Adam Scott the top Australian after US Open first round

Australia’s golf stars are playing catch up once again after a laboured start to the US Open in North Carolina.
Without a winner at golf’s toughest test since Geoff Ogilvy in 2006, Australia’s challenge looks unlikely for yet another year after only Adam Scott managed to match par in the first round.
Contesting his 92nd consecutive major, Scott drained a lengthy birdie putt on his final hole to sign for an even-par 70 but, trailing co-leaders Rory McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay by five shots, the veteran former world No.1 looks to be making up the numbers.
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Cam Davis faces the fiercest fight of all to make the halfway cut after starting with a seven-over 77.
Still believing he can capture an elusive second major, more than a decade after donning the green jacket at the Masters, an inspired Scott briefly climbed into red figures with three mid-round birdies.
But a schoolboy error on the par-4 eighth, his penultimate hole of the day, when he left his approach putt short and watched it tumble back off the green, led to a double bogey that had Scott slumping back to one over.
His bounce-back birdie at the last left him five shots off the pace on an ominously star-studded leaderboard.
Scott says he felt rejuvenated after a last-minute call-up at Pinehurst
“Honestly, it was a little bit of a weight on my shoulders because I entered an extra tournament to try and get in through the ranking and then played the qualifier when obviously I hoped I wouldn’t have to by that point,” he said.
“There was an extra couple weeks out here on the road, and I felt the pressure of that, and it’s only because I want to compete here and have a chance to win so badly that it was a little weight on my shoulders.
“But it was a blessing to not have to play the Memorial last week, which looked like a U.S. Open, and get some good practice in and be really prepared for this week.”
Smith had arrived at the year’s third major championship confident of contending but the first round proved more of the same in a lacklustre season for the 2022 British Open champion.
He managed only two birdies to be tied for 34th with, among others, American world No.1 Scottie Scheffler and Day, who rallied from three over with a three-birdie back nine.
Cantlay and McIlroy matched eventual champion Martin Kaymer’s opening 65 at Pinehurst in 2014 to grab a one-shot lead over Sweden’s Masters runner-up Ludvig Aberg.
Big-hitting Bryson DeChambeau, the 2020 champion, is lurking at three under in a tie for fourth with Frenchman Matthieu Pavon.