OAKMONT, Pa. — Taylor Pendrith called it likely the hardest tournament round he’s ever played — despite the fact it was fairly calm through the morning at the U.S. Open Thursday and Oakmont Country Club was still drying out after a deluge of rain through the month of May.
Alas, despite shooting a 2-over 72 Thursday to open the third major of the year, Pendrith was inside the top 20 in the leaderboard when he finished, thanks in large part to two incredible par-saving putts on his final two holes of the day.
“I was 2 over through three (holes), and to be 2 over at the end of the day meant it was a really strong finish for me,” Pendrith told Sportsnet. “Mentally and physically, I felt like I did a lot of good things. Birdies are really hard to make out here, but the two pars at the end feel good — they feel like birdies. I’m happy with where I’m at.”
Pendrith opened on the back nine and didn’t find a fairway for five holes. He got one back on the shot par-4 17th after pitching in from a brutal lie in the greenside rough. He made just one bogey on his front side, on the par-4 2nd, but he held on tight through the finish. He rolled in a 21-footer for par on the long par-3 8th and another testy 10-footer on No. 9.
“The whole (second) nine was a grind,” Pendrith said. “I was hitting some good shots and just couldn’t get anything to fall.”
On No. 8, Pendrith said he didn’t have a club for that yardage Thursday, so he tried to just “hold up” his mini driver into the wind. It ended up in a “sketchy” lie, but he chunked it up to 20 feet before making the par. He said he “wasn’t committed” to the second shot on No. 9 and landed in a greenside bunker, but was able to get up and down.
“Pars are really good on most holes here, so to make a couple big putts to finish feels good,” Pendrith said.
This was a tidy turnaround on the greens for Pendrith, who sits 142nd on the PGA Tour in strokes gained: putting for the season. He was 15th in that stat Thursday at Oakmont as the afternoon wave got underway. Pendrith was also his usual solid self with the driver, sitting 10th in strokes gained: off the tee.
Pendrith was grouped with early first-round leader J.J. Spaun, who came in with an impressive 4-under 66 — without making a bogey. It was a simple day for Spaun, Pendrith said, who just kept finding fairways and rode a hot putter to the finish line.
Spaun gained almost four shots on the field with his putter Thursday en route to shooting his best-career major championship round. With the afternoon wave beginning to get onto the course, there were only seven golfers under par.
The scoring average was sitting at just a shade over 75 at the early point of the afternoon.
“I kind of came out here with no prior history at Oakmont, not really knowing what to expect even U.S. Open-wise. This is only my second one. I don’t know if that freed me up in any aspect, but I just tried to kind of take what the course gave me,” Spaun said. “I hit a lot of good shots and tried to capitalize on any birdie opportunities, which aren’t very many out here. But I scrambled really well, too, which is a huge component to playing well at a U.S. Open, let alone shoot a bogey-free round.
“I’m just overly pleased with how I started the tournament.”
On the opposite end of the scoring spectrum, Thursday marked another tough start for Rory McIlroy, who had it to 2-under at one point but finished with a 4-over 74 (while his playing partner Shane Lowry shot a 9-over 79, despite holing out for an eagle on the par-4 3rd). Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau shot a 3-over 73.
The other three Canadians in the field — Mackenzie Hughes, Nick Taylor, and Corey Conners — are part of the afternoon wave that includes world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.
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