CBS Golf Analyst Patrick McDonald joins CBS Sports live from Oakmont to recap J.J. Spaun shooting a 66 (-4) and the first bogey-free 1st round in a U.S. Open since 2017.
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Let’s get you out to Oakmont for a check at the US open. Boy oh boy, has it been a big day for J.J. Spaun sitting at the top of the leaderboard, currently at four under. He recorded the first bogey free US open round at Oakmont since DJ Dustin Johnson did it in 2016. Taking a look here at how he’s been able to get it done. You see it there. Four birdies on that back nine. He currently sits at four under on the first day of the US open. Let’s get a check from Oakmont as we bring in our CBS Sports Golf analyst Patrick McDonald. Patrick, I want to pick up the conversation right there. J.J. Spaun, most notably, we remember him from that playoff when he went head to head with Rory at the Players Championship. Bring us up to speed here. What’s he been doing that you like that has him at the top of the leaderboard? When you think about J.J. Spaun, you think of his game translating to a TPC Sawgrass, a shorter golf course, positional point A to point B, not necessarily an Oakmont Country Club that is big, brawny and right out there in front of you, but a type of guy who’s going to pound fairways and pound greens in regulation. He hit 12 greens in regulation today. That doesn’t sound too impressive on paper, but around this place that is very, very good. And what he did great today was on the greens. He made a ton of putts after getting off to a really fast start. He took advantage, I would say, of the easier side, which is the back nine, about playing two strokes over par compared to the front nine, which is playing about three strokes over par. Got off to a really fast start. Made a putt from off the green on number ten. Made a long putt on number 17. The drivable par four turned in four under and then the putter really took over. He had six par putts from over seven feet today including one from outside 15ft. So the putter really kept him afloat, kept him bogey free, which like you mentioned with Dustin Johnson is very, very difficult to do. And tying Andrew Landry for the lowest first round here at Oakmont from 2016. Not only was it the first bogey free round since 2016 here at Oakmont, but it was the first in his career. Patrick. And when you think about who’s teeing off later today and Scottie Scheffler and all of those big guns that we are certainly going to be watching, how important is it for him to sort of continue this momentum going into day two? The US open is really a test of keeping those squares off the scorecard. You go back to 2016, Dustin Johnson actually made 11 birdies all week. That is nothing right? If J.J. Spaun continues that pace he’s going to make. 16 Dustin Johnson Ranked outside the top 25 in terms of birdies, but he ranked number one, of course, in bogey avoidance. And J.J. Today, no matter what anyone else does this afternoon, he’s going to be number one or tied for the lead in terms of bogey avoidance with zero. And so that’s where Scottie Scheffler thrives. He’s number one on the PGA tour in terms of bogey avoidance. But the key for these guys is just not compounding mistakes. You’re going to miss fairways out there. We see that time and time again. It’s all about not making sure your second shots in the rough too, because we saw guys like Rory McIlroy do that and lead to a number of big scores. So it’s huge for Spaun, who might not have the firepower. Like I mentioned, he doesn’t necessarily have the pop off the tee like some of those big guys. So if he’s able to keep his scorecards relatively clean, he should have some staying power on this leaderboard. All right. We’ll keep our eye on him as he tries to keep up at the top there. Let’s talk about Ludvig Aubert. Started really great for him. Back to back birdies to open the round unfortunately does not finish that same way as he sits at plus two. I believe he ended eight and nine with back to back bogeys here. I mean Patrick, this is a guy who we are always talking about. This is the one where he’s going to break through here. Not the way you want to end the round one of the US open. No, it’s not a lot of eyes on that group to. Not only did you have Ludvig, you had Adam Scott to a lot, a lot of females fawning over them. And I cannot blame them. Good looking twosome there. Let’s don’t be shy, Patrick. You were with those ladies? Yeah, I mean, I was their guy, Kyle Porter. We were walking with them a little bit, too. It was a good time, but. But I mean, Ludvig, you look at his start, like you mentioned, a great start, a dream. Start going two under through two. And then he gets to that more difficult side, and he shortsighted himself on one with a wedge in hand. He shortsighted himself on five with a wedge in hand, 60 short side of himself two. The bogey on number 12 also came with wedge in hand and he shortsighted himself there also par three eighth. That’s just a brutal hole. You’re going to make your bogey on that hole. Unfortunately he missed a putt from inside three feet. So Ludvig is a guy like you mentioned. He is built for a major championship test. It’s easy to forget this is only his second US open in his career. His first one came at Pinehurst Number two and he acquitted himself quite nicely. He was the 36 hole leader there before, kind of falling off the pace over the weekend, making a number of big scores on Pinehurst number two. So I think two over it doesn’t look great on paper, but it’s beating the field average by three right now. And so Ludvig, despite that finish, despite some shots that he’d like back, his approach play probably needs to be tightened up a little bit, especially with that short iron part of his game. But he’s going to be feeling okay with that round of 72 to that point. Patrick, we know that the US open is not designed to be easy. It’s why it is a major rate. Give us a course overview to this point. Now that we’ve seen a couple of golfers get out there, we’ve seen the scorecards roll in. How has the experience been through round one? There’s a fun cadence to it. It starts on number one. It’s the hole where you think you should make birdie, but it kind of punches you in the face honestly. And then you go to number two, a short drivable par four that some guys like Bryson DeChambeau, he was about 30 yards short of it, but short side of himself and really struggled for par. And then you really get into it. Three is a beast. Four is a par five on paper, it’s the only hole that’s playing under par, but it’s only playing under par by one putt, right? If the guy misses a five footer and makes it instead, it’s over par at this point. So it’s really tough around the turn seven through ten. And then you get the birdie opportunities on 11. You get one on 12, the downhill, par five, 13 and 14 as well. And then it punches you back in the face again. So there are chances out there. And so I think that’s what makes it so fun where some holes you’re just holding on for dear life, you’re hoping to make par, you’re hoping to make bogey if you’re out of position. And on other holes, there’s almost some added pressure to make birdies on them, or at least make par and not give up strokes to the field because it’s a reprieve from all the all the damage that Oakmont is going to do to you. We saw that played out with Bryson DeChambeau earlier in the round where he was pinging, and it looked like he was going to get double bogey, and then somehow he ends up saving it for bogey. That guy is insane. Patrick McDonald joining us here with a quick look at round one. So far out at the US open Patrick we appreciate the time and I’m sure we’ll be chatting with you a lot as the day rolls along. 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1 Comment
Patrick does a great job reporting golf