LEE WESTWOOD shot a near-perfect 67 in the first round of the US Open to sit a shot behind the lead.
After thunderstorms saw play abandoned on Thursday, the Englishman, runner-up to Danny Willett at The Masters two months ago, only sat second because American Andrew Landry became the first man to ever shoot 66 in the first round at Oakmont.
Westwood, 42, who is rated the best golfer never to have won a major after drawing a blank in his previous 72 attempts, sits pretty on three under.
World No 3 Rory McIlroy had a day to forget.
The Northern Irishman, 27, needed 77 shots to get round the course – he ended seven over par.
After his impressive round, Westwood told Sky Sports: “I’ve certainly got plenty of experience and been in these situations before.
“You have to grin and bear [the weather] and try to stay focused when you do get to play golf.
“You’ve got to re-evaluate what the ball is going to do when it reacts on the greens.
“You have to do everything well around Oakmont.
“It tests everything about your game.”
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McIlroy admitted he struggled to find any rhythm.
“I felt like it was hard to get into any sort of rhythm out there.
“I’m really struggling with my swing and missing shots left and right.
“It really was a bit of a struggle out there.”
He added: “Playing practice rounds here is much different to actually playing out there with the pressure this golf course puts on you to hit shots.
“I needed to be consistent so I need to go and work on it on the range.”
Defending champion Jordan Spieth fared slightly better than his rival but still finished two over par.
Irishman Shane Lowry ended two under, while Bubba Watson was one of four players to go into the clubhouse at one under.
English teenager Sam Horsfield finished six over par.
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