ERIN, Wis. (AP) — Erin Hills made its debut as a U.S. Open course Thursday with a most gracious welcome for Rickie Fowler, who matched the record to par in the opening round with a 7-under 65 on the longest course in major championship history.
Fowler had a one-shot lead over Paul Casey and U.S. Open newcomer Xander Schauffele.
And they had plenty of company in red numbers, so much that Erin Hills set a U.S. Open record for the first round by yielding 44 sub-par rounds, breaking by five the record set in 1990 at Medinah.
Such low scoring might suggest the 11-year-old course was a cream puff, hardly the USGA’s idea of the ultimate test in golf.
Just don’t mention that to some of the best players in the world.
Jason Day had two triple bogeys and posted a 79, his worst score ever in the U.S. Open.
“I just played bad golf, man,” Day said.
Rory McIlroy joked earlier in the week that anyone who couldn’t hit such wide fairways “might as well pack your bags and go home.” He spent all day in the knee-high fescue and shot 78, his worst U.S. Open score.
“You cannot play this golf course if you’re not in position off the tee, and I wasn’t in position,” McIlroy said. “Obviously, I paid the price for it today.”
Defending champion Dustin Johnson probably didn’t feel so badly by the end of a most peculiar day. He only shot 75, with just one birdie.
“You won’t get a better day for scoring,” Johnson said wistfully during the long walk to sign his card.
No one took advantage like Fowler.
Fowler, who shared the 36-hole lead at the Masters in April, never came seriously close to bogey because he was never in trouble. He kept it in the short grass, the secret to Erin Hills that wouldn’t appear to be that difficult with some of the widest fairways for this major.
“You don’t get many rounds at the U.S. Open that are stress-free,” Fowler said.
Fowler’s seven birdies were from no more than 12 feet, including three in a row around the turn. His 7-under par tied the record to par for the first round of a U.S. Open held by Jack Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf, who each shot 7-under 63 at Baltusrol in 1980.
“It is always cool to be part of some sort of history in golf,” Fowler said. “But I’d rather be remembered for something that’s done on Sunday.”
Day and McIlroy, just to name a few, might not make it that far.
Most bizarre about this day was that as many amateurs broke par as top 10 players in the world — two apiece.
Masters champion Sergio Garcia (No. 7) shot a 70. Fowler is at No. 9 in the world ranking. Scottie Scheffler, who just finished his junior year at Texas, had a 69 and amateur Cameron Champ had a 70 in his U.S. Open debut.
For players like Jordan Spieth (73) and Johnson, it was a matter of not making enough putts. For most others, like Henrik Stenson, it was being careless off the tee and facing the rigorous test of recovering.
Casey started eagle-birdie and finished with two birdies over the final four holes for his 66.
“I was just trying to have half as good a round as Rickie had,” said Casey, who played in the afternoon. “The scoring was so good this morning. I was happy it stayed benign for us, and I capitalized on it.”
Schauffele had a chance to tie Fowler for the lead until his 12-foot birdie putt on the par-3 ninth slid by on the right.
The opening round was without Phil Mickelson for the first time since 1993. He was in California for his daughter’s high school graduation, hopeful for enough of a weather delay to jet across the country to Wisconsin. But as the sun rose over Erin Hills, and the forecast was for no rain, Mickelson withdrew.
More startling than the low scores was smoke rising from about a half-mile away when a commercial blimp, not affiliated with the tournament, crashed into a field and burst into flames. The pilot, the only one aboard the blimp operated by Florida-based AirSign, was being treated for injuries.
“I was teeing off and I looked up and saw it on fire, and I felt sick to my stomach,” Jamie Lovemark said.
On the golf course, there was only a barrage of birdies.
Brooks Koepka, Tommy Fleetwood and Brian Harman were at 67, with Patrick Reed and Adam Hadwin in the group at 68. Hadwin tied a U.S. Open record when he made six straight birdies, from the 18th hole through the fifth hole. He was 100 feet away for birdie on No. 6 and burned the edge of the cup on that one, except that it ran by some 7 feet and he three-putted for bogey.
“You don’t often see that in a U.S. Open,” Hadwin said. “But there’s way too many holes out here where one bad shot could be a double bogey quickly. So I did a really good job of staying present, staying focused on the next shot.”
The course was set up at 7,845 yards, the longest of any major. Length wasn’t the issue. It was sporadic storms earlier in the week that has softened the greens. One example of that was Fowler hitting 3-wood into the green on the 632-yard 18th hole, with a breeze at his back. His ball landed on the green and only rolled out about 10 feet. On typical U.S. Open greens, that would have run all the way off the back of the green.
Still to be determined is what kind of test Erin Hills can present the rest of the week, especially with more rain on the way Friday and Saturday afternoon.

U.S. Open Championship Scores
Thursday
At Erin Hills
Erin, Wis.
