The 126th U.S. Open is being played at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, New York, according to ESPN. The championship returns to the Long Island venue for the first time since 2018, when Brooks Koepka won and no player finished under par for the week, ESPN reported.
Round 1 was listed as in progress on the ESPN scoreboard. A group of players sat atop the leaderboard at 2-under: S. Stevens, R. Cowan, W. Clark and X. Schauffele, per ESPN. A large cohort was at 1-under, including R. McIlroy, L. Åberg, B. Harman, M. Greyserman, B. James, N. Nørgaard, C. Morikawa, A. Rai, P. Stout, R. Fox, R. Hisatsune, J. Rahm and M. Rozo.
Several prominent players were even par through their rounds, with names listed at even including K. Mitchell, K. Reitan, K. Bradley, T. Fleetwood, T. Kim, W. Mouw, A. Saddier and J. Van Paris on the ESPN leaderboard. ESPN noted that wind was a factor during the first round at Shinnecock Hills.
Storylines entering the week included Scottie Scheffler, who entered needing a victory to complete a career Grand Slam, according to ESPN. ESPN also noted that the first two majors of the year were won by Rory McIlroy at the Masters and Aaron Rai at the PGA Championship.
Television and streaming coverage was listed with NBC, USA Network and Peacock involved in the broadcast. ESPN published a how-to-watch schedule for the opening round on Thursday, June 18, with USA Network carrying Round 1 from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET and Peacock streaming from 5 to 8 p.m. ET. ESPN provided ongoing coverage from pre-tournament rankings through live updates and analysis throughout the week.
