Ian Poulter fired a brilliant 69 to take a share of the clubhouse lead as Shinnecock Hills Golf Club bared its teeth on day one of the US Open.
The notoriously difficult New York layout had been set up to be a tough test and high winds made it even more so, with only Poulter and Scott Piercy able to go under par from the morning starters.
Their one under par starts handed them a two-shot lead over the rest of the field in the clubhouse, with little sign of conditions getting easier in the afternoon.
Englishman Poulter is enjoying an excellent season after claiming his first victory since the 2012 WGC-HSBC Champions earlier in the year on the US PGA Tour.
The 42 year old is still searching for a first Major Championship win but if conditions stay as they are over the weekend, his grinding style could be the perfect fit this week.
American Piercy was out in the first group of the day after getting into the event as an alternate on Monday and he made the most of his chance to lead the home charge.
England's Justin Rose - the 2013 champion - Frenchman Matthieu Pavon and American pair Charley Hoffman and Charles Howell III were one over.
Poulter holed a 45-footer on the third to get into red numbers and the putter stayed hot, with a 20-footer on the seventh putting him in the leading group at the turn.
He missed the green to bogey the tenth but hit back brilliantly, seeing his tee-shot on the 11th agonisingly lip out and leave him a tap-in for birdie.
Finding sand twice on the 13th meant Poulter made a bogey before he parred his way home.
Piercy bogeyed the second but responded by taking advantage of the par five fifth. A birdie on the tenth was followed by a bogey on the 11th but an incredible 81-foot putt on the next moved him back into red numbers.
Rose made the most of the fifth but gave the shot straight back on the next and while an approach to eight feet on the tenth moved him under par, he bogeyed the 11th and 14th.
Pavon was a qualifier at Walton Heath last week and he endured a roller coaster of a round, turning in 35 with birdies on the first and fifth and dropped shots on the second and third.
Playing alongside Piercy, he made further gains on the tenth and 15th but bogeys on the 12th, 13th and 17th.
American trio Mickey DeMorat, Brendan Steele and Patrick Rodgers were at two over, a shot clear of a group containing English trio Paul Casey, Matthew Fitzpatrick and Andrew Johnston, Scot Russell Knox and Masters Tournament champion Patrick Reed.
