U.S. Open 2025: A most unlikely USGA Oakmont record falls

OAKMONT, Pa. — There was supposed to be carnage during the opening round of the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club, the USGA potentially facing the question for the first time in a while of whether they “lost” the golf course. That question was jokingly being bandied about early on Thursday, only in the opposite direction: Are they letting too many red numbers on the leaderboard?

The rough is still thick, the greens still slick, but the course remains softer than everyone had hoped after eight inches of rain fell in the area in the last five weeks. And the best players in the world took advantage of it early.

Case in point: Teeing off at 7:07 a.m. local time on the 10th tee, J.J. Spaun made four birdies on his first eight holes to take the quick lead. When he made the turn with a four-under 31, Spaun had broken a USGA record few figured was in players sites this week. That was the lowest opening nine-hole score ever shot in any U.S. Open played at Oakmont, breaking 32 shot by Gary Player in 1973, Jumbo Ozaki in 1994 and Scott Piercy in 2016. [Editor's Note: This is updated from earlier when it was released Spaun's 31 was the lowest opening nine in any U.S. Open; that record is 30 done many times, most recently by Brian Harman at LACC in 2023.]

This is Spaun’s second career U.S. Open start, the other coming in 2021 at Torrey Pines, where he missed the cut with rounds of 77-75. Mind you, the 34-year-old Los Angeles native and San Diego State alum is having arguably the best year of his career. He took Rory McIlroy to a Monday playoff at the Players Championship in March, falling in extra holes. That was his second runner-up finish in 2025 after a T-2 showing at the Cognizant Classic. He also finished T-3 at the Sony Open in Hawaii. He currently ranks sixth in the FedEx Cup points list and 13th in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings.

Spaun remained at four under for the rest of the round, finishing with a 66 to match the lowest first round ever shot in a U.S. Open at Oakmont, a mark previously set by Andrew Landry in 2016. Spaun also went bogey free, something that happened just once in 443 official rounds when the U.S. Open was at Oakmont in 2016, that accomplished by Dustin Johnson in the first round.