Phil Mickelson, who has suffered more US Open heartache than any other player, thrilled his fans as he moved into contention for the only major title which has eluded him.
The American left-hander, who has been a runner-up in his national championship a record six times, ground out an even-par 70 in the opening round at Pinehurst Resort to finish two strokes off the early pace.
"I drove it great," admitted the five-times major winner, whose most recent runner-up finish at the US Open came last year at Merion.
"Every time I hit the driver, I hit the fairway. I putted OK but didn't make the ones you need to make to have a good round."
American Kevin Na opened with a 68 on Pinehurst's fabled No.2 Course where danger lurked on virtually every hole because of the unique turtle-back greens.
"I got off to a great start," Na said after mixing an eagle at the par-five fifth with three birdies and three bogeys on an increasingly firm and fast-running layout. "I had an early tee time and I was able to capitalise on that. A long way to go and I'm obviously at two-under par right now but, at the end of the tournament, I think even par is going to win this championship."
Brent Snedeker carded a 69. "I don't know how I made six birdies today, you're not going to have that very often," he said. "I got off to a great start."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article