A two-pronged tangle with Shinnecock Hills’ ferocious fescue left a bruise on Adam Scott’s first-round scorecard as he officially made it 100 consecutive majors at the US Open in New York.
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Celebrated all week for joining Jack Nicklaus as the only male golfers to play in 100 consecutive major championships, Scott’s start was put on hold for two hours as USGA officials waited for the thick fog to clear.
Once he got started, it took just two holes before the 45-year-old Queenslander was reminded that it doesn’t get easier after 100.
After coming up short with his approach shot to the 230-metre, par-3 second hole, Scott putted from off the green but came up 10 feet shy, unable to grind out an early Shinnecock par save.
He tapped in for par on the third, showed great touch from off the green to save par on the fourth but missed a great birdie chance from eight feet at the par-5 fifth.
Par putts from inside three feet led to pars at six and seven but was unable to get up-and-down after coming up short at the par-4 eighth. A seven-foot par putt for par on nine was nice for momentum but he came up 12 feet short with his birdie putt on 10 and missed the par try to drop to two-over.
His first birdie of the week followed at the par-3 11th but after three straight pars a missed fairway on 15 led to a double-bogey 6.
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Scott did his best to muscle a second out of the native area right of the fairway but sent it 135 metres into the left native area still 50 metres shy of the green. He could only advance that 30-odd paces into the greenside bunker, unable to make his bogey putt from 12 feet as he dropped to four-over with three to play.
Still 115 metres short of the green after his second at the 567-metre par-5 16th, Scott hit his approach to 12 feet and made the putt for birdie, walking off with a confidence-building par putt from eight feet on 18.
Scott’s three-over 73 was the best of the completed rounds of the Aussies, with Min Woo Lee also sitting three-over with four holes to play in his opening round having made two birdies in his final three holes before play was suspended due to darkness.
Making his return eight years after a Shinnecock shocker, Lucas Herbert’s four birdies in round one were more that most as he shot four-over 74.
Like Scott, Herbert had to contend with the toughest of the conditions, bouncing back from a bogey on 10 with a birdie from just outside 16 feet on 12.
As is expected at Shinnecock, it sparked a chaotic run of birdies and bogeys that saw the Victorian turn in three-over.
That became four when Herbert missed his par putt from 10 feet on one before responding with back-to-back birdies at four and five, his iron shot inside two feet from 179 metres on four among the shots of the day. But the ground he made up would soon be returned with bogeys at seven and eight resulting in a four-over 74.
A triple-bogey 6 at the par-3 seventh hole would mar an otherwise solid day from Queenslander Cameron Smith.
Two-over through his first six holes, Smith hit his tee shot on seven into the right greenside bunker and took two shots to get his ball out onto the fringe. From there he chipped 16 feet past the hole and missed the putt coming back for his double.
A further bogey on nine sent Smith tumbling to six-over but birdies at 12 and 17 before a closing bogey gave the 2022 Open champion a fighting chance of playing his way into the weekend in round two.
One Aussie definitely won’t be there on the weekend, Jason Day withdrawing with a reported back injury after just 10 holes.
FULL GOLF DIGEST US OPEN COVERAGE HERE
Round 1 Australian scores
T-72 Adam Scott 73
T-72 Min Woo Lee +3* thru 14
T-92 Lucas Herbert 74
T-113 Cameron Smith 75
WD Jason Day
Round 2 tee-times (AEST)
10:18pm Min Woo Lee
3:29am* Cameron Smith
3:40am Lucas Herbert
4:13am* Adam Scott
