Paul McGinley disappointed as Rory McIlroy blows great US Open start: ‘He didn't glue it together on that back nine'
On a day when tournament favourite Scottie Scheffler struggled to a three-over 73, McIlroy followed a two-under-par opening nine with a nightmare, six-over 41 on the journey home to trail surprise leader JJ Spaun by eight strokes on four-over.
The Holywood star was tied for 62nd overnight as Spaun shot a bogey-free, four-under 66 to lead by a shot from South Africa's Thriston Lawrence and by two from two-time US Open champion Brooks Koepka and Korea's Si Woo Kim and Sungjae Im.
While McIlroy was just a shot worse than tournament favourite Scottie Scheffler, former European Ryder Cup skipper Paul McGinley was critical of the Co Down man's ability to grind.
'I don't think Rory played that badly,' he said.
'He scored badly. He didn't glue it together on that back nine like you need to at a US Open. Six-over for nine holes is really going to hurt you at a US Open."
Spaun, in contrast, looked impressive as he shot only the eighth bogey-free round in Oakmont's tenth US Open staging, while five-time major winner Koepka was an ominous presence near the top of the leaderboard after making birdies at the 17th and 18th for his 68.
The Floridian arrived at Oakmont having missed the cut in back-to-back major starts for the first time since 2013 and admitted that it took a major dressing down from coach Pete Cowen to turn things around.
'I would say from the first weekend in April until about last week, you didn't want to be around me,' Koepka said. 'It drove me nuts. It ate at me. I haven't been happy. It's been very irritating.'
He added that he has had to apologise to everyone in his backroom team, as well as his wife and son.
'Everybody,' he said. 'I wouldn't have wanted to be around me.'
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Just ten players broke par on the opening day with 2021 US Open champion Jon Rahm lurking just three shots off the lead in a tie for sixth after a 69.
'Just a really good round,' Rahm said. 'Really good golf in general. Everything felt good. The thing I would say made it really good was how well I did off the tee.'
McGinley was also impressed, though he felt the Spaniard should have gone lower.
'He looks primed,' he said of Rahm, who also won the Masters in 2023. 'He certainly got a giddy up from his performance at the PGA. I think that's given him a renewed belief that he can win these majors again.'
As for the favourites, defending champion Bryson Dechambeau and world number one Scheffler were tied for 49th after 73s.
'Slow day,' Scheffler said after an untidy performance through the bag.
'I made some silly mistakes out there, but at the same time, I made some key putts and some good momentum saves in my round, but overall just need to be a little sharper.'
Despite his struggles, he believes he's far from out of it given the potential to make a major move up the leaderboard with a round in the sixties today.
'The way he opened up the first few holes, you thought this was going to be a Rolls Royce performance from him,' McGinley said of Scheffler, who was one-under early.
'He's not been himself at all today. His stats are bad and he's hit a lot of poor shots for him with some uncharacteristic mistakes.'
As for Shane Lowry, the Offaly man had a nightmare day with the putter and despite holing out from 160 yards at the third hole (his 12th) for an eagle two, his 79 left him tied for 133rd and likely needing a round in the sixties to have any chance of surviving the cut.
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