Rickie Fowler leads the US Open by one shot from Paul Casey after round one at Erin Hills.
Fowler shot a seven-under 65 to equal the lowest US Open first-round score. Casey is joint second with 23 year old American Xander Schauffele after an opening 66.
Tommy Fleetwood is tied for fourth on five under, with Brooks Koepka and Brian Harman, while Lee Westwood and Andrew Johnston are three under.
Defending champion Dustin Johnson is three over par after an opening 75, while Rory McIlroy and Jason Day will both be struggling to make the cut, after shooting 78 and 79 respectively.
None of the world’s top six golfers posted an under-par score on a day when a US Open first-round record 44 players managed to do so after heavy rain earlier in the week softened the greens and made the fairways more forgiving.
Day recorded two triple bogeys in his round, while Hideki Matsuyama and Henrik Stenson both finished on two over, one adrift of Jordan Spieth. Masters champion Sergio Garcia shot a 70 to be tied for 18th on two under, while Justin Rose is in a large group on even par.
McIlroy, returning after a month out with a rib injury, started with an eagle-two on the par-four second after driving the green, however, a bogey followed at the third and he had two double bogeys on his back nine after hitting his ball into the deep fescue rough.
After his poor round, McIlroy said: “I don’t think I hit a fairway from the 10th, and you cannot play this golf course if you are not in position off the tee. It was just one of those days. My timing was just a little bit off. I started missing some left and tried to correct it and missed a couple right.”
Fowler’s round, on the longest course in major championship history at 7,845 yards, equalled the scores posted by Jack Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf, who both shot 63 in the first round on the par-70 layout at Baltusrol in 1980.
Fowler was among the early starters and knocked in three birdies on the front nine and four on the back to set a clubhouse lead that nobody really threatened. However, the 28-year-old, who is yet to win a major, said: “I’d rather be remembered for something that’s done on Sunday. I didn’t see seven under at the start of the week, but today is the best we are going to get. I just kept making putts when it mattered.”
Casey came closest to joining him at the top of the leaderboard. He chipped in from 30 yards to eagle the first, and he birdied three more holes on the front nine to turn at four under par. After a bogey on the 10th, his second of the round, Casey had three birdies in his closing eight holes to move within one of the lead.
“I’m ecstatic,” said the 39 year old. “I’m over the moon with a 66. I’m feeling really, really good about this golf course. I like classic US Open courses, but this is different. It has an Open Championship feel about it.”
Fellow Englishman Fleetwood, who has missed the cut in six of his previous seven major appearances, said: “The course was as receptive as it’s going to be, but I never really tried to make a birdie, they just seemed to happen along the way. You don’t really think about shooting five under at the US Open. Seven under is ridiculous.”
SCORES: -7 R Fowler; -6 P Casey, X Schauffele; -5 B Harman, T Fleetwood, B Koepka; -4 P Reed, M Leishman, K Na, A Hadwin, Selected: -3 L Westwood, A Johnston ; -2 E Els, S Garcia, M Fitzpatrick ; -1 S Lowry; Level M Laird, E Pepperell, J Rose; +1 A Rai, R Knox, J Spieth, R Ramsey; +2 B Dredge, H Stenson; +3 D Johnson, B Watson; +4 J Rahm, G McDowell; +6 R McIlroy; +7 J Day; +9 D Willett