US Open golf 2023: first round – live

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We now have an 11-way tie at the top as 2019 Open Championship hero Shane Lowry taps in for birdie at 1. We could be in Norris McWhirter territory soon. To be fair, Los Angeles Country Club designer George C. Thomas has a reputation for giving players an easy opening hole before gaining his revenge straight after. The leaderboard is certainly showing that so far. Another player hoping to join that logjam at -1 is 2013 US Open winner Justin Rose. He’s starting at the 10th but hates his opening shot, fanning a fairway wood into a bunker or near a bunker (the cameraman couldn’t pick it out). Playing partner Jason Day doesn’t like his either, his ball settling in deep rough down the left.

Currently a 10-way tie for the lead at -1! The latest to hit that number is 2018 Open champion Francesco Molinari, who made Los Angeles his base a few years ago when becoming a member at nearby Riviera, home of the prestigious Genesis Invitational. He’s not been in the best of form lately, missing cuts at both the PGA Championship and the Memorial Tournament and failing to make the weekend in seven of his last tournaments.

Tommy Fleetwood, a runner-up in the Canadian Open last week, is still looking for a first major and, indeed, a first victory on American soil. His opening tee shot finds sand down the left but it’s a par 5 and he can still make birdie from there. The Englishman has some notable history in this event, finishing fourth at Erin Hills in 2017 and runner-up at Shinnecock in 2018 when closing with a brilliant 63, the joint-lowest ever round in this tournament. He shares that honour with Johnny Miller, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Weiskopf, Vijay Singh and Justin Thomas, the latter his playing partner today.

Meanwhile, how about that for some imagination from amateur Michael Brennan at 3. He’s in deep rough to the right of the green, floats a chip away from the hole and watches his ball catch a slope and trickle back onto the green and into the hole. An air of Tiger at 16 in the 2006 Masters about that one. It takes Brennan into a tie for the lead at -1.

Well, here’s Phil Mickelson giving World No. 2 Jon Rahm a chipping lesson! The cynic would say Rahm (1) has more US Opens than Phil (0) but Mickelson is a six-time runner-up in this thing, has the small matter of six majors and is a short-game genius. Rahm heads out today at 4.24pm UK time while Mickelson starts his latest tortured bid to win his national championship at 8.59pm.

It’s going to be slow going out there today and, as we’re on the west coast of America, UK viewers who want to see Sky Sports’ coverage through until 3am may need some help. This press room coffee is pretty neat.

Los Angeles Country Club hasn’t seen rain in a month so is playing firm and fast. Balls are landing on greens, hopping forward and rolling and rolling. Rather like an Open Championship you could say. One bonus for the the morning starters is the lack of wind; flags are limp, trouser legs are not flapping.

Very early days but four players are now under par for the round. Here they are:

-1: O Morales -a- (2), M Kim (2), R Gerard (1), S Stallings (1)

Scottie Scheffler saunters onto the practice range. The 2022 Masters winner has been a beacon of high-class consistency this season, winning the Waste Management Phoenix Open in Arizona and The Players Championship in Florida. In 11 other starts he hasn’t finished outside the top 12. That deserves a ‘wowzers’. From tee to green his numbers have been off the planet so if the putter warms up the American will be hard to stop as he bids to land a second major. Scheffler gets going alongside Collin Morikawa and Max Homa at 4.13pm UK time.

Michael Kim makes an opening birdie, his red number coming at the short par-4 10th. It’s been 10 years since the former California-Berkeley grad finished 17th in the US Open at Merion (where Justin Rose won) to secure Low Amateur honours. The 29-year-old hasn’t quite had the career many tipped him for – indeed this is his first start in the US Open since then - but he did manage a PGA Tour win at the 2018 John Deere Classic and you can’t knock that. He’s also been a good follow on Twitter this week with his insights from the course in practice.

Hole locations for the opening round are here. Take a quick scan.

So we’re in Los Angeles this week, the first US Open to be held here in 75 years. Your kind of town?

Hello! And we’re off and running in the 123rd US Open! Omar Morales – a college amateur from nearby UCLA – had the honour of hitting the first ball of this year’s event. The Mexican is 20 years old and part of a three-ball at the 1st also featuring South African Deon Germishuys and American Jacob Solomon. Over at the 10th, there’s another three-ball teeing off: Japan’s Ryutaro Nagano alongside American duo Berry Henson and Hank Lebioda. Not a great start for Hank there; he’s made double bogey. But Morales has posted the first birdie of the day, tapping in on the 594-yard par 5 opener after putting his approach to just 20 feet.

With Hollywood a short drive from Los Angeles Country Club, perhaps it’s appropriate that the build-up to this year’s US Open has been laced with talk of plot twists and betrayal. The PGA Tour’s bombshell decision to effectively merge with the rebel LIV Golf organisation, this new entity backed by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, has sent golf into a tailspin. Check out the transcripts from this week’s player press conferences. A cursory “how’s the course playing, John/Scottie?” followed by a barrage of questions on “the big news last week”.

