Ten players are under par after the first round of the U.S. Open at Oakmont.
Just two of them are former major champions.
Brooks Koepka shot a 2-under 68 and Jon Rahm carded a 1-under 69 to reside on the first page of the leaderboard, not far behind first-round leader J.J. Spaun at 4-under.
The key for both players was the 621-yard par-5 fourth hole.
Koepka made a 42-foot putt for eagle on the fourth to get to 2-under. After giving a couple of strokes back, he birdied Nos. 17 and 18 to finish strong.
Koepka, who won the U.S. Open in 2017 at Erin Hills and 2018 at Shinnecock Hills, is also a three-time PGA champ. He hasn’t been in the best of form this season, failing to make the cut in the first two majors or make much of an impact in LIV Golf.
“Yeah, I would say from the first weekend in April until about last week, you didn’t want to be around me,” Koepka said. “It drove me nuts. It ate at me. I haven’t been happy.”
Rahm, who won the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines and 2023 Masters, started on 10 and made the turn at 1-over. He stuck his approach inside 6 feet and made birdie on the par-4 third, then hit a 251-yard approach inside 11 feet and made eagle on No. 4.
“Just a really good round, really good golf in general. Everything felt good,” Rahm said. “The thing I would say made it really good was how well I did off the tee. I would say hit pretty much every tee shot in the fairway or on the first cut and far down there at that. So that certainly made the day a lot easier.”
