India’s Golfing sensation Shubhankar Sharma is indeed on a ‘major’ odyssey of his career. First the Masters and now the US Open. Not everyone has the spunk to get a chance to play all the four Majors, but the 21-year-old has done that and proved his mettle.

 

 

 

 

                                                         Shubhankar Sharma had a tough start on Day 1 

 

 

 

It was a tough start for him on the first day. Making his debut at the U.S. Open the 21-year-old Sharma produced a struggling 74. He turned in one-over with three bogeys against two birdies and dropped three more bogeys coming in to sign off the day in T37.

 

 

Dustin Johnson, who ascended to the top of the world rankings with his PGA TOUR victory at the FedEx St. Jude Classic last week, shot a steady, 1-under 69 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. He joined Ian Poulter, Russell Henley and Scott Piercy in a four-way tie for the lead after the first round.

 

 

 

                                                                           Dustin Johnson is World no 1 

 

 

 

Johnson, who won the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont, was accurate off the tee, hitting 10 of 14 fairways. He lowered his score to 3-under by holing out from a greenside bunker for a birdie on the par-3 11th but lost some of the momentum with a pair of bogeys coming home.

 

 

Defending champion Brooks Koepka shot 75 but wasn’t overly concerned. “I think everybody was just trying to grind it out,” he said. “It’s a U.S. Open. You can shoot, whatever, 5-over today and shoot 1-under tomorrow and be just fine going into the weekend. So, I’m not too concerned.”

 

 

 

The conditions created some high scores. Rory McIlroy shot 80 to match his highest score in a major. Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson shot 77, and Jon Rahm and Jordan Spieth shot 78. Jason Day shot 79.

 

“I did a lot of things well,” Johnson said. “I hit a lot of good shots, hit a lot of fairways and had a lot of birdie putts. “

 

 

Johnson watched some of the morning round and saw the high scores on TV. He understood it was going to be a grueling afternoon. “You want it to play tough—maybe not quite this tough—but it was a day where you had to play good golf if you wanted to shoot a good score,” Johnson said.

 

 

A triple-bogey for Tiger Woods

 

 

 

 

                                                           Tiger Woods' putting woes continue 

 

 

 

Woods made a triple-bogey on the first hole, added two doubles on the back nine including a 4-putt green, had just a single birdie, and shot an 8-over-par 78 to finish nine strokes back of tournament co-leaders Dustin Johnson, Russell Henley, Ian Poulter and Scott Piercy.

 

"It was pretty evident nobody was making any birdies in the morning,'' Woods said

 

"Lots and lots of bogeys and higher and others. So my game plan was not to make any 'others' and I made three of them. So didn't do very well there.''