PINEHURST, N.C. – Three of golf’s brightest young stars stood on the tee box of the treacherous par-3 ninth hole early Thursday afternoon at the year’s most treacherous tournament. This being their last hole of the opening round, it was the point where their nerves should have been completely frayed, where the mental anguish had eaten away at their composure and the frustration had left their scorecards as barren as Pinehurst’s numerous waste areas.
Instead, Jordan Spieth, Hideki Matsuyama and Rickie Fowler assessed the warm breeze with the patience of a routine practice session. Each of them might have even cracked a little smile – usually forbidden at the U.S. Open – when Spieth broke the silence with a pertinent observation.
“Nobody,” he said to playing partners who along with him were a collective 4 under for the round, “is going to beat our score today.’”
Consider it the innocence of youth that minutes later both Spieth and Fowler were cleaning up bogeys to conclude their rounds, but that underscores the major theme of their day.
In a tournament where it’s so often believed that experience is of the utmost importance, the USGA’s so-called “Young Guns” group included a trio of players who each shot even par or better.
Spieth, 20, posted a 1-under 69; Matsuyama, 22, matched that score; and Fowler, 25, shot even-par 70.