Just one player of the 156 who played there posted an under-par score, a one-under 69 by Cole Sherwood.

Jacob Bridgeman, a senior at Clemson University, shot the low round of Day 1, a seven-under-par 63 on co-host Longue Vue Club.

Three players – Joe Highsmith, Mark Goetz and Alex Fitzpatrick – shot six-under 64s at Longue Vue, which is about 6 miles away from Oakmont. Four other players, including 2018 U.S. Junior Amateur champion Michael Thorbjornsen had five-under 65s at Longue Vue among a parade of under-par scores on the 6,705-yard layout set high above the Allegheny River.

Of the 60 players who stood at par or better at the end of the day, 58 played Longue Vue and just two played at Oakmont, which is hosting its record-tying sixth U.S. Amateur and 17th USGA championship.

Oakmont bared its teeth during the first round of strokeplay on Monday. PHOTO: USGA.

Parker Coody shot the lone even-par 70 at Oakmont on a day in which temperatures reached the low 90s and the heat index reached nearly 100.

The scoring averages for the courses reflected Oakmont’s difficulty, as Longue Vue played to a 71.7 mark and Oakmont was at 77.1, nearly 5½ strokes higher.

“If you tell me I’m going to shoot even every time I tee it up here, I’ll take it, no doubt,” said Coody, whose twin brother, Pierceson, is No.2 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and posted a five-over 75 at Oakmont later in the day. “It’s just so penalising off the tee. Miss in the wrong spots and you’re looking at bogey. Just make sure you’re not making double.”

The 312-player field will switch courses for Round 2 on Tuesday, after which the top 64 players will move on to match play, with six rounds to determine the champion, who will earn an exemption into the 2022 U.S. Open Championship at The Country Club among other rewards.

Sherwood got into the championship late last week as an alternate from his qualifier.

“When you're playing a really challenging course like this, the biggest thing is to always have that uphill leave,” said Sherwood, who birdied Nos.8 and 9, his final two holes of the day. “It takes a lot of stress out when you have a 40-footer for birdie but it's uphill, so you can kind of give it a run.”

“It was definitely gettable today,” said Bridgeman of Longue Vue, as his 63 tied the fourth-lowest 18-hole score in U.S. Amateur stroke play as well as the Longue Vue course record, held jointly by long-time Oakmont professional Bob Ford in 1999 and Nathan Sutherland in the 2007 Pennsylvania Amateur. “Four of the par-3s were over 200 yards and pins were in pretty tough spots, but other than that, the par-5s were really gettable.”

On Tuesday, Bridgeman, whose career stroke average at Clemson is No.2 in school history behind 2017 U.S. Amateur champion Doc Redman, will take on Oakmont.

“It’s a big course. It’s really complex, hard to learn,” said Bridgeman. “I kind of wish I had a week to prepare like the guys do for the Open. We got as much done as we could in one day (of practice); we’ll see how we do tomorrow.”

Former U.S. Mid Amateur winner Lukas Michel was the best of the three Aussies in a share of 83rd after a two-over 72 at Longue Vue, where Tony Chen was a shot further back.

Queenslander Louis Dobbelaar will hope to take advantage of the easier course of the two after opening with a six-over 76 around the notoriously difficult Oakmont.