Brookline as it stands
It's been 34 years since The Country Club in Brookline hosted the US Open and yesterday. The Massachusetts course bore its teeth on the opening day with a condensed bunch at the top of the leaderboard.
After the opening 18 holes, half of the field are within six shots of the lead. It's worth noting that when Brooks Keopka won at Shinnecock in 2018 he was trailing by six after the first day.
Candian Adam Hadwin leads in Boston having shot his lowest career round at a major. He is also the first Canadian to lead the US Open since Mike Weir in 2009.
The Local Man
Waterford's own Seamus Power had a fairly mixed opening round in Boston. A front nine of 2 under set him up for a tilt at the top of the early leaderboard, with his Irish colleague Rory McIlroy already in the clubhouse on 3 under.
By the time Seamus hit the back nine, he couldn't buy himself a bit of luck. Three horror holes at 10, 11 & 12 saw him drop three consecutive shots in cruel circumstances.
The Touraneena native was out in the later groupings on Friday and had to contend with difficult conditions at Brookline, commenting that "Playing a lot of links golf in tough conditions, you know par is a good score and that’s what I’ve seen so far in Majors this year and certainly, in the three I’ve played it’s been that way".
The 2021 Barbasol winner recently claimed a top 10 spot in the PGA Championship and has also notched a T27 finish at the Masters, with a T33 result at the Players.
It is of course the first run of majors that Seamus has played at and the learning curve is there to be contended with, but he has shown up well and proven that he deserves to be at the top table with the world's best.
The remainder of Seamus' round was steady and nerve-settling. He nailed pars from 13 to 18 but may feel aggrieved that some puts didn't drop when they would do on another day, describing his efforts as "about what I deserved".
Ahead of round two, Seamus is just five shots off the pace of surprise package Adam Hadwin and very much in contention to go on a run today. He plays with Joohyung Kim and Min Woo Lee again today, starting from the tenth tee at 12.40 pm Irish time.
