Sawt Falasteen - Fowler charges to front early in US Open first round

Fowler was six-under through 12 holes on LA Country Club's North Course, the par-70 gem tucked behind the mansions of Beverly Hills that is hosting the US Open for the first time.

Fowler, a former world number four, is currently ranked 45th in the world. He'd fallen to as low as 185th after missing 18 cuts in 28 events in 2021 and 2022.

After saying Wednesday he felt "back where we should be," Fowler was making the most of his opportunity in search of a first win since the 2019 Phoenix Open.

Xander Schauffele, the Tokyo Olympic champion ranked sixth in the world, was five-under through 11 holes.

As overcast skies and intermittent mist greeted the earliest starters, Mexican amateur Omar Morales stole the early spotlight as he moved to the top of the leaderboard at three-under through the first nine holes.

Morales, a student at the University of California at Los Angeles, became just the fifth amateur in the past 30 years to shoot three strokes under par over the first nine holes of his first US Open -- but he faded just as quickly with three straight bogeys from the 11th through the 13th.

It showed just how much danger lurked on a course where world number one Scottie Scheffler got off to a rocky start and second-ranked Jon Rahm struggled to build momentum.

Rahm, who won his second major title at the Masters in April, opened with a 15-foot birdie at the par-four 10th, but gave a shot back with a bogey at 12.

A birdie at the short par-three 15th was followed by another bogey at 17 as Rahm made the turn at even par.

Scheffler was in trouble right off the bat, finding a fairway bunker off the tee at the par-five first and a greenside bunker on the way to a bogey at a hole he had assessed before the tournament as "gettable."

The 2022 Masters champion found birdies at the ninth, 10th and 12th to put himself in the mix heading into what he reckoned to be the toughest stretch on a back nine packed with "a lot of long, hard, difficult holes."

- What it takes -

Scheffler, who played LA Country Club in the 2018 Walker Cup amateur matches, is among the few in the field who have played competitively at the venue, which club members have largely preferred to keep to themselves.

The championship is the first major golf tournament since last week's surprising news that the PGA Tour and DP World Tour would unite with the Saudi financiers of the upstart LIV Golf League.

That will make for a spicy afternoon group with Brooks Koepka, last month's PGA Championship winner and the first LIV Golf member to capture a major, joined by Rory McIlroy, the PGA Tour's most vocal defender, and Japan's Hideki Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion.

Koepka, a five-time major winner, won the 2017 and 2018 US Opens and was second at the Masters in April before taking his third PGA crown. He has been in fiery form this year, showing no sign of woes from playing 54-hole LIV events.

"I'm pretty sure I know what it takes to compete in majors," Koepka said.

Defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick of England also teed off in the afternoon, alongside Cameron Smith, the reigning British Open champion, and American Sam Bennett, who turned pro after earning low amateur honors at the Masters.

T.Samara--SF-PST