Erin, Wis.
As the 117th U.S. Open got going 37 northwest of Milwaukee, the American Rickie Fowler quickly grabbed the top of the leader board and spent the sun-rich midday perched there, threatening to become a weekend-long theme.
Opening with the back nine, Fowler played that nine in a sublime 32, 4 under par. He knocked another three strokes off his score on the front nine for a bogey-free, 7-under 65, two shots ahead of three golfers: Brian Harman, Tommy Fleetwood and Brooks Koepka.
On this gaping, par-72 course, Fowler’s 65 managed to match the 63s burned into the record book Jack Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf shot at the 1980 U.S. Open at par-70 Baltusrol in New Jersey. It included a systematic birdie on the 632-yard No. 18 (with a 322-yard drive), and the “nice choke-down cut 5-iron” at No. 4 Fowler that preferred over his other 64 shots.
“You don’t get many rounds at the U.S. Open that are stress-free,” he said.
Stress, in fact, largely left the premises on a bright, breezy day at the first-time U.S. Open course of Erin Hills. In its place came red, up and down the leaderboard, as players found the gaping 7,741 yards thoroughly manageable, with some playing on through even as some spotted the smoke from the nearby crash of an advertising blimp.
So profuse was the red that the pre-tournament favorite, No. 1-ranked defending champion Dustin Johnson, looked considerably out of place with his 3-over 75. (“I just didn’t putt very well,” Johnson said in reassurance.)
As the 40-year-old accomplished tour journeyman Charley Hoffman put it after shooting 2-under 70: “When it rains the night before the first round, you really can’t do anything about it. If the rain stays away and the wind picks up, this golf course is going to be a beast.”
Johnson, 32, has joined young stars such as Rory McIlroy, 28, and Jordan Spieth, 23, and Jason Day, 29, in helping to extend Fowler’s familiar push for a first major title. That push looked especially threatening in 2014, when Fowler finished tied for fifth at the Masters, tied for second at both the U.S. Open and the British Open, and tied for third at the PGA Championship in Louisville, where he led through parts of Sunday until McIlroy steamed past for a fourth major title.
“This is the one that hurts the most,” he said then.
From there, Fowler’s major fate sagged, his last nine majors crammed with three missed cuts, four more finishes outside the top 30 and zero top 10s.
By the Masters this year, he expressed gratefulness for his career while saying it had come in “under” his expectations, even with his batch of good non-major finishes, his No. 9 world ranking, his riveting playoff win in the 2015 Players Championship and his four PGA Tour wins, including the Honda Classic in February in Florida this year.
Not long after that self-assessment, he joined a four-way tie for the lead after two rounds in that Masters, and trailed co-leaders Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose by one after three rounds.
On that Sunday, he shot 76, finished 11th and made one of the world’s all-time understatements: “Bogeying the last three holes didn’t help.”
On this Thursday, he said: “I feel like I’m better throughout my whole game. I’ve been able to tighten things up. I used to not be a very good bunker player, and now I feel like I have a lot of confidence, and stats show I’m one of the best. … I’ve been driving it well. Driving stats have gone up.”
In that measurement of human recovery commonly known as sand-save percentage, Fowler ranks No. 1 this year. In driving accuracy, he stands 25th after finishing tied for 113th in 2016. Fowler cited his “great control of the ball right now, and distance control,” and reveled in his shot on No. 4 that wound up two yards from his ideal mathematical projections.
“Pretty spot-on,” he said.
The Georgian Harman, the Floridian Koepka and the Englishman Fleetwood made a motley young bunch behind him. Between them, only Harman has reached age 30, they have played only 28 majors (14 by Koepka) and they have managed three top-10 finishes (all by Koepka).
Yet all have strong world rankings — Nos. 50, 22 and 33, respectively — and the left-handed Harman has a win this year at the Wells Fargo in May in North Carolina. So on the wide fairways and the softened conditions, they combined for one bogey.
“The course was as receptive as it’s going to be,” Fleetwood said. For one thing, the 18th, that subject of much chatter, had much-discussed, adding that the 632-yard No. 18 had “a nice pin location.”