Fowler and Schauffele hit 62 to make US Open history

Rickie Fowler made 10 birdies Thursday to fire the first 62 in U.S. Open history at Los Angeles Country Club in the morning wave on the North Course. He was quickly joined 30 minutes later by perennial U.S. Open contender Xander Schauffele, who posted a bogey-free 62 himself.

HISTORY MAKERS: Rickie Fowler made history when he made 10 birdies to fire the first 62 in US Open history. He was quickly followed by Xander Schauffele who posted a bogey free 62. 

The resurrection of Rickie Fowler took another dramatic turn in the first round of the 123rd U.S. Open.

Fowler made 10 birdies Thursday to fire the first 62 in U.S. Open history at Los Angeles Country Club in the morning wave on the North Course. He was quickly joined 30 minutes later by perennial U.S. Open contender Xander Schauffele, who posted a bogey-free 62 himself.

After being stranded on the range a year ago as the first alternate not to make it into the field at Brookline, Fowler returned to the top 50 to qualify this week.

“It's nice to be back in a good position and back inside the top 50 in the world,” said Fowler. “Obviously want to continue to move forward and up. That was a long Thursday last year.

“There's still plenty of golf to be played. It's going to be tough tomorrow afternoon. But at least got out of the gate and we're off to, like I said, a good start.” 

Despite two bogeys, Fowler was 2-under through eight holes when he caught fire with four consecutive birdies on 18, 1, 2 and 3. His bid for a fifth consecutive came up one revolution short when his bunker shot on the par-3 fourth rolled up to the rim of the cup.

He added two more birdies on 6 and 8 to equal the lowest score in major championship history first set by Branden Grace in the 2017 Open Championship at Birkdale.

“It was a great day. Got off to a nice start making 3 on 10 and just never really thought about a score or necessarily what I was trying to do out there,” said Fowler.

“I knew there was birdies to be made out here, but you have to drive it well and get the ball in position first. Yeah, did that, and from there just managed our way around really well.” 

Schauffele also started on the back side and made birdies at 10, 12, 14, 1, 2, 5, 7 and 8 to match Fowler.

“I’m gonna take what the course will give me and today it gave me a low one,” said Schauffele, who has played in six of U.S. Opens and last year’s T14 at Brookline was his worst effort. His first five U.S. Open starts were all top-10 finishes including a T3 in 2019 at Pebble Beach.

Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau and late alternate entry Michael Kim shot 67 to headline the group five behind the co-leaders.

“The scores were a bit lower than I imagined them to be, but going out early on Thursday it's the easiest conditions you're going to see most of the week,” said Scheffler. “Heck of a round by Rickie. I got off to a pretty slow start today and so I was proud getting in the house there at 3-under.” 

Qualifier Jacob Solomon, a 26-year-old Korn Ferry Tour player, was the first in the clubhouse at 68 followed by Dylan Wu, Max Homa and Ryan Fox.

“As a little kid, to see your name towards the top of the leaderboard in a U.S. Open, I wouldn't have believed it if you had told me when I was 15 years old that this was happening day,” said Solomon, who was 4-under before bogeys at 16 and 17. “It's one of the coolest days of my life, no doubt.” 

Fowler, who climbed as high as No. 4 in the world in 2016, endured a brutal slump in form that started slowly in 2019 and built steam as the former top-10 fixture fell out of the top 100 early in 2021. He bottomed out as low as 185th in the OWGR at the end of the 2022 season.

After last season ended, he cleaned house and replaced his caddie and swing coach and started working with Butch Harmon. Fowler immediately started to build his form back in the fall start to the current wrap-around season, tying for sixth in the season opener in Napa, Calif., and then finishing runner-up in the Zozo Championship in Japan.

He was still outside the top 100 to start 2023 but steadily improved with consistently solid starts, making the cut in 15 of his 16 starts prior to this week with his only miss in last month’s PGA Championship. He arrived at LACC with a No. 45 ranking after consecutive top-10 finishes at Colonial and Muirfield Village.

“It's definitely been long and tough,” Fowler said of his road back. “A lot longer being in that situation than you'd ever want to. But it makes it so worth it having gone through that and being back where we are now.

“I would say we're starting to get maybe as close as we've ever been to where I was through kind of that ’14, ’15 area. I've been playing fairly consistently, but a lot of it for me is what I've been able to get out of off weeks where I'm not playing very well and still able to make the cut and kind of turn those into at least top 20s or top 10s and the last few years those were missed cuts and going home.”