Justin Thomas starts U.S. Open with record round; Tiger Woods stumbles late
But on Thursday, Justin Thomas followed that winning formula better than anyone ever has, finding 9 of 14 fairways off the tee and converting those safe chances into only 28 putts and six birdies. The result: a 5-under-par 65, the lowest score ever recorded in a U.S. Open held at Winged Foot — there have been five of them previously — and the best score of the early threesomes.
Tiger Woods tried to match Thomas on the greens, at least, as he returned to the putter he had rejected at last month’s PGA Championship and ranked second in strokes gained: putting among the early-rising golfers. But Woods fell apart over his last six holes, with the final indignity coming at par-4 18th and its notorious false front. His second shot hit the ungentle slope and trundled back down to the edge of the rough, and his third also failed to surmount the summit that is the closing green. Woods settled for a closing 6 and a round of 3-over 73 in a day that once seemed optimistic after three straight birdies on the turn.
To be fair to Winged Foot and its fearsome reputation, the tournament directors had to soften up the course a bit because of logistics. With the tournament moved from its traditional Father’s Day Weekend perch to late summer because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, U.S. Golf Association officials had less daylight to squeeze in the 144 golfers in the field over the first two days. So, according to the Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis, they set things up to play at least a little easier on Thursday and Friday so that everyone could finish with the sun still overhead.
Thomas took advantage. So did 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed, who aced the par-3 seventh hole and went bogey-free from there to finish his round one shot behind Thomas.
Here’s a look at how Thomas, Woods and playing partner Collin Morikawa (a dismal 6-over 76) fared on Thursday, hole by hole.
No. 18 (Par 4, 469 yards)
Woods closed with a very Winged Foot-esque double bogey, the false front doing him in. Thomas’s closing birdie was anything but usual, a twisting 20-footer that left him with birdie and a closing 65.
Thomas: Birdie, -5
Woods: Double bogey, +3
Morikawa: Par, +6
No. 17 (Par 4, 504 yards)
Thomas looked to be in his first real trouble of the day, finding a fairway bunker on his drive and a greenside bunker on his second shot, But his sand-save attempt was exceptional, as usual for him on the day, and he was able to save par. Woods’s putter couldn’t come through this time, his eight-foot par putt dying on the vine. Morikawa burned his par putt past the hole for another bogey, his eighth of the day.
Thomas: Par, -4
Woods: Bogey, +1
Morikawa: Bogey, +6
No. 16 (Par 4, 498 yards)
Woods seemed to be playing it safe at No. 16, for good reason: It was playing as the hardest hole on the course, with the golfers who had been through it already posting a score of 22 over par with just two birdies. But Woods seemed to surprise even himself by ramming home a 40-foot birdie putt that would have gone well past the hole had it not dropped.
Thomas, meanwhile, had a stress-free par and Morikawa carded another bogey.
Thomas: Par, -4
Woods: Birdie, even
Morikawa: Bogey, +5
No. 15 (Par 4, 426 yards)
It was pars all around at No. 15, the last gettable hole on the course before a tough finish. As of this writing, Patrick Reed has caught up with Thomas atop the leader board at 4 under par.
Thomas: Par, -4
Woods: Par, +1
Morikawa: Par, +1
No. 14 (Par 4, 452 yards)
Thomas continued to employ the winning formula at Winged Foot — find the fairway (or at least the first cut), and knock it to within 10 feet — but his birdie putt here came up just short and it’s a third straight par. Woods, meanwhile, showed what happens when you drive it into the rough: You come up short, your attempt to bump it into the hill on the green goes awry and you bogey yourself back into the plus side of par. Morikawa got lucky when his tee shot hit a tree and bounded into the rough and not the forest, but that was about the only thing good that happened: His double bogey pushed him even further back on what’s becoming a dismal day.
Thomas: Par, -4
Woods: Bogey, +1
Morikawa: Double bogey, +4
No. 13 (Par 3, 212 yards)
Woods made his first error in a while, sending his tee shot into the left-side bunker. He did all he could to blast out to 20 feet, but his par putt was short and it’s a bogey. Thomas and Morikawa both carded trouble-free bogeys.
Thomas: Par, -4
Woods: Bogey, even
Morikawa: Par, +3
No. 12 (Par 5, 633 yards)
Woods appeared well on his way to his fourth birdie in a row on the course’s longest hole, finding the fairway and chipping to about 10 feet. But his birdie putt touched every part of the hole but the bottom of it, spinning around and out for a dispiriting par.
Thomas similarly could have continued his own birdie streak but misread his eight-footer and settled for par. Morikawa continued to scuffle, his second shot finding the rough. He settled for par
Thomas: Par, -4
Woods: Par, -1
Morikawa: Par, +3
No. 11 (Par 4, 384 yards)
Woods and Thomas followed similar routes — fairway, green, 10 feet uphill for birdie — on one of Winged Foot’s easier holes, and both walked away with their third straight birdie, Thomas assuming the tournament lead with his. Morikawa, meanwhile, continued to struggle with more rough, another bunker and another bogey, his fourth in five holes.
Thomas: Birdie, -4
Woods: Birdie, -1
Morikawa: Bogey, +3
No. 10 (Par 3, 214 yards)
There had been only five birdies at the par-3 10th by the time this group got to the tee box. When they walked off the green, there were seven, with a zoned-in Thomas going pin-hunting and Woods impeccably judging a 24-footer that curled in right at the end.
