US Open 2015 Leaderboard: Real-Time Updates for Friday Leaders at Chambers Bay
Chambers Bay may be the most enigmatic course to ever host a U.S. Open. Its links-style layout features plenty of anti-Open features including wide fairways, an absence of trees, enormous greens and plenty of fescue. Although, despite all of the mixed reviews the course was receiving earlier in the week, it sure provided an entertaining opening round in this year's tournament.
Scores ranged from a pair of five-under 65s to five scores of at least 10-over 80s or higher—both Tiger Woods and Rickie Fowler find themselves in that unfortunate category. While scores were all over the place, parity was present at Chambers Bay: every player needed to perform in the exact same conditions.
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Perhaps the best example of parity in this year's U.S. Open is the tournament's co-leaders, Henrik Stenson and Dustin Johnson. Both play with polar-opposite styles, as Stenson isn't a big-hitter but has a great putting stroke and touch around the greens, while Johnson can bomb it off the tee to set himself up for shorter, more accurate approach shots. Each finished their first rounds with scores of 65.
So, will one—or both—of those players continue to light it up on Friday in an effort to notch a wire-to-wire victory, or will another golfer emerge on Day 2 in a tournament that is always chock-full of surprises? While we anxiously await the answer to that question, let's take a look at the U.S. Open's updated leaderboard and review the performances from the top players in Round 1.
Updated U.S. Open Leaderboard
The full tournament leaderboard can be viewed at USOpen.com.
Analyzing Thursday's Top Rounds
Dustin Johnson
Many experts predicted a solid U.S. Open from Johnson due to his ability to hit the long ball and shorten courses significantly. That was expected to come into play in a big way at Chambers Bay due to the course's forgiving fairways.
Johnson was simply brilliant off the tee Thursday. He averaged a whopping 336.5 yards with his trusty driver and hit 11 of a possible 14 fairways on top of that. His stellar drives led to hitting 78 percent of greens in regulation, and his approaches were generally in close proximity to the hole, allowing him to capitalize and finish the day with just 28 putts.
The world No. 7 began his day on the back nine and wasted little time getting into the red. After parring No. 10, he relied on his massive drive to notch a birdie on the long 541-yard par-four 11th. He drove the green on the 317-yard par-four 12th and just barely missed his eagle putt to settle for a tap-in birdie. After parring out the rest, he made the turn at two under.
Johnson struck with a birdie on No. 1, moving to three under on the day, and following two pars, he began a great four-hole run. After setting himself up with great drives, he hit three very solid approach shots on Nos. 4, 5 and 7 to record three birdies in four holes. An unfortunate bogey on the par-three ninth closed out his day, but it was still good enough for an impressive five-under 65.
After that performance, Johnson's confidence soared during his press conference, via ESPN.com, saying, "I really felt like I swung it well and hit a lot of quality iron shots. So the confidence is definitely there. I feel really good about where I'm at going into tomorrow."
Henrik Stenson
Stenson played his round completely different to Johnson, mainly due to the difference in driving distance. While Johnson was super long off the tee, Stenson finished just below the tournament average with a median distance of 300.5 yards per drive. His accuracy and short game was phenomenal, as he hit 11-of-14 fairways, 14-of-18 greens in regulation and took just 27 putts.
After a par on the opening hole, Stenson rattled off two consecutive birdies to quickly move into the red. His tee shot on the 148-yard par-three third was brilliant, narrowly missing a hole in one and resting next to the hole for a tap-in birdie. He would birdie No. 7 as well, but bogeys on Nos. 6 and 8 led to a one-under 34 on the front side.
Stenson began the back nine with four straight pars and then caught fire, birdieing four of his final five holes on the round. A great approach on No. 14 led to a short birdie putt, and the Swede's flat stick got red hot thereafter, as he rattled in three lengthy birdies on holes 15, 16 and 18 for a five-under 65.
The Swede has never won a major tournament, as his best result came as a runner-up in the 2013 Open Championship. He's never finished any better than tied for fourth in a U.S. Open. Still, Chambers Bay appears to suit him well, and if his putter stays hot, he should remain atop the leaderboard.
Patrick Reed
Patrick Reed rounds out the top three, as he was the tournament's only player to finish his opening round with a four-under 66. The 24-year-old put up that impressive number in a similar style to Stenson. Reed averaged 304.0 yards off the tee, hit 11-of-14 fairways, 16-of-18 greens in regulation and took 29 total putts in a very consistent effort.
Reed was on fire out of the gate Thursday. He started on the back nine and didn't take long to get into the red, birdieing the 10th hole after a great approach and solid putt. That trend continued on holes 13 and 16, as close approaches gave him very manageable birdie putts. He recorded another birdie on the par-three 17th, draining a 38-foot putt to move him to four under on the day.
Things didn't start swimmingly on the front nine, as Reed had trouble on the par-four first. He missed the green on his approach and followed it up with a poor chip that gave him a very long par putt. He took two strokes from there to record a bogey. Reed would later atone for the mishap with a birdie on No. 6, but a bogey on No. 8 and birdie on No. 9 kept him at even par on the front nine and four under on the day.
Interestingly enough, Reed is in uncharted territory, as he's never really fared well in a major. His best finish in the four tournaments was a tie for 22nd in this year's Masters. Reed has never finished better than a tie for 35th at the U.S. Open.
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