US Open specialist Wyndham Clark leads by four shots at Shinnecock Hills

In what was easily the most impressive effort of the day in windy conditions at the Long Island venue, Clark covered 16 holes in six-under-par, mixing five birdies with one bogey before making an eagle at the par-5 fifth.

It had seemed that two or three under would be the lead until Clark’s late thrust, which was mighty impressive even allowing for the fact that the wind had dropped a bit in the final hour or so.

A gaggle of players on two under four other former winners in Matt Fitzpatrick, Jon Rahm, Gary Woodland and Jon Rahm, as well as amateur Ryder Cowan, with Rory McIlroy on one under alongside double champion Bryson DeChambeau, who opened with a 427-yard tee shot, albeit aided by hitting a path, at the tenth.

It was what we’d term as a stiff breeze in Scotland and certainly wasn’t blowing as hard as had been feared. Yet, the test was still demanding as Shinnecock Hills showed exactly why only three players have finished under par in the four most recent editions of the USGA event at the Long Island venue.

Admittedly after a two-hour fog delay, it wasn’t until the middle of the afternoon that someone got to three under par out on the Southampton course. On the back of an eagle at par-5 fifth - his 14th hole of the day - that person was McIlroy, the 2011 winner.

In 2018, the Northern Irishman opened here with a disastrous 80 - tying his career-worst major round score to par - and missed the cut in this event for a third consecutive year. Having improved on that dismal effort by 11 shots - a bogey-bogey finish took some gloss of the effort as he signed for a one-under 69 - he’s off and running this time with a spring in his step in search of a seventh major victory.

“Yeah, I think with the conditions today, anything under par or anything around even par is a good score,” admitted McIlroy afterwards. “It was a day to really just keep yourself in the tournament and not shoot yourself out of it, which is exactly what I did eight years ago here.

“So sort of went out with the mindset that pars were going to be good, and, if you could pick up a couple of birdies here and there, that's always a bonus. But really just minimising the mistakes. I did that for the most part today.

“It's so tough. It's so difficult. I didn't feel like I hit two bad iron shots on the last two holes and put myself in pretty difficult spots and wasn't able to get it up-and-down, but, overall, a really good day.”

McIlroy joked recently about how he’s become a “part-time” player as his schedule gets lighter. He earned that right, though, by becoming just the sixth player to land a career grand slam by winning The Masters last year.

That win kick-started his major career after an 11-year drought in the game’s marquee events. Having successfully defended his title at Augusta earlier this year, his major mojo is back and this was exactly the start he was looking for in this one.

‘It just shows how strong the wind is out there’

In what looked to be a dream group for him alongside close friend Tommy Fleetwood and Ryder Cup team-mate Ludvig Aberg, McIlroy wasted no time laying down an early marker. A first birdie of the day at the par-3 11th from 11 feet was followed by a 20-footer being converted at the next hole.

As a gust of wind blew his hat off, McIlroy just missed the fairway on the left at the 13th and had no control from the rough, leading to a bogey there. He then found a horrible spot just off the fairway at the par-5 16th, could only hack out and was back to level par.

Starting to find the short stuff again, the world No 2 spun his approach at the par-4 third back to three feet to move into red figures again before jumping to three under by rolling in a 15-footer for that eagle at the fifth, where a pitching wedge from 190 yards set up the opportunity. “It just shows how strong the wind is out there,” said McIlroy of that.

Par putts are going to be key this week and McIlroy would have been delighted to hole a tester as he got up and down from sand at the seventh. After a peach of a drive, he’d have been disappointed, though, to bogey the par-4 eighth, where his approach went a tad long and ended up against the collar of rough, leaving him having to attempt a flop shot and not executing that as well as he’d have liked. As was the case with a tugged second to the elevated ninth green that led to a dropped shot there, too.

McIlroy gave the course set up on what could have been a really difficult day a thumbs up. “Look, the greens are pretty slow and quite receptive,” he said. “I think they need to be at this point. It's a challenging golf course already, and you put 30-mile-an-hour winds on top of it, it tests the best players in the world pretty well.

“Yeah, I think they were prudent with the course set up. I think especially with starting with 156 the first two days, you just want to get everyone around without too much issue. They've set the course up for that, at least today.”

Scottie Scheffler - who is chasing a win here that would see him complete a career grand slam - had a rare mixed bag. A card that contained four birdies, a double bogey and four bogeys left him signing for a 72.

Adam Scott, who is playing in his 100th consecutive major, sits one further back while defending champion J.J. Spaun is facing a battle to make the cut after an error-strewn 77.

Play was suspened at 8.25am local time, leaving 56 players to complete their opening circuit. The action will restart at 6.35am on Friday, with second-round tee times being delayed by 15 minutes.

American Sam Stevens overcame starting with a double-bogey 6 at the tenth to post the clubhouse target with a 68. Four birdies in seven holes from the 17th turned his day around. “Yeah, got off to kind of a weird start,” he admitted. “I teed off at ten then we had the delay and I didn’t get to hit my second shot for two hours.”

Five-time major winner Brooks Koepka had to settle for a 73 after finishing with a double-bogey 6. “Yeah, the conditions were tough,” he declared. It's just weird how soft the greens are. It's just odd. It's not what I remember. I mean, I understand why they're soft, I get that. It's not complaining. It's just a difficult day.”

After twice getting to two under, Aberg ended up matching McIlroy’s 69, one better than Fleetwood. All in all, it was a good day’s work by the trio as European players bid to make it a hat-trick of title triumphs in this season’s majors after McIlroy’s Masters win and Aaron Rai then landing the PGA Championship at Aronimink last month.