Thursday at the Los Angeles Country Club was an historic day for golf as two men posted eight-under-par scores to become the first golfers in history to shoot 62 at the US Open.
There’s now three men to have carded 62s in Major championships – Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele at the 2023 US Open and Branden Grace at the 2017 Open.
This is the 123rd playing of America’s national open, with the first taking place in 1895. In those 122 previous championships there had never been a 62 scored, yet in the space of 20 minutes on Thursday there had been two.
Golf stats guru Justin Ray put it even better. There had been over 47,000 US Open rounds recorded with no 62s until Rickie Fowler tapped in for par on the 9th on Thursday afternoon.
Rickie Fowler’s round is the 47,366th in the history of the U.S. Open. It’s the first round of 62.Xander Schauffele might join Rickie, though, in about 20 minutes.June 15, 2023
Justin Ray had another gem: “6 scores of 65 or lower today are the most in a single round in U.S. Open history.” He also pointed out that there have been two PGA Tour events with multiple 62s shot in one round this season, the Butterfield Bermuda Championship and now the US Open.
And one more, this was the first ever opening or second round of the US Open where every single player broke 80.
So, was the setup too easy? The US Open is known as golf’s toughest test but *some* of the world’s best players were eating up Los Angeles Country Club. Three par 5s is a major benefit to the unique layout that also includes five short holes.
The fairways are fairly generous, they’re very wide but are sloping so balls can easily run off into the rough that is thick, but not as brutal as we saw at Oak Hill last month in the PGA Championship.
The greens hadn’t been watered on Thursday morning due to moisture in the air from a misty start to the day, and they and the fairways were fairly soft for a US Open. Benign conditions meant that the course was very scoreable for the world’s best, and score they did.
“I’d say the sun didn’t come out and it was misting this morning, so I’d say the greens held a little bit more moisture than anticipated for myself at least,” Xander Schauffele said after his 62.
Schauffele matched Rickie Fowler’s 62 with eight birdies and 10 pars
(Image credit: Getty Images)
“I think it made the greens sort of that more holeable speed almost, and then coming into greens you’re able to pull some wedges back. And then the fairways are a little bit…
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