Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele make history to lead in LA

Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele wrote their names into Major Championship and U.S. Open history as they shared the lead after day one at The Los Angeles Country Club.

Fowler made ten birdies and two bogeys in a stunning 62 that was the lowest round ever at a U.S. Open and matched the lowest round at a men's Major - posted by Branden Grace at The Open Championship in 2017.

The 34-year-old might have expected to have a commanding advantage after such a stellar performance but he held the solo lead for less than half an hour as fellow United States Ryder Cup star Schauffele also got to eight under after a bogey-free effort.

Wyndham Clark and Dustin Johnson were two shots back on a leaderboard dominated by home stars, with Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex leader Rory McIlroy and American Brian Harman at five under.

Fowler finished in the top five at all four Majors in 2014, the season before he won the Scottish Open and two seasons prior to his victory at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

After being an almost ever-present in the top ten of the Official World Golf Ranking, he dropped as low as 185th in September last year but is now 45th and continued his recent renaissance on home soil in California.

"It's definitely been long and tough," he said. "A lot longer being in that situation than you'd ever want to. But it makes it so worth it having gone through that and being back where we are now.

"I would say we're starting to get maybe as close as we've ever been to where I was through kind of that 14, 15 area. I've been playing fairly consistently but a lot of it for me is what I've been able to get out of off-weeks where I'm not playing very well and still able to make the cut and kind of turn those into at least top-20s or top-10s and the last few years those were missed cuts and going home.

"This week off to a good start but there's still plenty of golf to be played. It's going to be tough tomorrow afternoon. But at least got out of the gate and we're off to a good start."

Fowler sandwiched smart approaches to the tenth and 12th with a bogey on the 11th but took advantage of the par-five 14th before again surrounding a bogey on the 17th with a pair of birdies from inside 20 feet.

He then birdied the par-five first and followed that up with approaches in tight at the second and third, getting inside ten feet again at the sixth and making his birdie at the par-five eighth despite finding the barranca off the tee.

A two-putt par on the ninth meant he had the first 62 in U.S. Open history but he would hold that record on his own for less than half an hour before Schauffele finished his round.

The reigning Genesis Scottish Open champion opened with a near 40-footer on the tenth and holed from a quarter of that distance on the 12th before making the most of the 14th to turn in 32.

He also took advantage of the first and played a smart approach to the second before holing a 60-footer from the fringe on the fifth.

A tee-shot to six feet on the seventh had him within one and Schauffele capitalised on the eighth to share the lead.

"It's not really what you expect playing a U.S. Open," he said. "But monkey see, monkey do. Was just chasing Rickie up the leaderboard. Glad he was just in front of me.

"My job is just to play. I try not to speculate too much. I'm going to take what the course can give me, and today it gave me a low one, and we're going to have to assess it as we go on."

Clark made an eagle and seven birdies with three bogeys in his 64, while 2016 champion Johnson was bogey-free with seven birdies before finding nasty rough off the tee at the ninth.

McIlroy was also bogey-free until his final hole, turning in 30 after a brilliant front nine and making a gain on the 15th but he left his ball in the greenside rough at the 18th for his only blemish.

World Number One Scottie Scheffler, fellow Americans Sam Bennett, Bryson DeChambeau and Harris English, Frenchman Paul Barjon, Canadian Mackenzie Hughes and South Korean Si Woo Kim were five shots off the lead.

There were two holes-in-one on the short par-three 15th, with Frenchman Matthieu Pavon and WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play champion Sam Burns making the 49th and 50th aces in tournament history.