Morikawa couldn’t replicate it, finding deep rough on the left side, coughing his second shot about three feet into the bunker and finishing with a bogey that could have been worse.
Thomas: Birdie, -3
Woods: Birdie, even
Morikawa: Bogey, +2
No. 9 (Par 5, 565 yards)
I’m sensing a theme for Woods: His drives are hitting the fairway but not staying on the fairway. At the course’s first par 5, Woods again found the rough and he had to punch out into the fairway. His third shot was poor, hitting a ridge and spinning away from the hole. But his birdie putt from 10 yards out undulated its way right into the hole for perhaps a momentum-building 4.
Thomas, continuing his steady hand, again found the fairway and carded his third birdie of the day. Morikawa also got down in 4 thanks to an adroit pitch that landed within four feet.
Thomas: Birdie, -2
Morikawa: Birdie, +1
Woods: Birdie, +1
No. 8 (Par 4, 490 yards)
Thomas kept up his steady play with a straightforward par, but the same couldn’t be said for his playing partners. Woods couldn’t hold the dogleg off the tee, and his punch from the rough only traveled about 60 feet and into a bunker (leading to the first sign of visible frustration from Woods). Morikawa skied his second shot over the hole, saw his chip graze the lip before nearly skittering off the green and then grazed the lip again on his par putt. Bogeys for both.
Thomas: Par, -1
Morikawa: Bogey, +2
Woods: Bogey, +2
No. 7 (Par 3, 162 yards)
Morikawa found the most difficulty on the course’s shortest hole with a wayward-left tee shot that found a rough and a chip that trickled back off the green. He bogeyed. Woods misread his 13-foot birdie putt and came away with par, while Thomas played it fairly save for his own 3.
On the same hole, here’s Patrick Reed:
Thomas: Par, -1
Woods: Par, +1
Morikawa: Bogey, +1
No. 6 (Par 4, 321 yards)
Finding the fairway is a must on Winged Foot’s shortest par 4 and narrowest fairway, and Woods and Thomas both did so, both hit beautiful approach shots and both converted birdie putts. Morikawa went left into the rough off the tee but scrambled to make par.
Thomas: Birdie, -1
Morikawa: Par, even
Woods: Birdie, +1
No. 5 (Par 4, 502 yards)
Thomas and Morikawa put similarly gorgeous approach shots right next to each other, but only Morikawa was convert the birdie from about eight feet. Woods, meanwhile, found more trouble in the sand. With one foot in the rough and one in the bunker, he did well to get it to around 10 feet but his par putt didn’t break and it’s a second straight bogey and first failed sand save.
Morikawa: Birdie, even
Thomas: Par, even
Woods: Bogey, +2
No. 4 (Par 4, 467 yards)
For the first time, Winged Foot seemed to get to Woods, whose tee shot took an awful bounce off the fairway into the right rough. His approach was short of the green, and his putt from the fairway zoomed past the hole into the fringe around the green. Now chipping — and with a makeshift grandstand of fans cheering him on from the backyard of a neighboring house — Woods sent it four feet past and settled for his first bogey.
Thomas and Morikawa both parred, with Morikawa almost holing his own putt from the fairway.
Thomas: Par, even
Morikawa: Par, +1
Woods: Bogey, +1
No. 3 (Par 3, 243 yards)
All three go left off the tee, with Thomas and Woods finding the same bunker. That was better than the alternative: Morikawa landed in the strip of heavy rough separating that bunker from the green. But the PGA Championship winner punched out to 10 feet and converted the par putt. Woods scrambled for a par of his own, but Thomas couldn’t convert a quick-breaking 13-footer and bogeyed.
Thomas: Bogey, even
Woods: Par, even
Morikawa: Par, +1
No. 2 (Par 4, 484 yards)
It’s pars all around. Morikawa took the conventional route, finding the fairway and hitting his approach to about 20 feet. Woods and Thomas both found bunkers, Woods two of them, but they both were able to clean things up.
Thomas: Par, -1
Woods: Par, even
Morikawa: Par, +1
No. 1 (Par 4, 451 yards)
Woods and Thomas matched each other with center-cut drives, with Woods spinning it back to within 20 feet on his approach. Thomas, however, matched it and then some, knocking his iron to three feet and carding the first birdie of the day at the notoriously difficult first hole (it was the most difficult hole on the PGA Tour in the three previous majors at Winged Foot: the 1984 and 2006 U.S. Opens and 1997 PGA). Morikawa found the left rough and struggled to recover, making bogey.
Thomas: Birdie, -1
Woods: Par, even
Morikawa: Bogey, +1
Before the round: What you should know
Woods has played two tournaments at Winged Foot: the 1997 PGA Championship (he finished in a tie for 29th in his fourth major as a professional) and the 2006 U.S. Open (a little more than a month after his father’s death, he missed the cut for the first time as a pro). At a news conference this week, Woods put the course up there with Oakmont and Carnoustie in terms of “sheer difficulty” and said he expects the winning score to be somewhere around the 5 over par posted by Geoff Ogilvy at Winged Foot in 2006.
Winning (or even contending) might be a difficult task for the 44-year-old Woods, who has missed two cuts in the four majors since his stirring 2019 Masters triumph. His notoriously fickle back has acted up on him at times this year, and he’s done no better than a tie for 37th at the four tournaments he’s played since the PGA Tour restarted amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
But that doesn’t mean he’s not worth watching, especially considering his well-decorated playing partners Thursday morning.
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