The Los Angeles Country Club is tipped to become a far sterner test at the US Open during round two as play resumes from Friday night 11.45pm (AEST).
Despite boasting a challenging set-up, the course played softer than expected during the morning of round one, allowing Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele to shoot the lowest-ever US Open rounds of 62.
Both resume play in the lead at eight-under, two shots ahead of Dustin Johnson, and Wyndham Clark, while the nearest Australians are Cameron Smith and Min Woo Lee at one-under.
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But a tougher challenge awaits, with the course expected to dry-up and play far firmer, leading to lightning greens and fairways.
“I always worry when you play a course that can get firm,” California native Max Homa said of LACC after round one.
“You can typically see Thursday morning plays very soft, Thursday afternoon obviously a little bit firmer, but nothing crazy.
“Usually by Friday afternoon, it can be nuts.”
Harris English said: “I think it can only get harder from here.
“I’m sure when we see those scores, a couple eight-unders, they’re not going to like it too much.”
He added: “I’m sure after Rickie did what he did they will make it quite a bit harder for us (Friday) afternoon.”
That could play into the hands of Smith and Lee, who played the harder afternoon session in round one but will be spared of doing the same in round two.
Smith tees off with Sam Bennett and Matt Fitzpatrick at 1.02am Saturday (AEST), and Lee with Davis Thompson and Justin Suh at 1.24am.
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FAN HECKLES MICKELSON IN BIZARRE ‘VICTORIA’S SECRET’ RANT
One of the stranger moments in round one went largely unnoticed as a fan in a sombrero and a fake moustache reportedly heckled Mickelson during a long birdie put at the ninth hole.
According to Golf.com, it lasted about 30 seconds, and was described as a “cryptic and at times incoherent heckling session that was striking for its duration”.
Fans told the publication that there was a reference to Mickelson taking a “Victoria Secret’s sponsorship” and another gibe about “red lipstick and nine-inch heels.”
“It’s all you need to work for the rest of your life, Phil,” the heckler said in a video seen by Golf.com. “They’re going to pay you $200 million as well.
“What about all the guys on the PGA Tour, Phil? Every single of them looked up to you for their entire careers. This is what you do to them, Phil? This is what you do to them?”
The fan was reportedly told be people around him to stop before security arrived.
AUSSIES IN THE FIELD
Cameron Smith -1
Min Woo Lee -1
Lucas Herbert E
Cam Davis +2
Adam Scott +3
Jason Day +3
Karl Vilips (A) +4
ROUND TWO TEE TIMES (AEST)
* — 10th tee
11:45pm.* – Brent Grant, Vincent Norrman, Charley Hoffman
11:45pm. – Ross Fisher, Nico Echavarria, Paul Haley II
11:56pm.* – Simon Forsström, Carlos Ortiz, Maxwell Moldovan (a)
11:56pm. – Nick Dunlap (a), Nick Hardy, Sam Stevens
12:07am.* – Eric Cole, Thriston Lawrence, Adam Schenk
12:07am. – Taylor Pendrith, Aldrich Potgieter (a), Romain Langasque
12:18am.* – Luke List, Wilco Nienaber, Alejandro Del Rey
12:18am. – Andrew Putnam, Victor Perez, Abraham Ancer
12:29am.* -. Adrian Meronk, Harris English, Joaquin Niemann
12:29am. – Phil Mickelson, Padraig Harrington, Keegan Bradley
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12:40am.* – Alex Noren, Wyndham Clark, Austin Eckroat
12:40am. – Mito Pereira, Emiliano Grillo, Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira (a)
12:51am.* – Kurt Kitayama, Cam Davis, Russell Henley
12:51am. – Tom Kim, Sahith Theegala, Cameron Young
1:02am.* – Cameron Smith, Sam Bennett, Matt Fitzpatrick
1:02am. – Sam Burns, Dustin Johnson, Keith Mitchell
1:13am.* – Billy Horschel, Chris Kirk, Brian Harman
1:13am. – Tony Finau, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay
1:24am.* – Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama, Rory McIlroy
1:24am. – Davis Thompson, Min Woo Lee, Justin Suh
1:35am* – Sebastián Muñoz, Nick Taylor, Taylor Montgomery
1:35am. – Taylor Moore, Mackenzie Hughes, Ben Carr (a)
1:46am. – Olin Browne Jr., David Puig, Karl Vilips (a)
1:46am. – Patrick Cover, David Nyfjall (a), Frankie Capan III
1:57am.* – Corey Pereira, Isaac Simmons (a), J.J. Grey
1:57am. – Austen Truslow, Christian Cavaliere (a), Alex Schaake
5:15am.* – Omar Morales (a), Deon Germishuys, Jacob Solomon
5:15am. – Berry Henson, Ryutaro Nagano, Hank Lebioda
5:26am.* – Ryan Gerard, Yuto Katsuragawa, Michael Brennan (a)
5:26am. – Michael Kim, Jordan Smith, Wenyi Ding (a)
5:37am.* – Hayden Buckley, Adam Svensson, Pablo Larrazabal
5:37am. – Scott Stallings, Preston Summerhays (a), Lucas Herbert
5:48am.* – Carson Young, Dylan Wu, Roger Sloan
5:48am. – Jens Dantorp, Patrick Rodgers, Ryan Armour
5:59am.* – Ryo Ishikawa, Kevin Streelman, Matthieu Pavon
5:59am – Thomas Pieters, Aaron Wise, Gordon Sargent (a)
6:10am.* – Shane Lowry, Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood
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6:10am. – Bryson DeChambeau, Francesco Molinari, Tyrrell Hatton
6:21am.* – Sungjae Im, K.H. Lee, J.T. Poston
6:21am. – Tom Hoge, Sergio Garcia, Sepp Straka
6:32am* – Gary Woodland, Adam Scott, Corey Conners
6:32am – Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler, Jason Day
6:43am* – Collin Morikawa, Max Homa, Scottie Scheffler
6:43am – Patrick Reed, Matt Kuchar, Si Woo Kim
6:54* a.m. – Denny McCarthy, Joel Dahmen, Adam Hadwin
6:54am – Xander Schauffele, Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm
7:05am.* – Matthew McClean (a), Seamus Power, Ryan Fox
7:05am. – Martin Kaymer, Stewart Cink, Michael Thorbjornsen (a)
7:16am.* – Mac Meissner, Barclay Brown (a), Gunn Charoenkul
7:16am. – David Horsey, Brendan Valdez (a), Paul Barjon
7:27am.* – Alexander Yang (a), Jesse Schutte, Andy Svoboda
7:27am. – Jordan Gumberg, Kyle Mueller, Bastien Amat (a)
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