Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler are among the players hopeful for better fortunes on day two of the US Open after a challenging first round.
McIlroy will be the happier of the pair heading into Friday, with his one-under 69 leaving him in a tie for ninth place at Shinnecock Hills.
Meanwhile, Scheffler finds himself in a tie for 49th place following his two-over 72 on Thursday in Long Island.
But there was a common theme for the world-class duo during their opening round, and indeed for their fellow early starters at the US Open.
And it involved the world’s top two players, McIlroy and Scheffler, getting seriously unlucky on an intriguing start at Shinnecock Hills.
Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler seriously unlucky on US Open day one
McIlroy played with Ludvig Aberg and Tommy Fleetwood in the morning wave, where he was soon followed by Scottie Scheffler, J.J. Spaun and Mason Howell.
Play was quickly halted for two hours in the morning due to thick fog, but it was the brutal wind that really tormented the morning wave.
Amid those challenging conditions at an already difficult course, just six of the 78 early starters broke par in New York.
To make matters worse for McIlroy and Scheffler, the conditions then markedly improved for the players in the afternoon wave.
That included Wyndham Clark, who shot six-under through his first 16 holes in more favorable conditions before play was suspended due to darkness.
Notably, 11 of the 17 players under par at the time of the hooter were in the afternoon wave, which unsurprisingly played host to a better scoring average.
The AM scoring average for round one at Shinnecock Hills was +3.87, compared to the PM figure of +2.75.
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It certainly cannot have been easy for the early starters in Long Island, where wind gusted from 20 to 30 mph throughout the day.
It clearly died down as the day progressed, with Clark among the players really benefitting from the significant developments.
But McIlroy deserves huge praise for his efforts on the course and indeed his mental strength to produce a very solid round.
And it has proven significant for more reasons than one, with McIlroy joining Phil Mickelson on 23 rounds in the 60s at the US Open.
As per Justin Ray, he’s now just six behind all-time leader Jack Nicklaus on 29, and two ahead of Tiger Woods on 21.
Of course, also deserving credit for stepping up in the tricky conditions were McIlroy’s fellow early starters Sam Stevens and Ludvig Aberg.
The American is in a tie for second, four shots behind Clark, while the Swede joins the Northern Irishman in a tie for ninth.
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