PINEHURST, N.C. — Golf is maddeningly difficult but also, sometimes, incredibly simple.
Corey Conners had a fairly straightforward gameplan Thursday at Pinehurst No. 2 and he executed it to perfection. He shot a 1-under 69 after birding his last hole of the day. He missed just one fairway and let his elite ball-striking take care of the rest.
“Certainly would have taken a 1-under par round to start the day,” Conners told Sportsnet. “Feel like I’ve worked hard. But it was a solid day and happy with the result.”
The Canadian, who has never made the cut at the U.S. Open in his career, finished the first round tied for ninth. He was eighth in strokes gained: off the tee and perhaps more impressively, was seventh in strokes gained: putting.
Conners said he’s “found a feeling that clicked” with his setup over the last few weeks with the flatstick. Even though he confirmed these were the fastest greens he has putted on all year, his start line has been good, and he’s felt he can stroke it freely.
“I’ve had some really good putting rounds over the last few weeks and definitely feeling good with it and taking some confidence and trying to hit putts to make them — it was nice to see some go in,” Conners said. “It definitely was an all-around good day but a solid day on the greens and hopefully more to come.”
The combination of hitting fairways, greens, and putting it well has meant Conners is firmly in the mix through 18 holes – and that was the plan all along.
“I just struck it really solidly. I was a little bit off with a couple of iron shots but hit a couple of really good ones. When I did miss, I did miss it in the right spots. Really solid day off the tee, got in the fairway a bunch,” Conners said. “When I’m playing well, I feel like I hit a lot of fairways – that was the plan and the expectation for today.”
Conners had an early stumble, making a double bogey on the par-4 2nd. He quickly got those strokes back, though, rolling in a 26-foot eagle on the par-5 5th. Conners said that helped to settle him down and it was smooth sailing after that. He bogeyed No. 9 but made two birdies coming in, including on the final hole of the day to get into red figures.
While the golf course is absolutely set to get more difficult as the week goes on — with hot temperatures in the forecast — Conners said having scoring clubs in his hands on Thursday meant he had an opportunity to attack the pins.
“I think it’s going to continue to get more challenging. That being said, it’s possible to hit good shots. It’s possible to make birdies and give yourself looks,” Conners said. “Similar game plan for tomorrow – hit it on the fairway. Try to find the green. And see if we can knock it in.”
Conners sits four back of Patrick Cantlay and Rory McIlroy who shot matching 5-under 65s — Cantlay in the morning and McIlroy in the afternoon. This was Cantlay’s lowest-career round at a U.S. Open and he had never been in the top five of a major championship leaderboard after the opening round until Thursday.
“I knew going off at 7:40 in the morning it was going to play maybe the easiest it will play all week with the lack of wind and probably the softest we would see it,” Cantlay said. “I’m really happy with the round I played today.”
Like Conners, McIlroy had some simple objectives this week. He wanted to be 100 per cent committed to the shots and 100 per cent committed to having a good attitude. So far, so good, as McIlroy is chasing his first major championship victory in a decade.
Twenty-three of the last 25 U.S. Open champions have been within five shots of the lead after the first round and McIlroy has left himself in as good a position as any through 18 holes. He said he’s become more of a student of golf architecture over the last few years and is understanding why golf course architects are doing the things they do when it comes to design — and Pinehurst No. 2 has awoken something in him.
“It sort of brings me back to links golf when I was a kid a little bit,” McIlroy said. “I’d love if we played more golf courses like this.
“I really don’t think I embraced U.S. Open setups probably 10 years into my U.S. Open career. Played my first one in 2009, and I think I really changed my mindset around them in 2019 (at Pebble Beach) and since then I’ve also started to enjoy this style of golf a lot more.”
The rest of the Canadian contingent finished over-par on Thursday, but perhaps the happiest of the bunch was Taylor Pendrith who saved par after a nifty up-and-down on his final hole of the day to finish with a 1-over 71.
Mackenzie Hughes shot 2-over 72, Adam Svensson shot a 3-over 73, Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor shot 4-over 74s and amateur Ashton McCulloch from Kingston, Ont., shot a 5-over 75 in his U.S. Open debut.
If just teeing it up at the U.S. Open wasn’t a memory-of-a-lifetime enough, he pitched in from a bunker about 30 yards away for an eagle on the par-5 5th.