2015 U.S. Open: What we learned from Thursday’s first round

The first round of the 2015 U.S. Open is in the books at Chambers Bay, and aside from a few high-profile blowups, it was a relatively tame day in Tacoma. There were red numbers to be had -- 25 players under par and 41 at par or better -- peppered with the occasional meltdown. It was fun, if only because everything was new to everyone at Chambers Bay, and nobody was sure what to expect.

We learned some things from Thursday’s first round, and there are some lessons to carry into the weekend. It’s early, though, and a lot can still change overnight.

What the hell, Tiger? We knew his game was off coming into the tournament, but that bad? To start the round, he was just a hair off with his irons and putter -- and a hair off is a huge problem at Chambers Bay. A 4-over front nine was a few feet here and there from being a decent enough start, but then everything came completely apart on the last nine. He’s broken, still, and looks even more lost than he has been.

That wasn’t even a fun 80 filled with ridiculous follies. It was just … sad.

You too, Rickie. Consider that Rickie Fowler was even par through five. That’s not an easy stretch of holes, and he was level coming to the sixth tee. He proceeded to go double bogey, bogey, double bogey, then a triple bogey with a missed gimme. The only hole he played under par was the 12th, and he eagled that one. His round went from looking like a steady, grind-it-out day to a complete disaster somewhere between the fifth green and sixth tee.

That entire group was an 18-hole car accident. Tiger’s 10-over was bad. Fowler’s 11 over was worse. Somehow Louis Oosthuizen emerged from the Group Of D’Oh with a 7-over. These three played the course at a combined 28-over and were all over the place so much that they created a bottleneck. Great start.

The group in front of that train wreck was the pace car: Smart, sensible, navigating the course at an appropriate speed. Behind it was carnage akin to The Big One at Talladega. But the pace car group, as I’m going to just start calling it, consisting of Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and Justin Rose hung around all day, hovering near par. They looked good, and if you watched them and Tiger’s group play back-to-back on a few holes, it was readily apparent that one group looked like a well-oiled machine and the other looked like a machine stripped for parts.

Make your money on the back nine. With the exception of a few players -- hello, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson -- the leaders did their damage on the back to start the U.S. Open. The final nine holes played just about a stroke easier than the first nine on Thursday. The 12th hole is a must-birdie hole, and had 11 of the 12 eagles after the dust settled on day one. There’s a stretch that includes the easiest hole (12), followed by a tough hole (13 played as the fourth-toughest hole), and a run of holes playing as the 11th-hardest hole or easier. If the course continues playing like this, the back-nine on Sunday is setup for lots of movement.

… But the course is not going to keep playing the same way. The beauty of the back-nine lies in how much it can change. If the USGA wants a birdie barrage on Sunday, it can use a similar setup to Thursday. If it wants to tighten the screws, a few tweaks to hole and pin locations can completely change the angles players are using.

Make your money in the morning on Friday, too. Numbers were out there on Thursday morning with the course getting a little water and the weather staying mainly cool and overcast. Things did get a little more difficult as the day wore along, as is expected. The playing field levels for the leaders on the weekend, but those who went out late on Thursday can go into the third round in great position with a solid morning round.

Cole Hammer is refreshing. Sitting behind the 12th green, it’s difficult to make out who is hitting off the tee box and fairway, and there’s no scoreboard to give you an idea of who is in the group. There was one person that gave themselves away on the hole, and that was 15-year-old Cole Hammer. Seeing him bound across the fairway like a gazelle all the way into the rough just to see where his short approach landed was a reminder that he’s still just a kid who’s rightfully excited to be playing in the U.S. Open.

He flushed the approach to five feet by the way. Three holes after tearing up on the tee box. Hell of a day for a kid who can’t even drive his courtesy car yet.*

*And yes, he finished three shots better than Tiger.

The greens aren’t that bad. They’re certainly not normal U.S. Open greens, and they look real weird on TV, but the greens don’t seem to be awful. Sergio Garcia is going to be vocal about them, but that was to be expected. Remember, Chambers is using fescue grass that isn’t going to roll like a normal bermuda green. There will be wobbles and bumps. It comes with the decision -- remember the course is built on a gravel pit -- to use fescue.

They’re still not the smoothest things in the world, and are incredibly challenging to get consistent, but they might not be worth screaming outrage yet.

It’s going to get worse at Chambers Bay. This is ambiguous for a reason: It could, and does, apply to multiple facets of the golf course. It’s going to get tougher; players got a nice taste of red, but Chambers Bay can easily have its difficulty ramped up overnight. And because this was a way to ease into a new course, expect it to get tougher.

The other part of things getting worse applies to the crowd. Thursday was crowded, but it’s nothing compared to what’s coming Friday through Sunday. Fans are already complaining about not being able to see play due to the elevation changes and limited spectator areas. That’s not going to change, and the crowds gathered along paths are only going to get thicker. It’s a tough spot to be in because the course can only handle so many seats in viewing areas and grandstands.

What goes up must come down. If you’re going to climb a hill at Chambers Bay, you’re going to get off the hill somehow. It’s easier going up than down, and that dried grass is a little more slippery with a head of steam. Makes for a great spectator sport, though. It sounded like the Phoenix Open as fans cheered falls next to the 12th fairway.

U.S. Open cart drivers are magicians. No, not the carts that you’d see on TV either. There’s an army of golf carts, big and small, roaming Chambers Bay. They shuttle people with disabilities between holes and to clubhouses and generally keep things moving at the U.S. Open. That’s all fine and well normally, except now they’re contending with a golf course that’s built in a pit and doesn’t have many flat spots. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a golf cart emerge from a sea of people while coasting downhill at an angle while the driver tries to keep the passengers in the vehicle.

Y’all the real MVPs.