U.S. Open Championship 2024 live updates (2024)

The first round is underway at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina.

The 156-strong field split tees off the first and 10th holes.

Current leaderboard

T1: Patrick Cantlay, Rory McIlroy (-5)

2: Ludvig Åberg

5: Bryson DeChambeau (-3), Matthieu Pavon (-3)

• Watch on: USA Network & Peaco*ck, Sky Sports (UK), Fox Sports & Kayo (Australia).

✉️ Get in touch: livebloguk@theathletic.com

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Rory McIlroy's walk-in of his birdie putt on 18 had all kinds of sauce to it, though it appears that some of it was unintentional.

"I thought I'd left it short. That's why I walked off it. Full disclosure. It looked good, though," McIlroy said about the 20-footer that got him to 5-under-par and a tie with Patrick Cantlay atop the leaderboard.

McIlroy had five birdies, 13 pars and zero bogeys in his round, playing with the only two players ranked above him in the world, Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele. Scheffler is T36 after finishing 1-over-par and Schauffele is T17 after an even-par 70.

"I enjoy playing in these groups. When you've been out here for, whatever it is, 16 or 17 years, sometimes you need a little extra to get the juices going, and being in a group like that definitely helps," McIlroy said.

Bryson DeChambeau is tied for fourth after one round after shooting a 3-under 67.

Only one bogey for DeChambeau on the par-4 seventh. His strong performance in majors in 2024 continues.

DeChambeau finished T6 at the Masters and second at the PGA Championship.

It's been an up-and-down day for the top-ranked golfers in the world.

Three of the top 10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking — Rory McIlroy (No. 3), Patrick Cantlay (No. 9) and Ludvig Åberg (No. 6) — top the leaderboard.

But elsewhere …

No. 1 Scottie Scheffler: +1, T40

No. 2 Xander Schauffele: E, T17

No. 4 Wyndham Clark: +3, T71 (through 17)

No. 5 Viktor Hovland: +8, T145 (through 16)

No. 7 Collin Morikawa: E, T17

No. 8 Jon Rahm: Withdrew

No. 10 Max Homa: E, T17 (through 16)

As the Peaco*ck broadcast showed footage of Rory McIlroy's previous U.S. Open win — 2011 — he pointed out Patrick Cantlay, his co-leader in this first round, was in the background.

When McIlroy won at Congressional in 2011, Cantlay, then 19, was top amateur.

They shared a trophy presentation then, and could be close competitors this weekend.

What a round for Rory McIlroy.

Chasing his first U.S. Open victory since 2011, McIlroy birdied the 18th hole to complete a 5-under-par 65 Thursday evening, placing him in a tie with Patrick Cantlay for first place.

McIlroy finished his round with five birdies and no bogeys.

He shot a 5-under 65 in the first round of the U.S. Open last year at Los Angeles Country Club — but that was only good for T5.

Rory McIlroy birdied the par-4 16th.

He improves to 4-under-par for the tournament and one off the lead.

A solid first round for McIlroy continues without recording a bogey.

Scottie Scheffler is losing 0.69 strokes off the tee today. Obviously, it's not even a full round yet, but Scheffler hasn't lost more than 0.02 strokes OTT in a full tournament since ...

May 2022

Walking with Scottie Scheffler for the end of his round and it’s quite clear how annoyed he is with himself.

Waving his driver in frustration after off-target shots and pounding sand with his irons.

1999: 1st round leaders 3 under... winning score -1

2005: 1st round leaders 3 under... winning score Even

2014: 1st round leader 5 under... winning score 9 under, with Martin Kaymer being the only player better than 1 under

Harry Higgs was one of the best stories of this U.S. Open. The popular golfer was lost in the wilderness there for a few years, losing his PGA Tour card outright. It’s happened before, to lots of guys, and they never come back from it. They sell insurance now or work in banking.

But Higgs is coming back to the tour in 2025 — he won back-to-back weeks on the Korn Ferry Tour last month to make sure of that. And then he came out of a 7-for-2 playoff at a sectional qualifier to get a spot in the Open. Then Higgs birdied his third hole of the day to get to 1-under, suddenly in a tie for sixth. You could dream of what was next, of what was possible.

If the story is going to continue though he’s going to need a few more birdies after a disastrous triple-bogey on No. 14 — Higgs played his third shot out of the left green side bunker, ended up on the right fringe, took two balls to get up on the green and then three-putted. Pinehurst can do it to the best of them, and it got Higgs.

PINEHURST, N.C. — It was going to happen, right? It had to. If he kept playing that well, kept putting himself in the mix, the big wins would come. These guys have to convince themselves of it every day or else they’d go mad. But creeping in the back of their minds, lurking in their anxieties is the fear: What if it doesn’t?

Patrick Cantlay has been arguably the most consistent golfer in the world for the past seven years. Everything about him was consistent. He gained strokes on the field in every category. Those statistics remained eerily similar year to year. He’d consistently win one or two tournaments each year, rack up 15 top-20s, eight top-5s and finish the season ranked fourth or fifth overall in the world.

And consistently, he’d fail to start well at major championships.

Each year a golfer plays at a top level without major results is another year that fear inches further. Consistency never lasts forever. Everybody has a window.

And suddenly this season, for the first time ever, Cantlay became inconsistent. His driving. His ball striking. Putting, too. Right when Cantlay seized power and took on a larger role in PGA Tour decision-making, his game became erratic. He has just two top-10s all year. He’s finished outside the top 20 in seven of his last 13. The majors haven’t gotten any better. Cantlay just turned 32. He’s not old, but he’s not young. If not handled correctly, the fear could take over.

But somehow, it took being inconsistent for Cantlay to finally jump out to lead the U.S. Open.

Continue reading.

At the previous 3 U.S. Opens held at Pinehurst, the difficulty has been cranked up on the weekend.

Percentage of rounds in the 60s:

Round 1: 10 percent

Round 2: 8.2 percent

Rounds 3 and 4: 5 percent

Jackson Suber was a late addition to the U.S. Open field — joining it Tuesday when Jon Rahm withdrew because of a toe infection.

Suber, 24, is off to a nice start — 1 under through nine holes after a birdie on No. 9.

An Ole Miss alumnus, Suber competes on the Korn Ferry Tour, where he has made six of 12 cuts this year.

A birdie from 6 feet on the 10th hole moves Rory McIlroy to 3 under through 10 holes — and into a tie for third with Matthieu Pavon.

A bogey-free round so far for McIlroy, who has finished top 10 in five consecutive U.S. Opens.

Tyrrell Hatton hit his tee shot on the par-3 17th.

He was frustrated after the shot and kicked his club in anger.

The ball landed nine feet from the pin.

Hatton sank the birdie putt to improve to 2-under-par, smiling as he walked off the green.

Never change, Tyrrell.

Two over through six holes is some unfamiliar territory for Scottie Scheffler.

In four of his previous six starts, he was never over par at any point in the tournament.

The loudest road of the day comes on a chip-in birdie by Rory McIlroy on the par-5 fifth hole. It was an adventure. McIlroy put his drive 330 yards down the right side into the native area. Then found the native area down the left side, well short of the green, leaving an awkward, sandy 72-yard shot in.

That landed on, rolled off and left McIlroy with a 66-foot chip. The cheer sent a charge across the property and McIlroy is now 2-under through five and looking to build on the momentum in the afternoon's top storyline so far.