Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau opened the 2025 U.S. Open as many anticipated: on the first page of the leaderboard. Unfortunately, their success only lasted approximately nine holes each as they took advantage of great scoring opportunities early at Oakmont only to eject on their paths into the clubhouse to sign their first-round scorecards.
McIlroy, whose incredible form at the start of the season led him to winning the Masters, made the turn at 2 under, going bogey free on his first nine (starting on No. 10) and appearing to have shaken off last week’s disaster at the Canadian Open. He made quite the statement with his new (old) driver on the par-5 12th, smashing a 392-yard drive that led to his second birdie of the day.
McIlroy followed with six straight pars to close his first nine at 2 under, only two strokes back of eventual clubhouse leader J.J. Spaun (-4). Where Spaun played a clean front nine coming home — making nine pars to conclude a sensational 66 — McIlroy made an absolute mess of the front nine at Oakmont.
He opened with a bogey on No. 1, the first of five plus scores on his closing nine, including double late to close in 41, dropping him to 4 over after the first round. After keeping it in the short grass for the most part early, McIlroy started to find himself in the Oakmont rough more often than he would have liked, including this adventure on the par-5 4th. (To be fair, he impressively mitigated the damage by sinking a 30-foot putt for bogey.)
McIlroy’s biggest blowup came on the 276-yard par-4 8th when he missed the green to the right and left his first chip in the rough, unable to get up and down from there to save bogey. It was a disappointing close to a day for McIlroy that started so promisingly, as he seemed to finally be back in the groove that led him to completing the career grand slam.
At 4 over, he’s certainly not out of contention given the difficulties that U.S. Open — particularly those held at Oakmont — offer, but he will have to figure out how to straighten things out before Friday if he’s going to stabilize his game.
DeChambeau’s round followed a similar pattern to that of McIlroy as the big-hitting American got to red figures during his first nine. The new irons he put in the bag paid early dividends with some terrific approach shots. However, he dropped back to even with a bogey on the 9th and couldn’t get anything going from there, going birdie-less on the back nine to shoot 73.
DeChambeau had his own adventurous bogey on a par-5 as he made a mess of the 12th after hitting it over the green in two. Bryson smacked a horrific chip that sailed all the way over the green into the rough on the other side of the hole, leaving his fourth shot in the rough. Much like McIlroy on the 4th, he made a rather incredible bogey putt from off the green to avoid a huge blow-up, but it’s not ideal when the highlight of your back nine is a bogey save.
The reigning U.S. Open champion is now seven back of Spaun, and like McIlroy, still in contention if he can figure out how to find more fairways and improve his feel on the greens. Putting has been DeChambeau’s strength in majors lately, but he did not look comfortable with the speed of the greens at Oakmont on Thursday — unable to roll in much of anything beyond that bogey on No. 12.
The good news for McIlroy and DeChambeau is this is a U.S. Open, and respectively being 3 over and 4 over isn’t a total disaster. Spaun is the clubhouse leader at 4 under, and it would be shocking if anyone surpasses him in the afternoon. McIlroy has already erased a 7-shot, first-round deficit to win a major this year, so being seven or eight back at a course as difficult as Oakmont is certainly a deficit that can be overcome. Spaun will have to produce some incredible golf to maintain his spot on top.
The flip side is that any margin for error McIlroy and DeChambeau possessed entering the tournament is now effectively gone. They will need to consistently produce scores at even par or better the next three rounds to have a chance at winning this U.S. Open, which is quite the challenge at a course like Oakmont. As two of the game’s most talented players, they are certainly capable of that kind of performance, but both will need to get more comfortable with their swings and the Oakmont greens if they’re going to make a charge over the next two days to find contention Sunday.