Ahead of the US Open, Ryan Fox predicted Oakmont Country Club might “probably put me back in my place pretty quickly”.
But in an opening round full of carnage on the scorecards, Fox navigated away from most of it to finish his opening round with a two-over-par 72 ina round that took a shade under five-and-a-half hours to complete.
That saw him end the day in a tie for 33rd, six shots behind the leader, American J.J. Spaun, at four-under.
Spaun was the only player in the 156-strong field to go bogey-free in his opening round, while only 10 players finished under par through 18 holes.
While Fox lost the compass off the tee a few times, he again scrambled well to limit the damage. The 38-year-old found the rough or sand from the tee box on nine of his 18 holes, but was able to recover and card just two bogeys and a double, while also cashing in on two birdie attempts.
Things started well for Fox, who was one-under after two holes before moving back to even with a bogey on the par-four third.
That was where he stayed until the sixth hole, where he drained an 8m (27ft) putt for birdie to move back to one-under.
Putting his ball into the native area and having to take a drop on the par-four 11th saw him move back to even par, before a sandy adventure on the par-four 14th ended in a double bogey.
In that instance, Fox teed into one of four bunkers off to the left side of the fairway, and hit into another further up with his second shot, taking two shots to get out of that one.
But he was able to finish as he started, ultimately dropping shots on just three holes, while cancelling some of the damage with two birdies to finish at a respectable two-over.
Some of the other big names in the field weren’t quite so well off after the opening day of the tournament, with Shane Lowry carding a nine-over to be tied for 133rd, Justin Rose and Min Woo Lee were among those at seven-over and tied for 120th, while Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama and Tommy Fleetwood were among a host of players to finish in a tie for 62nd at four-over for the day.
World No 1 Scottie Scheffler finished in a tie for 49th at three-over in his opening round.
Fox will have little time to mull the day over, as he is among the first to the tee boxes for the start of the second round.
Finishing his first 18 around 10.05am NZT (6.07pm local), he’ll be back in action at 10.56pm tonight (6.56am local).
