5 takeaways from an electric opening round at U.S. Open

The legendary Los Angeles Country Club finally opened its doors for a U.S. Open on Thursday, and it's safe to say the best professional golfers in the world were big fans of the experience.

The 156-man field took aim early and often in the opening round at the layout, with some record-setting results in perfect scoring conditions.

Here are five takeaways from the opening 18 holes at the season's third major.

Rickie back with a bang

The U.S. Open has been severely lacking the color orange since 2020, as Rickie Fowler failed to qualify for the last two events amid struggles with his game. He took care of that by rising into the top 50 of the world rankings ahead of this year's tournament, all the way from the 185th slot at the end of the 2021-22 season.

"Back where we should be," Fowler told Golf Channel on Wednesday. "It's nice to finally be back into the top 50 in the world and to be back in this tournament. It's a sign things are headed in the right direction."

The right direction may have been the understatement of the year. Fowler absolutely torched the LACC in an outrageous display of golf Thursday. The final tally was a remarkable 8-under 62 to set the new single-round record in the history of the U.S. Open.

Fowler poured in ten birdies on the round, including his final one on the eighth hole - his 17th - despite facing an impossible-looking situation off the tee.

Fowler held the opening-round lead of 7-under at the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, meaning he's now the first man to ever shoot multiple rounds of at least 7-under at the tournament.

Thursday's display is the latest reminder that Fowler has worked his way back to rock-solid form, with six top-15 finishes in his last seven events. We just hope he didn't get too comfortable with the solo U.S. Open record, because that exclusivity didn't last long.

Xander's made for U.S. Open

The ink had barely dried on Fowler's scorecard before he had company at the top. Just over 15 minutes after he broke the record, Xander Schauffele matched him with his own 62. The World No. 6 went about it in slightly different fashion, making eight birdies and going bogey-free over the Southern California layout.

It's the latest notch for Schauffele to add to his U.S. Open belt, an event in which he's thrived since turning professional.

There's clearly a course correlation for LACC with Erin Hills, as Schauffele joined Fowler among those who shone bright on Thursday and in 2017. While Fowler held the lead at 7-under after the opening day then, Schauffele was just one stroke back en route to a fifth-place finish.

Easiest day at the U.S. Open ... ever?

With Fowler and Schauffele five clear of the field after the morning wave, it looked like their matching 62s were a case of brilliant golf and not necessarily an easy setup. While the 8-under totals were still excellent numbers by the end of the day, the afternoon wave showed that LACC was there for the taking.

We already mentioned the similarities between the layout and the one we saw in 2017 at Erin Hills, and that was reflected in the prime scoring conditions. Six players ended up with a 65 or better Thursday, setting a new U.S. Open record for a single round. According to Justin Ray of the Twenty First Group, Thursday at LACC was the first time ever that no player shot 80 or worse in the opening two rounds at a U.S. Open.

There was certainly a significant amount of hype for the mega-private club hosting the first U.S. Open in Los Angeles in 75 years, but it's highly unlikely anyone expected such low numbers throughout the round. The marine layer never really lifted in Los Angeles, causing the course to remain soft and not firm up throughout the day. That situation was coupled with very accessible pins to speed up play and get 156 players through the course before darkness.

With good conditions expected Friday, scoring should still be solid, but expect some very difficult pins to add plenty of bite to the course for the weekend. While it's certainly not one of the brutal U.S. Open setups we've grown accustomed to over the years, the number of top players on the leaderboard shows the layout is rewarding great play.

Hollywood birdie-fest suits Rory

"Now on the tee, from Holywood, Northern Ireland ... Rory McIlroy."

That refrain has become common around the world whenever the World No. 3 approaches the first tee at a tournament.

There may be over 5,100 miles between McIlroy's hometown and the film capital of the world, but the European stalwart looked right at home Thursday at LACC. When the dust settled, McIlroy threw up six birdies on the board in the afternoon wave to sit 5-under and just three shots off the lead.

McIlroy missed the cut at the Masters and finished tied for seventh at the PGA Championship. One thing he failed to do at either of those events was set himself up well with a strong first round. While there are always plenty of birdies on the talented 34-year-old's card, his inability to avoid bogeys in majors has plagued him. He finished with four bogeys or worse in each of the opening rounds at the season's first two majors.

That wasn't the case Thursday, as the four-time major champion was firing on all cylinders from the jump.

An absolute missile 382 yards down the middle of the first fairway set the tone, as McIlroy opened birdie-birdie en route to a 5-under 30 on the opening nine. He got a little loose off the tee on the closing nine but was able to manage his way around that stretch, carding just one bogey on the day.

Not one of McIlroy's 23 PGA TOUR victories has come when the winning score is less than 10-under. The way things went Thursday, it's probably a safe bet the player hoisting the trophy Sunday evening will be in the double digits. That bodes very well for the man from Holywood.

DJ's absurd driving display

Whether he's playing on the PGA TOUR, in the LIV Golf league, or in a hit-and-giggle in flip-flops at a local municipal track, there's no doubt that Dustin Johnson is among the best drivers of the golf ball on the planet. The 2016 U.S. Open champion turned in a brilliant display off the tee Thursday, hitting all 13 fairways at LACC en route to a 6-under 64.

The trademark thick rough at the U.S. Open has long served as the best defense mechanism for the USGA to beef up its setups, but Johnson made his way around LACC without sampling the Bermuda rough that lined the fairways. His final tally was significantly better than the 66% average the field put up.

Johnson only bogeyed the ninth hole - his final of the day - which robbed him of starting a U.S. Open without a bogey for the first time since 2016 - the year he lifted the trophy.

The tally of 64 on Thursday was Johnson's 10th round of 65 or better in a major championship. That matches Tiger Woods for the best in the history of the game.