Even though it is called the U.S. Open, an American man is not capturing the headlines after the first round of play. It is a German, and he is dominating the host country thus far.
Photo courtesy of eighteenunderpar.com
Martin Kaymer, the 29-year-old from Dusseldorf, is leading the pack of over 150 professional golfers after June 12, the first day of the 114th U.S. Open. While Kaymer is currently ranked No. 18 in the world, a 5-under par performance is certainly better than an eighteenth-best performance.
The 165-pounder outright won the TPC at Sawgrass on May 11, but a 29th place finish at the HP Byron Nelson Championship put Kaymer out of world golf headlines.
Yet, despite Kaymer’s strong start at the US Open, which is hosted at the infamous Pinehurst No. 2 located outside Charlotte, he is far from winning the tournament. There are three more days where the best golfers in the world have a chance to prove themselves in the year’s most difficult, and arguably most famous tournament (along with The Master’s of course).
Kevin Na, Graeme McDowell, Brendon de Jonge and Fran Quin are all chomping at the bit to get atop the leaderboard. The quartet find themselves tied at 2-under par at the end of Day 1, a score that if kept throughout the weekend, may just result in a trophy.
But, much golf is still be played.
When looking at Wake Forest storylines, alumnus Webb Simpson (’08) found himself battling strong early on, however, a few slight mishaps found the Raleigh native at 1-over par and sitting in a tie at No. 36. He is certainly within spitting distance of some of the top golfers at the tournament. In addition, the former Demon Deacon has seen success at former US Opens by outright winning the tournament in 2012. To add to this success, Simpson is coming off a successful St. Jude’s Classic, where he placed third and won over $300,000 in earnings.
Bill Haas (’04), nephew of current head coach of Wake Forest men’s golf Jerry Haas and son of former PGA player Jay Haas, is also competing in this year’s US Open. Haas is also coming off a hot tournament where he placed No. 8 on the leaderboard at the Memorial Tournament with an impressive score of 8-under par. Haas is two-over par and sitting in a tie for No. 50 with three rounds of golf to play.
With plenty of golf to be played neither Demon Deacon is out of contention.
Their former head coach Jerry Haas is certainly pulling for them, and so is the rest of their university.
Stay tuned to oldgoldandblack.com for updated results from the US Open.