SAN DIEGO – Once the fog finally lifted over Torrey Pines Golf Course, a familiar figure in the U.S. Open was plain to see.
A long Thursday ended in darkness with Russell Henley in the lead and Louis Oosthuizen poised to join him when the fog-delayed opening round wrapped up Friday morning. There were a few surprises, typical of the start at most majors, and there was Brooks Koepka.
In the U.S. Open, there is always Brooks Koepka.
“Not the best,” he said. “But I’ll definitely take it.”
With a simple plan and solid execution for most any U.S. Open course, Koepka shot a 2-under 69 to extend his incredible record. It was his sixth consecutive round in the 60s at the major with a reputation for being golf’s toughest test.
Dating to the final round of the 2016 edition, 11 of his past 14 U.S. Open rounds have been in the 60s.
“I’ve just got a good game plan, focused, I know what I’m doing, and I don’t try to do anything I can’t,” Koepka said. “It’s just all about discipline in a U.S. Open. That’s I guess the gist of it.”
Oosthuizen was among 36 players who failed to finish because of the 90-minute fog delay at the start. They were to resume Friday morning and then head right into their second rounds. Oosthuizen, a runner-up at the PGA Championship last month at Kiawah Island, was at 4 under and had two holes remaining.
Henley’s visit to the rough-and-tumble South Course went a lot better Thursday than the last time he played there, especially under the circumstances. Anything close to par never hurts in a U.S. Open, and Henley opened with a 4-under 67, finishing just as the wind off the Pacific Ocean was kicking into gear.
“If it’s blowing like this the whole week, it’s just going to be a hard week. That’s kind of what you want in a U.S. Open, though, right?” said the 32-year-old former University of Georgia standout, who is in the United States Golf Association’s big show for the eighth time, with his best finish a tie for 16th as the low amateur in 2010.
Henley got up and down by holing a six-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th hole for a one-shot lead over Spain’s Rafa Cabrera Bello and Italy’s Francesco Molinari among early starters. Joining Koepka at 69 were Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, San Diego native Xander Schauffele and Hayden Buckley, who plays the Korn Ferry Tour and made his major championship debut.
The difference between Torrey Pines for its annual PGA Tour stop in January and this week for the toughest test in golf? Henley couldn’t say. He has only played the Farmers Insurance Open once, in 2014, and it was memorable for the wrong reasons. He holed a 40-foot shot on the 18th hole for birdie – just to break 80.
That’s about all he remembers except for “leaving the course feeling like I just got beat up.”
Henley’s playing partners Thursday included Baylor School graduate Harris English, a former Georgia teammate.
English had bogeys on three of his first seven holes, then settled in for a steady diet of pars before negating almost all of the earlier damage with an eagle on the par-5 18th. He was in trouble there, too, after his second shot wound up in the left greenside bunker, but he blasted out from 14 yards, the ball bouncing briefly before a short, hard roll that ended when it hit the flagstick and dropped into the cup.
That level of redemption escaped others, including former U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson, who – Henley should be able to sympathize – had to birdie the last hole to break 80.
Phil Mickelson, who won the PGA Championship last month and turned 51 on Wednesday, had a 75. That’s not the start the six-time major winner hoped for in his bid to finally get a U.S. Open title for the career Grand Slam. What bothered him were two soft bogeys toward the end of his round.
“Look, it’s part of this tournament, and I was able to go without any doubles,” said Mickelson, a six-time U.S. Open runner-up who missed the cut last year. “I just didn’t make enough birdies to offset it.”
The course was as tough as advertised. The wind was a little more than expected, and it doesn’t take much to add to the challenge. Koepka, with two wins and a runner-up finish in his past three U.S. Opens, sailed on the breeze.
Reigning champion Bryson DeChambeau pounded driver and did plenty of gouging from the rough, though Torrey Pines doesn’t seem quite as suitable for the style he so beautifully executed at New York’s Winged Foot Golf Club last September in a six-shot victory. DeChambeau had to play the final five holes in 2 under to salvage a 73.
Rory McIlroy birdied his final hole in near darkness for a 70, a good sign for a four-time major winner who has fallen behind too far in too many first rounds at majors. Top-ranked Dustin Johnson had a 71 with one birdie and one bogey, nothing dynamic but suitable for a U.S. Open.
There were a few cheers for “Bryson” directed at Koepka as fans tried to keep their feud going, though Koepka didn’t appear to be the least bit distracted. This is a major, and he showed why he’s called “Big Game Brooks” when the biggest tournaments roll around.
Koepka has beaten 464 or the 465 players he has faced in the past three U.S. Opens he played. He sat out last year with injuries to his left knee and hip.
For so much of the day, Koepka made it look easy by keeping it in the short grass, off the tee and on the green. He 4 under through 11 holes when he missed the green on the par-3 third and made his first bogey, and he dropped another shot on the sixth, which has been converted to a par 4 for the U.S. Open.
Even so, it was a solid start for Koepka, who was the runner-up to Mickelson at the PGA Championship. It couldn’t have been easy, although he made it sound that way.
“It’s pretty simple. It’s a lot simpler than what guys make it,” Koepka said. “I think a lot of guys make it more difficult than it needs to be. Just got to understand where the flag is, what you’re doing and where to miss it.”
The surprise might have been Molinari, the 2018 British Open champion who has not been the same since losing a two-shot lead on the back nine at the Masters two years ago that paved the way for Tiger Woods slipping on another green jacket.
The Italian had to pull out of last month’s PGA Championship with a sore back. He mentioned other nagging injuries. He’s had three top-10 results this year. He also has missed the cut in three of the past four tournaments he played.
He was solid in San Diego, though, and two birdies over his last three holes Thursday allowed him to match his best start in a U.S. Open.
“There’s no tricks. You need to grind and fight for 18 holes and then relax until tomorrow and start over again,” he said. “I haven’t played recently, so it’s nice to get off to a good start, but there’s a long way to go. Start over tomorrow like nothing happened today.”