The Latest: After 2 holes, Spieth in trouble at US Open

MAMARONECK, N.Y. — The Latest from the U.S. Open (all times EDT):

10:20 a.m.

For a U.S. Open course that’s one of the toughest, and with no spectators allowed, there’s been plenty of cheering in the opening round Thursday.

The cheers have come from the smattering of volunteers. And they had reason.

Paul Waring holed out for a birdie from the fifth fairway after driving into the rough. Moments later, Patrick Reed made a hole-in-one on the seventh hole.

Leading the way is an amateur, Davis Thompson of Georgia. He was at 3 under. Rory McIlroy wanted to get off to a good start for a change, and he was at 2 under.

Tiger Woods was 1 over through seven holes.

The course is forgiving enough that Jordan Spieth managed to recover from his tough start. With three birdies, he was back to even par.

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9 a.m.

Jordan Spieth already is facing an uphill battle after only two holes at the U.S. Open.

He first made bogey from the fairway when his shot rolled down to the bottom of the green and he three putted. And then it got worse.

Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa were waiting on the second tee when Spieth in the group ahead arrived in a golf cart. His tee shot got caught in a tree and he had to return to the tee to play his third. He wound up with a double bogey and was 3 over after two holes.

Spieth has not won in three years. He was eliminated after the first round of the FedEx Cup playoffs. And then he missed the cut last week in the Safeway Open.

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7:30 a.m.

Brandon Wu kicked off the 120th U.S. Open with a drive into the right side of the fairway at Winged Foot.

That’s considered a great start.

Hitting fairways is paramount at Winged Foot. For starters, it’s tough to advance the ball very far. But the greens are severe, and the bunkers are as much as 8 feet deep. That explains why only two players out of 750 who have started the previous five U.S. Opens at Winged Foot finished under par.

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy will get an early start Thursday, though they begin on opposite ends of the West Course. The opening round began with cloud cover. The rest of the week is expected to feature plenty of sunshine and mild weather, unusual for a U.S. Open.

Then again, it’s been 113 years since the U.S. Open was played in September. It was moved from its traditional June spot in the calendar when golf shut down for three months in America because of the COVID-19 pandemic.