Purse: $12 million
Yardage: 7,741; Par 72 (36-36)
First Round
a-denotes amateur
Rickie Fowler    33-32    —    65
Paul Casey    32-34    —    66
Xander Schauffele    32-34    —    66
Brian Harman    35-32    —    67
Tommy Fleetwood    34-33    —    67
Brooks Koepka    34-33    —    67
Patrick Reed    36-32    —    68
Kevin Na    35-33    —    68
Marc Leishman    33-35    —    68
Adam Hadwin    31-37    —    68
Jamie Lovemark    34-35    —    69
J.B. Holmes    32-37    —    69
Lee Westwood    36-33    —    69
Andrew Johnston    34-35    —    69
Si Woo Kim    36-33    —    69
a-Scottie Scheffler    36-33    —    69
Bernd Wiesberger    35-34    —    69
Charley Hoffman    36-34    —    70
Brandt Snedeker    35-35    —    70
Ernie Els    32-38    —    70
Jack Maguire    37-33    —    70
Brandon Stone    32-38    —    70
William McGirt    37-33    —    70
Sergio Garcia    35-35    —    70
Jim Furyk    34-36    —    70
Matt Fitzpatrick    35-35    —    70
a-Cameron Champ    37-33    —    70
Derek Barron    36-34    —    70
Kevin Dougherty    38-33    —    71
Davis Love IV    36-35    —    71
Thomas Aiken    37-34    —    71
Zach Johnson    35-36    —    71
Angel Cabrera    36-35    —    71
Tyson Alexander    35-36    —    71
Stephan Jaeger    35-36    —    71
Brendan Steele    34-37    —    71
Russell Henley    34-37    —    71
Harris English    36-35    —    71
Charl Schwartzel    37-34    —    71
Shane Lowry    37-34    —    71
Byeong Hun An    35-36    —    71
Ryan Brehm    35-36    —    71
Jonathan Randolph    37-34    —    71
Trey Mullinax    38-33    —    71
Yusaku Miyazato    35-37    —    72
Hideto Tanihara    36-36    —    72
Rafa Cabrera Bello    37-35    —    72
Gary Woodland    37-35    —    72
Martin Laird    35-37    —    72
Branden Grace    33-39    —    72
Martin Kaymer    37-35    —    72
Eddie Pepperell    34-38    —    72
Yuta Ikeda    41-31    —    72
George Coetzee    38-34    —    72
Keegan Bradley    36-36    —    72
Adam Scott    39-33    —    72
Bill Haas    36-36    —    72
Scott Piercy    37-35    —    72
Justin Rose    36-36    —    72
Roberto Diaz    37-35    —    72
Jordan Niebrugge    37-36    —    73
Whee Kim    38-35    —    73
Aaron Rai    37-36    —    73
David Lingmerth    36-37    —    73
Michael Putnam    38-35    —    73
Alex Noren    37-36    —    73
Bud Cauley    35-38    —    73
Russell Knox    35-38    —    73
Jordan Spieth    38-35    —    73
Daniel Miernicki    38-35    —    73
Tyler Light    39-34    —    73
Chris Wood    37-36    —    73
Satoshi Kodaira    34-39    —    73
Daniel Summerhays    36-37    —    73
Richie Ramsay    38-35    —    73
C.T. Pan    37-36    —    73
Justin Thomas    38-35    —    73
Steve Stricker    37-36    —    73
a-Maverick McNealy    38-35    —    73
a-Mason Andersen    35-38    —    73
a-Alex Smalley    38-35    —    73
Talor Gooch    34-40    —    74
Ted Potter Jr.    35-39    —    74
Andres Romero    37-37    —    74
Haotong Li    38-36    —    74
Bradley Dredge    38-36    —    74
Hideki Matsuyama    38-36    —    74
Kevin Kisner    37-37    —    74
Matt Kuchar    36-38    —    74
Francesco Molinari    37-37    —    74
Webb Simpson    36-38    —    74
Lucas Glover    38-36    —    74
a-Joaquin Niemann    36-38    —    74
Chan Kim    35-39    —    74
Troy Merritt    35-39    —    74
Bryson DeChambeau    37-37    —    74
Henrik Stenson    40-34    —    74
Louis Oosthuizen    38-36    —    74
Peter Uihlein    36-38    —    74
Stewart Cink    35-39    —    74
Kevin Chappell    37-37    —    74
Brice Garnett    40-35    —    75
Paul Dunne    36-39    —    75
Chez Reavie    38-37    —    75
Jason Kokrak    37-38    —    75
Ross Fisher    36-39    —    75
a-Scott Gregory    41-34    —    75
Dustin Johnson    36-39    —    75
a-Christopher Crawford    39-36    —    75
Wade Ormsby    39-36    —    75
Oliver Bekker    37-38    —    75
Nick Flanagan    39-36    —    75
Bubba Watson    37-38    —    75
Shugo Imahira    39-37    —    76
Matt Wallace    39-37    —    76
Jason Dufner    38-38    —    76
Jeunghun Wang    36-40    —    76
Tyrrell Hatton    39-37    —    76
Thomas Pieters    37-39    —    76
Jon Rahm    36-40    —    76
Graeme McDowell    38-38    —    76
Max Greyserman    37-39    —    76
Corey Conners    39-37    —    76
Kyle Thompson    40-36    —    76
Sean O’Hair    38-38    —    76
Pat Perez    37-39    —    76
Wesley Bryan    38-38    —    76
Roberto Castro    40-36    —    76
Emiliano Grillo    40-36    —    76
Sam Ryder    40-36    —    76
Daniel Chopra    39-38    —    77
a-Stewart Hagestad    39-38    —    77
Gene Sauers    36-41    —    77
Joel Stalter    39-38    —    77
Matt Campbell    37-40    —    77
a-Sahith Theegala    41-36    —    77
Ben Kohles    38-39    —    77
Gregory Bourdy    39-38    —    77
Jhonattan Vegas    39-38    —    77
Alexander Levy    38-39    —    77
Jimmy Walker    39-38    —    77
Andy Pope    39-38    —    77
Ryan Palmer    40-38    —    78
J.T. Poston    42-36    —    78
a-Scott Harvey    39-39    —    78
a-Brad Dalke    40-38    —    78
Daniel Berger    37-41    —    78
Rory McIlroy    36-42    —    78
a-John Oda    39-39    —    78
Roman Robledo    39-39    —    78
Billy Horschel    42-37    —    79
Jason Day    39-40    —    79
Danny Willett    40-41    —    81
a-Walker Lee    40-41    —    81
Brian Stuard    41-40    —    81
Garrett Osborn    41-42    —    83