Solid opening day for all four Canadians at U.S. Open in Oakmont

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OAKMONT, Pa. — Taylor Pendrith said the thing he was going to work on most before playing his second round of the U.S. Open at Oakmont was sleep.

“Very exhausting,” the Canadian said when asked to describe his five-and-a-half hour opening round of two-over 72. “There’s no easy shots. There’s no time during the round where you’re like, ‘OK, I can breathe easy now.’

“Most courses have a tee ball that really suits your eye and maybe a fairway that is really wide, and you can just relax a little bit. But not here.”

Despite finishing a couple strokes over par, the big-hitting Canadian will find himself in a good position heading into Friday. With its mixture of tight fairways, punishing bunkers and terrifying greens, Oakmont is the perfect U.S. Open course for a championship meant to provide the sternest test in golf.

“It’s really mentally straining and I’m happy to be done,” he said.

It was a solid opening day for the entire Canadian contingent with all four players finishing withing one shot of each other.

Corey Conners joined Pendrith with a 72, while Nick Taylor and Mackenzie Hughes both shot three-over par 73. With so few players in red figures, all the Canadians are in the mix and one good Friday round away from getting into contention.

“Most of the day was kind of a battle and there were a couple shots I’d like over that really cost me,” Conners said after his round. “Hopefully I’ll have a few more special shots over the next few days.”

Pendrith described the day as 100% the toughest round he has played in perfect conditions, and the big Canadian had a front row seat to Spaun’s bogey-free 66.

“It was impressive,” Pendrith said. “He didn’t really put himself in too many awkward positions, and his putter was hot and he drove it really nice.

The course played as benignly as possible on a calm Thursday morning, with moisture from weeks of rain keeping the greens from reaching anywhere near their terrifying peak speeds.

“Out here you’re just grinding on everything,” he said. “Even the three footers are really difficult with how fast the greens are and how slopey they are. I played a couple five-footers today two to three cups outside the hole, and you literally just had to get them moving because they were so fast.”

The 34-year-old Pendrith has the power game and large frame to succeed at Oakmont, where past champions include golf strongmen Dustin Johnson, Angel Cabrera and Ernie Els.

Although on Thursday, after beginning on the back nine, the most important club in Pendrith’s bag was his putter as he capped off his round with a 21-foot par-saving putt at the nearly 300-yard par 3 eight hole, and then rolled in another par-saver to end his day at the ninth.

“It feels really good to finish with those putts. I felt like I’ve been rolling it nice and my speed has been good,” he said. “To see the long one go in at the long par-three was a really nice save and to finish on the last hole with a 10-footer felt great.