Johnson joined Woods with 10 when he carded a 64 to share third place with Wyndham Clark to share third place, two photographs behind Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele, who made historical past by carding the bottom rounds in US Open and Main historical past with eight-under 62s that Branden Grace’s eight-under 62 at Royal Birkdale in 2017.
Nicklaus has 9 rounds of 65 or higher within the Majors, however McIlroy now has eight after he raced to the flip in five-under 30 — his lowest nine-hole rating in a significant— then birdied on the fifteenth earlier than making an 11-footer to avoid wasting a bogey on the final to share fifth place with left-hander Brian Harman on five-under.
The Holywood star did properly to keep away from a double-bogey after he tugged his strategy to the 18th into deep greenside tough and moved his pitch simply two toes.
However he drilled within the bogey putt for one in every of 37 rounds within the sixties on a day when the USGA’s benign course setup allowed the sector to card the joint fifth-lowest first-round scoring common in Main historical past — 71.38 — and the bottom within the historical past of the US Open, beating the earlier low of 72.29 at Baltusrol in 1993.
It was additionally the primary time no participant shot within the eighties in a spherical of the US Open.
Sadly for Irish hopes, solely McIlroy beat the scoring common as Shane Lowry and Séamus Energy carded 72s to share 84th on two-over, and Pádraig Harrington posted a three-over 73 that left him tied 107th with Belfast novice Matthew McClean.
After considerably spoiling an excellent spherical, McIlroy was irritated as he walked off the 18th inexperienced, and his temper solely darkened when he was referred to as in for drug testing and opted to not communicate to the media.
It was an outstanding efficiency from the Co Down man, albeit on a course setup that Harrington described as “very straightforward”.
The USGA pushed up the tees on the three par-fours and the par-three eleventh, decreasing the general yardage by 179 yards to 7,279 yards.
Schauffele and Fowler set the tempo within the morning wave earlier than McIlroy outscored PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka by six strokes within the afternoon, hitting 10 of 13 fairways and 16 of 18 greens in regulation.
Johnson gained most strokes on the sector from tee to inexperienced, however he insisted the course was no pushover regardless of the ocean of crimson on the scoreboard.
“The course is not actually that gettable, clearly,” the 2016 champion mentioned. “Should you play properly and hit it in the best spots and you may be aggressive, you get a number of wedges in your hand, however you’ve got nonetheless bought to hit a extremely good golf shot if you wish to get it near the opening.
“Right this moment, clearly with the setup, it was undoubtedly considerably gettable for those who drove it very well.”
McIlroy meant enterprise proper from the beginning and birdied 5 on first of his first eight holes as he went out in 30 to match the bottom opening nine-hole rating of his main profession.
His greatest is a six-under 30 on the again 9 of his first spherical of the 2010 Open Championship at St Andrews when he shot 63 to take the first-round lead however adopted that with an 80 in excessive winds.
He started by two-putting the primary from 44 toes, then rolled in a 12-footer on the second and a 20-footer on the fifth to go three-under earlier than operating up his tee shot to a few toes on the 258-yard seventh.
He would go on to two-putt the par-five eighth from 29 toes for his fifth birdie of the day to get inside three photographs of the leaders in tied third.
He hit seven of his first eight fairways earlier than tugging drives into the tough on the thirteenth and 14th. However he nonetheless discovered each greens in regulation to take care of his 100pc strike price.
He went on to make a two from 11 toes on the par-three fifteenth earlier than arising simply shy on the sixteenth to overlook his first inexperienced in regulation.
He was one-under par by eight holes however double-bogeyed the 18th after he went from greenside tough right into a bunker and did not stand up and down.
Bogeys adopted on the second, fifth and sixth earlier than he birdied the par-five eighth, and he regarded upset together with his rating on a day when he felt the course was there for the taking.
“I simply did not gap the putts, and generally you have to make the putts to maintain the momentum going,” Harrington mentioned. “There are one or two photographs I might like again, but it surely was primarily one or two putts that hit the lip.
“They set the golf course up very straightforward. All of the tees had been up, and it performed very brief. It was good. There have been numerous a lot simpler tee photographs with the tees up.
“It was fairly a pleasing play, and the greens weren’t significantly fast, however most of my putts had been downhill all day, in order that wasn’t serving to.”
He doesn’t imagine the USGA will react to the low scoring with a harder setup on Friday.
“They are going to preserve it the very same as a result of the tempo of play was nice in comparison with what they had been anticipating,” he mentioned, “so I feel that they’re going to do the identical tomorrow after which after that…”
He is aware of he’ll possible want to interrupt par to make the highest 60 and ties who make the minimize, however he has no plans to be extra aggressive.
“No, no, I would not change,” he mentioned. “Positively no more aggressive. If a few these putts drop, I will be good to go.”
