The amateur who just finished his sophomore season at the University of Texas is off and running in his major championship debut.
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Storms that took plenty of bite out of Oakmont wound up shutting down the U.S. Open on Thursday.
The surprise of the day so far at the tough Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa., has been the play of 28-year-old Texan Andrew Landry, who was at 5-under after 13 holes, three ahead of the field. Landry had to wait to try a 10-foot birdie on the fifth hole.
PGA Tour rookie Andrew Landry leads the US Open.
“Gosh, that would be pretty awesome”, said Landry, who started his round on the back nine.
“As the fairways get firm with the contour, you’re going to have to play to different parts of the fairway”.
Jordan Spieth, after a near-perfect approach shot on the 17th hole rolled all the way across the green and down into a bunker.
“This is one tournament that is very stressful and I feel like I thrive under stress, and hopefully I can do that this year”, said the Australian who won the U.S. PGA last year for his maiden major title.
The players were called off the course just after 10.04am after three hours and 19 minutes of play as the bad weather system moved through.
Rory McIlroy, the victor of the 2011 U.S. Open, was four over through 13 holes.
Landry – winless on the PGA Tour, ranked 624th in the world, playing in his first major – striped a attractive approach to 10 feet on the hard par-4 ninth hole – his last of the day.
Spieth grumbled to himself moments before the horn sounded to suspend play.
There was still enough excitement, with Lee Westwood holing out with a wedge on the 14th hole, Danny Lee holing out from the fairway on No. 6 and McCarthy getting it on the act with a hole-out from the 11th fairway.
More than an inch of rain had fallen overnight to soften the course and slow Oakmont’s severely sloping greens, which were described as “legendarily fast” by USGA chief executive Mike Davis on Wednesday.
The entire afternoon wave of 78 players, which included Jason Day, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, never even reached the first tee.
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Willett and playing partner Rory McIlroy were both one over par and on the opposite side of the course to Westwood, Willett following a birdie on the second with back-to-back bogeys and McIlroy’s conservative early approach failing to pay dividends.
