McIlroy Leads US Open

Rory McIlroy leads the opening round of the US Open at Congressional with a 6-under-par 65.  McIlroy’s three stroke lead is the largest first-round lead since 1976 when amateur Mike Reid led four players by three shots.  McIlory has shot par-or-better in eight of his last nine rounds in a major.

Charl Schwartzel is T2 with a 68 (-2).  Padraig Harrington is the last player to win two majors in one season (2008 British Open and 2008 PGA Championship). Schwartzel won the Masters earlier this year.  Schwartzel is No. 18 in the FedExCup standings and the No. 1 ranked International player in the Presidents Cup standings.

There have been five players who have won the Masters Tournament and the U.S. Open back-to-back in the same season:
Tiger Woods 2002
Jack Nicklaus 1972
Arnold Palmer 1960
Ben Hogan 1951, 1953
Craig Wood 1941

Y.E. Yang is also T2.  Since winning the 2009 PGA Championship, Yang has four rounds in the 60s in his last six starts in the majors.  All four rounds in the 60s have come in the opening round. His only top 10 in a major since 2009 was T8 at the 2010 Masters.

Ryan Palmer (-2) is the only American among the top nine after the first round. Palmer and Bo Van Pelt were the only American’s that finished in the top 10 at the 2011 Masters.

The U.S. Open is the only major that Donald (74) does not have a top 10. He has three top 10s at the Masters and one each in the PGA Championship and British Open.  Donald and Matt Kuchar lead the PGA TOUR with eight top-10 finishes this season. Donald has top 10 finishes in his last eight consecutive starts after missing the cut in his first event of the season at the Northern Trust Open.

First-Round Leaderboard
Rory McIlroy 65 (-6)
Y.E. Yang 68 (-3)
Charl Schwartzel 68 (-3)
Louis Oosthuizen 69 (-2)
Ryan Palmer 69 (-2)
Alexandre Rocha 69 (-2)
Kyung-Tae Kim 69 (-2)
Scott Hend 69 (-2)
Sergio Garcia 69 (-2)

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