The show must go on and this week’s venue - a beefy but strategic 7,423-yard par 70 with five par 3s and three par 5s - looks an intriguing all-round test. But make sure you find a comfy chair; we could be in for some looooong old rounds. With conditions firm and fast, the rough described as “brutal” and a configuration of holes - lengthy par 3s, driveable par 4s and reachable par 5s - that will cause back-ups and delays, rounds will be slow. “I’d be surprised if they’re under six hours,” said Padraig Harrington. Gulp.

Still, we have a raft of plotlines to keep us entertained: Rory to end his nine-year majors drought? Jon Rahm or Brooks Koepka win their second major of the season? Victory for one of the California locals (Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa)? Matt Fitzpatrick to defend his crown? A first major for Viktor Hovland? Will Jordan Spieth’s imagination be fired? And so it goes on.

Some of those cats are out early so let’s adjust to Pacific Time (eight hours behind UK), feel the California vibe and watch the film of this year’s US Open unfold. Here are those tee-times, folks.

Starting at hole one (all times BST)
(* denotes amateur)

14:45 O Morales (Mex)*, D Germishuys (SA), J Solomon (US)
14:56 R Gerard (US), Katsuragawa (Jpn), M Brennan (US)*
15:07 H Buckley (US), A Svensson (Can), P Larrazabal (Spa)
15:18 C Young (US), D Wu (US), R Sloan (Can)
15:29 R Ishikawa (Jpn), K Streelman (US), M Pavon (Fra)
15:40 S Lowry (Ire), J Thomas (US), T Fleetwood (Eng)
15:51 Sungjae Im (Kor), KH Lee (Kor), JT Poston (US)
16:02 G Woodland (US), Scott (Aus), C Conners (Can)
16:13 C Morikawa (US), M Homa (US), S Scheffler (US)
16:24 D McCarthy (US), J Dahmen (US), A Hadwin (Can)
16:35 M McClean (NI)*, S Power (Ire), R Fox (NZ)
16:46 M Meissner (US), B Brown (Eng), G Charoenkul (Tha)
16:57 A Yang (HK)*, J Schutte (US), A Svoboda (US)
20:15 B Grant (US), V Norman (Swe), C Hoffman (US)
20:26 S Forsstrom (Swe), C Ortiz (Mex), M Moldovan (US)*
20:37 E Cole (US), T Lawrence (SA), A Schenk (US)
20:48 L List (US), W Nienaber (SA), A Del Rey (Spa)
20:59 A Meronk (Pol), H English (US), J Niemann (Chi)
21:10 A Noren (Swe), W Clark (US), A Eckroat (US)
21:21 K Kitayama (US), C Davis (Aus), R Henley (US)
21:32 C Smith (Aus), S Bennett (US), M Fitzpatrick (Eng)
21:43 B Horschel (US), C Kirk (US), B Harman (US)
21:54 B Koepka (US), H Matsuyama (Jpn), R McIlroy (NI)
22:05 S Muniz (Col), N Taylor (Can), T Montgomery (US)
22:16 O Browne Jr (US), D Puig (Spa), K Vilips (US)*
22:27 C Pereira (US), I Simmons (US)*, JJ Grey (Eng)

Starting from hole 10

14:45 B Henson (US), R Nagano (Jpn), H Lebioda (US)
14:56 M Kim (US), J Smith (Eng), W Ding (Chn)*
15:07 S Stallings (US), P Summerhays (US)*, L Herbert (Aus)
15:18 J Dantorp (Swe), P Rodgers (US), R Armour (US)
15:29 T Pieters (Bel), A Wise (US), G Sargent (US)*
15:40 B DeChambeau (US), F Molinari (Ita), T Hatton (Eng)
15:51 T Hoge (US), S Garcia (Spa), S Straka (Aut)
16:02 J Rose (Eng), R Fowler (US), J Day (Aus)
16:13 P Reed (US), M Kuchar (US), SW Kim (Kor)
16:24 X Schauffele (US), V Hovland (Nor), J Rahm (Spa)
16:35 M Kaymer (Ger), S Cink (US), M Thorbjornsen (US)*)
16:46 D Horsey (Eng), B Valdes (US), P Barjon (Fra)
16:57 J Gumberg (US), K Mueller (US), B Amat (Fra)*
20:15 R Fisher (Eng), N Echavarria (Col), P Haley II (US)
20:26 N Dunlap (US)*, N Hardy (US), S Stevens (US)
20:37 T Pendrith (Can), N Potgieter (SA)*, R Langasque (Fra)
20:48 A Puttnam (US), V Perez (Fra), A Ancer (Mex)
20:59 P Mickelson (US), P Harrington (Ire), K Bradley (US)
21:10 M Pereira (Chi), E Grillo (Arg), Fernandez de Oliveira (Arg)*
21:21 T Kim (Kor), S Theegala (US), C Young (US)
21:32 S Burns (US), D Johnson (US), K Mitchell (US)
21:43 T Finau (US), J Spieth (US), P Cantlay (US)
21:54 D Thompson (US), MW Lee (Aus), J Suh (US)
22:05 T Moore (US), M Hughes (Can), B Carr (US)*
22:16 P Cover (US), D Nyfjall (Swe)*, F Capan III (US)
22:27 A Truslow (US), C Cavaliere (US)*, A Schaake (US)