OAKMONT, Pa. — Two players many expected to play well this week, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, flopped in the first round of the U.S. Open on Thursday.
McIlroy, who has lost his mojo and motivation since winning the Masters and completing the career Grand Slam in April, shot a 4-over-par 74, and Lowry struggled worse, finishing with a 9-over 79.
Lowry not only entered the week in good form, with a couple runner-up finishes this season, but he was the runner-up the last time the U.S. Open was played at Oakmont in 2016.
McIlroy, who has finished tied for 47th at the PGA and missed the cut last week in Canada, seemingly was given a gift by the USGA when it paired him with Lowry, his close friend and fellow Irishman.
McIlroy played well early, shooting a 2-under 33 on his front nine, which was the back nine since he started on No. 10.
But he got sloppy on the final nine, shooting a 6-over 41 with bogeys on Nos. 1, 3, 6 and 7 and a double on 8, his second-to-last hole.
Afterward, McIlroy refused to speak to reporters, a stunt he pulled after all four rounds at the PGA last month.
He not only refused to come out of the locker room to speak to reporters, but he declined a request by the USGA simply to agree to a couple of statements about his round.
Lightning struck early Thursday morning, and it came from a rather unlikely source.
Maxwell Moldovan, a 23-year-old qualifier from Ohio, began the day with a hole-out eagle on the first hole, immediately getting to 2-under-par.
“It was a cool feeling,” he said afterward. “You never really draw up your first hole that way. You kind of try to go fairway, green, two-putt and get out of there.”
Moldovan said he hit an 8-iron 191 yards.
“I couldn’t really see it, but I heard people start cheering, and then I walked down the hill, and I saw it go in and everybody’s hands go up,” he said.
When he realized the ball had gone in, Moldovan raised his arms in the air.
“God is good,” he said. “I just pointed up to heaven above, thank God, because I only hit the shot. He let it go in.”
Matt Vogt, the 34-year-old dentist who grew up near Oakmont, caddied at the club for five years and made it into the field as a qualifier, struck the first shot of the tournament with his 6:45 a.m. tee time.
He finished with a 12-over-par 82.
“I hope that I represented the city, Oakmont, with pride today,” Vogt said. “All this has been incredible. I don’t want this to be about me this week. I just hope to bring a lot of, I guess, joy to the city. It means a ton. It means a ton to hit that first tee ball.
“Right now, playing poorly really stings,” he went on. “I made some really bad mental errors early on, and it’s hard out here because you can’t make physical and mental errors. You get behind the eight ball here, and honestly, your head starts spinning … and it just gets away from you.
“Honestly, I came in with such optimism for this golf course, but it is so hard. It’s just so, so hard. In the moment, you feel like you get punched in the face, but ultimately, I’d say it was fun. I’m trying to have a silver lining on shooting 82.”
Phil Mickelson, 54, is the only player in the 156-man field who played in the 1994 U.S. Open at Oakmont.
Mickelson has the third-most sub-par rounds in U.S. Open history with 26.
One of them was not Thursday as he shot a 4-over 74.
Si Woo Kim posted the second-lowest score of the morning wave, at 2-under par.
He didn’t see that round coming after playing practice rounds earlier this week.
“I played three nine-hole [rounds] Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and I don’t even know what I’m doing on the course,” he said. “I was kind of hitting good, but feel like this course is too hard for me. I had no expectation, but I played great today.”