The U.S. Open is officially underway as some of the best golfers in the world take on the toughest test in the sport. Shinnecock Hills is the host for this year’s edition of the third major championship of the season, and it is already making its mark on the field.
Unfortunately, that field lost one of its most talented members during the first round on Thursday. Jason Day, a former PGA Champion and World No. 1, was forced to withdraw from the tournament with a back injury. The PGA Tour announced the unfortunate news on social media.
Day only made it through 10 holes on Thursday, and it was very clear that he was struggling with something. The Australian star was seven-over par, including a streak of six bogeys in a row where absolutely nothing was going right. Day’s ball-striking was way off and his putting wasn’t able to bail him out. As he slid down the leaderboard, it was clear that something was up.
This withdrawal is the latest in a string of disappointing results this season for Day. He is coming off of a missed cut in his last start at The Memorial Tournament and logged a T-65 at the PGA Championship at Aronimink last month. In 14 starts this season, he has just two top-10 finishes. His best result, a T-2 at The American Express, came all the way back in his first start of the season in January.
While the injury forced Day to struggle mightily with one of the toughest courses in America on Thursday, he was far from the only one fighting the conditions and the course in this first round. High winds and fast greens have seen a lot of players play below their best, including World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. Scheffler, hunting the Career Grand Slam this week, had to scrap and claw his way to a 1-over-par round of 72 to open the tournament.
At the moment, Wyndham Clark and Dustin Johnson sit atop a packed leaderboard at 3-under par as they play out the second nine on this opening day at Shinnecock.
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