13pm: Matt Fitzpatrick, Danny Lee, Byeong Hun An (off 1st)
8.13am/1.13pm: Lee Westwood, Luke Donald, Martin Kaymer (off 10th)

8.24am/1.24pm: Rory McIlroy, Danny Willett, Rickie Fowler (off 1st)
8.24am/1.24pm: Russell Knox, Harris English, Jason Dufner (off 10th)

8.35am/1.35pm: Chris Kirk, Emiliano Grillo, Shane Lowry (off 1st)
8.35am/1.35pm: Zach Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Jordan Spieth (off 10th)

8.46am/1.35pm: Mike Miller, Matt Borchert, Charlie Danielson (off 1st)
8.46am/1.35pm: Kevin Foley, Gregor Main, Mark Anguiano (off 10th)

8.57am/1.57pm: Chase Parker, Ryan Stachler, Patrick Wilkes-Krier (off 1st)
8.57am/1.57pm: Kyle Mueller, Derek Chang, Richie Schembechler (off 10th)

12.30pm/5.30pm: Peter Hanson, Tim Wilkinson, Thitiphun Chuayprakong (off 1st)
12.30pm/5.30pm: Lee Slattery, Miguel Tabuena, Daniel Summerhays (off 10th)

12.41pm/5.41pm: Billy Hurley III, Jeev Milkha Singh, J.J. Henry (off 1st)
12.41pm/5.41pm: Sebastian Soderberg, Zach Edmondson, Kent Bulle (off 10th)

12.52pm/5.52pm: Brendan Steele, Soren Kjeldsen, Jaco Van Zyl (off 1st)
12.52pm/5.52pm: Tony Finau, Alex Noren, Jason Kokrak (off 10th)

1.03pm/6.03pm: Anirban Lahiri, Scott Piercy, Jamie Donaldson (off 1st)
1.03pm/6.03pm: Max Kieffer, Gary Stal, Kevin Tway (off 10th)

1.14pm/6.14pm: Spencer Levin, Toru Taniguchi, Carlos Ortiz (off 1st)
1.14pm/6.14pm: Cameron Smith, Steven Bowditch, Derek Bard (off 10th)

1.25pm/6.25pm: Ryan Moore, Andrew Sullivan, Charley Hoffman (off 1st)
1.25pm/6.25pm: Jim Herman, Smylie Kaufman, William McGirt (off 10th)

1.36pm/6.36pm: Hideki Matsuyama, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson (off 1st)
1.36pm/6.36pm: Brandt Snedeker, Bill Haas, Billy Horschel (off 10th)

1.47pm/6.47pm: Webb Simpson, Graeme McDowell, Geoff Ogilvy (off 1st)
1.47pm/6.47pm: Brooks Koepka, Chris Wood, Justin Thomas (off 10th)

1.58pm/6.58pm: Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Angel Cabrera (off 1st)
1.58pm/6.58pm: Kevin Kisner, Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace (off 10th)

2.09pm/7.09pm: Kiradech Aphibarnrat, K.T. Kim, Kevin Na (off 1st)
2.09pm/7.09pm: Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson (off 10th)

2.20pm/7.20pm: Jason Day, Louis Oosthuizen, Adam Scott (off 1st)
2.20pm/7.20pm: Retief Goosen, Keegan Bradley, Lucas Glover (off 10th)

2.31pm/7.31pm: Aaron Wise, Ethan Tracy, Brandon Harkins (off 1st)
2.31pm/7.31pm: Andy Pope, Sam Burns, Matt Marshall (off 10th)

2.42pm/7.42pm: Justin Suh, T.J. Howe, Frank Adams III (off 1st)
2.42pm/7.42pm: Tyler Raber, Christopher Crawford, Austin Jordan (off 10th)

Updated

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