Oakmont, PA. On an opening round when the biggest names in pro golf fired and fell back it was J.J. Spaun who was up to the task and grabbed the early lead at the 125th US Open with a bogey-free four-under-par round of 66 and a one-shot edge over South African Thriston Lawrence.

The last player to accomplish an opening round with no blemishes on the scorecard at Oakmont was Dustin Johnson in 2016. He would go on to claim the championship that year.

Spaun played in the early portion of the morning wave and his play was exceptional given the difficulties Oakmont inflicted on the 156-man field. The 34-year-old playing in only his second US Open reached in the regulation stroke — 12 of 18 greens. He also was able to find fairway grass 8 of 14 times.

The 2025 golf season has been a positive one for Spaun with four top-10 finishes. On the highlight side he lost in a 3-hole-playoff at The Players earlier this year to Rory McIlroy. The 34-year-old has made 13 of 16 cuts this year and while he has won only once on the PGA Tour his overall consistency has clearly improved.

Even with that success, Spaun did not fare well in his last tournament appearance when missing the cut at The Memorial.

Spaun’s day got off to rousing beginning after chipping into the cup at his opening hole — the 10th. The momentum from that point jumpstarted his play for the rest of the round.

“Yeah, definitely. It kind of set the tone for how the day was going to go. You’re not really expecting to chip it in,” said Spaun. “You’re just trying to get yourself within making distance for par. It was really nice to predict the lie, hit the shot exactly how you want to, and it kind of comes out, and it’s just feeding towards the hole and it goes in.”

The 25th ranked Spaun finished the outward half with a score of 31 — but his play on Oakmont’s front nine was no less skillful as he avoided any three-putt greens and time after time was able to escape scorecard potholes that derailed countless other players.

Nerves are always a part of any major championship – particularly at a US Open at Oakmont and Spaun was quick to acknowledge that.

“No, I was definitely, like, kind of nervous because I didn’t — all you’ve been hearing is how hard this place is, and it’s hard to not hear the noise and see what’s on social media and Twitter and all this stuff. You’re just kind of only hearing about how hard this course is.

“I was actually pretty nervous. But I actually tried to harness that, the nerves, the anxiety, because it kind of heightens my focus, makes me swing better, I guess. I don’t know, I kind of get more in the zone, whereas if I don’t have any worry or if I’m not in it mentally, it’s kind of just a lazy round or whatever out there.

“I like feeling uncomfortable. I ended up feeling pretty comfortable towards the end of the day, but there’s a long way to go still.”

Yes indeed – 54 more holes to go exactly.

Quick Notes / Round One

• World ranked number one Scottie Scheffler had to fight hard to keep himself in the hunt with a three-over-par 73. The number two ranked player Rory McIlroy continued his post Masters swoon with a four-over-par 74.

• J.J. Spaun came out blazing, shooting 31 over his first nine holes (on the inward side). It was the lowest first nine holes ever played at a US Open at Oakmont CC. The previous best was 32, by Gary Player (1973), Jumbo Ozaki (1994) and Scott Piercy (2016).

• Spaun’s first round score of 66 matched the lowest first round score at a US Open at Oakmont CC. Andrew Landry opened with a 66 in 2016.

• Spaun was the only player to go bogey free in the first round on Thursday. He is the eighth player to have a bogey free round at a US Open at Oakmont CC. The most recent player to do that was Dustin Johnson, in the first round of the 2016 Championship (which he went on to win).

• Brooks Koepka, who finished tied for third in the first round on Thursday, snapped a streak of 28 consecutive major championship rounds in which he finished outside the top 10 on the leader board. It began right after his PGA Championship win in 2023 at Oak Hill CC; and it was the longest such drought of his career.

• Jon Rahm shot 69 in the first round on Thursday, marking his 10th sub-70 round at a US Open since 2019. The only players who have as many rounds in the 60s at the US Open since 2019 as Rahm are Rory McIlroy (14) and Bryson DeChambeau (12).

• This is the fifth time that both Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau will be among the top-10 together at the conclusion of the first round of a major championship. That last occurred at the 2023 Masters.

• Patrick Reed holed the fourth albatross in US Open history, carding a 2 on the par 5 fourth hole. The last player to do that in any major championship was Nick Watney at the 2012 US Open at The Olympic Club.

• Scottie Scheffler, playing in his 24th career major championship, shot the highest first round score relative to par (+3) in his majors career. It was the fifth time in 87 career major championship rounds that he made as many as six bogeys (or worse).

• The scoring average in Round 1 was 74.63, which was the highest first-round scoring average at a US Open since 2018 at Shinnecock Hills (76.47).

• 10 players finished under par in Round 1, which is one fewer than the number of sub-par opening rounds at the 2016 US Open at Oakmont CC.

• Two players representing Korea (Si Woo Kim and Sungjae Im) are tied for third. It is the just the third time a pair of players representing Korea are among the top 3 on the leader board at the conclusion of a major championship round. That also happened with K.J. Choi and Y.E. Yang in the first round of both the 2010 and 2011 Masters.

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