Francesco Molinari continued his fine run of recent form with an enterprising round of 68 on the opening day of the US Open Championship at Chambers Bay.
Molinari arrived in America’s Pacific Northwest region fresh from top five finishes in two of his last three events, and the Italian duly picked up where he left off with another display of precision and control.
A bogey at the fourth hole was cancelled out by a bogey at the next, and another dropped shot at the par three ninth saw him turn in one over 36.
But he rallied magnificently on the back nine, notching three birdies in four holes from the 12th to finish three shots back from the round one pacesetters, American Dustin Johnson and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson.
Molinari said: “I’m really happy with that start, anything under par on this course is a very good score. I played very solid early on, although I found some trouble on the fourth and did well in the end to get up and down for bogey, because I was looking at double which would have really set me back. So even though it was a bogey, I actually took some confidence from the hole. Then on the back nine, I hit some really good shots.
“The course is very firm but it’s playing fair. The pin positions were sensible, and the general set-up was sensible. I thought they did a good job overall, because this course could be impossible if you move the tee boxes back and tuck the pins away. So hopefully they will keep a similar set-up for the rest of the week.”
