Defending champion Jordan Spieth was happy to be “still in it” as a contender for the U.S. Open, despite not getting the score he felt he deserved on Friday after a marathon first round. The course has 18 holes, but unlike the course that golfers originally played on in 1895, it features an intricate layout plan, which makes the competition more hard.
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“I am doing great, but there’s 54 more holes left”, he added.
Landry rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole to finish his rain-delayed first round at 4-under 66, giving him a one-stroke lead over Lee Westwood among the first half of the field that finally finished almost 24 hours after it started.
Lee Westwood looked right at home in the rain at water-logged Oakmont. Not that he was complaining as playing partners Matthew Baldwin and D.J. Trahan took their time while trying to salvage the final hole of a hard round.
“It’s called mini-tours”, he said with a smile.
But at least his work for the day was done.
Instead, golf fans were in for a shock when 624th ranked Andrew Landry ended up with the best score after weather forced officials to stop play.
After play was cancelled on Thursday with only nine players having completed their first round, the order of the day on Friday was to have the field complete their first 18 holes. He had just enough time to sign his Round 1 scorecard for a 67 before heading out for Round 2 in mid-afternoon.
So we put together a list of eight things you need to know about Andrew Landry, giving you even more reasons to root for him this weekend just in case his huge underdog status isn’t enough.
“It’s still playing tough”, Johnson said.
Granted, it’s not like these guys are carrying bricks in the hot sun. Not since Bob Tway in 1986 at Shinnecock Hills has a U.S. Open rookie had the outright lead after 18 holes.
The American also earned a little slice of history, shooting the lowest first round score at a US Open held at Oakmont, the original record was 67 and shared by legends of the game Ben Hogan and Gary Player. He had to wait through delays to attempt a par putt at the 13th and a birdie putt on the 16th, both of which he eventually missed upon resuming play.
Landry also became the first player in 30 years to have the sole lead after his first U.S. Open round.
Pro golfers are finicky and most are creatures of habit. He rolled in his 10-foot birdie putt on the final green to get to 4 under par, then let the world’s best players take their shots at him. A few get upset simply because their favorite brand of shampoo isn’t available in the locker room.
Take Masters champion Bubba Watson.
It’s a similar schedule to the one players in the other half of the field faced Friday, playing all of the first round and as much of the second as they could complete before nightfall.
“I need 12 hours of sleep. Being the finely tuned athlete I am, you wouldn’t expect would you?” I hit it close quite a lot, 26 putts. There’s scant evidence that a good night’s sleep is going to make a difference at Oakmont.
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He had hoped for a run of birdies in the morning to claw his way back up the leaderboard, but he got bogeys instead as his waywardness off the tee was punished by the unforgiving western Pennsylvania layout.
