Sam Stevens took the clubhouse lead at the US Open on Thursday after a 68 that left him at 2-under, a score he rescued with a birdie at the 9th hole after an opening double bogey. It was enough to set the early mark at Shinnecock Hills while the round was still being played.
That is why Stevens suddenly became the name drawing attention. The tournament was being reshaped hole by hole as the morning wave tried to catch him, and Rory McIlroy was moving into the frame at 3-under through 14 holes. McIlroy’s eagle putt at the 5th, from 11 feet, could have put him two shots clear instead. Instead, Stevens held the clubhouse lead and the leaderboard remained unsettled because not everyone had finished.
Stevens’ round was not clean, but it was good enough to matter. His 68 included six birdies, two bogeys and one double bogey, with the early damage coming on his first hole of the day. He steadied himself from there and finished the round with enough scoring to stay ahead of the players who had posted and the ones still chasing him.
The weather disruption at Shinnecock Hills made the opening round a moving target, and only five golfers were under par in the morning wave at that point. Tommy Fleetwood briefly looked ready to push higher after two birdies in a row returned him to level par, Keegan Bradley joined the group on 1-under with a birdie at the 15th, and Rickie Fowler also got into the small cluster under par. Ludvig Åberg missed his chance at the 5th, which only added to the sense that the day was still sorting itself out.
Ethan Fang was part of that same unsettled picture, even if the scorecard did not flatter him as much. He shot 74 as an amateur after winning the Amateur Championship at Royal St George’s in Sandwich the previous year, and when told his surname was gold for headline writers, he laughed and said, “That’s the aim!” The line fit the day: everyone was still trying to make something decisive out of a round interrupted by weather and left hanging in pieces.
For now, Stevens owns the clubhouse lead, but it is the kind of lead that can vanish once the last groups come in. If McIlroy or another player finishes strongly, the benchmark changes fast. If not, Stevens has given the field a target that already looks harder than it first appeared.
