Grant Lester, Erich Fortlage and Harvey Younger of Australia all posted matching 66s to share the Day 1 lead.

Lester performed at par-71 Bandon Trails, the stroke-play co-host, whereas Fortlage, who turns 16 on Thursday, and Younger performed par-72 Bandon Dunes, the place match play will happen starting on Wednesday.

“You don’t get fog. It performs fairly comparable, arduous and quick. The greens are a little bit bit softer and slower,” 18-year-old Harvey Younger stated when evaluating his house membership of Royal Melbourne to Bandon Dunes

It wasn’t simply the leaders who supplied the headlines. Jack Cantlay, the youthful brother of reigning PGA Tour Participant of the Yr Patrick, broke the championship nine-hole scoring file with a 28 on Bandon Dunes’ entrance 9.

Heavy fog did not decelerate Jack Cantlay, brother of Patrick, on day one of many U.S. Junior. PHOTO: USGA.

Cantlay began on No.10, and his second 9 included a pair of eagle threes on the 2 par-5s, a 45-foot putt on the third gap and a 65-foot chip-in on No.9. 4-over-par by his first eight holes, Cantlay, an incoming freshman at Lengthy Seashore State, rallied to play his last 11 holes in nine-under to card a five-under 67.

The day started with shiny sunshine and temperatures reaching the low 60s on the Oregon coast. The winds, that are a lot part of the story right here, gusted as excessive as 20 miles per hour earlier than they have been changed by late-afternoon fog that made visibility difficult for the ultimate teams.

“On 13, the par-5, it began to get unhealthy after which it bought worse and worse,” stated Younger of the fog. “I stated to [my caddie] Daniel [Kitayama], it was one of the pleasing rounds I’ve had simply because I’ve by no means performed in something like this earlier than.”

“If I wakened and stated, ‘You’d shoot even,’ I’d return to sleep. So having six higher than that’s fairly good.” – Harvey Younger.

Lester, who like Cantlay is competing in his first USGA championship, picked an opportune time to have a career-best day.  Enjoying within the fifth group off No.10 at Bandon Trails, the rising highschool senior went out in three-under 32, then added birdies on Nos.1, Three and 6 towards a lone bogey on the 115-yard, par-Three fifth to return house in 34.

“I wasn’t as nervous as I anticipated,” stated Lester. “My caddie did a extremely good job of retaining me calm the entire day. Clearly, it’s the U.S. Junior Beginner, however I can’t be pondering, ‘Oh my god, I’m enjoying in a nationwide championship.’ I’ve simply bought to deal with it like every other spherical of golf.

“I made each putt I checked out right this moment. My ball-striking was good, however that isn’t what made me shoot five-under.”

Younger, enjoying within the penultimate grouping off the primary tee at Bandon Dunes, bought off to a roaring begin with birdies on his first three holes, making putts of seven, 10 and a pair of ft. One other birdie on the par-5 ninth gave him a front-nine 32. Because the fog worsened, Younger got here house in 34 to finish simply the second bogey-free spherical on Monday (the opposite was by Zhengqian Li, who shot 68 at Bandon Trails).

That is Younger’s first journey to the USA to play golf. He arrived on Could 31 and competed within the Dogwood Invitational, the Worldwide Junior Masters and the Porter Cup in addition to a U.S. Junior Beginner qualifier on June 23 at Huntsville Golf Membership the place he posted a bogey-free 71 to garner one of many two accessible spots.

“If I wakened and stated, ‘You’d shoot even,’ I’d return to sleep,” stated Younger of surpassing his expectations. “So having six higher than that’s fairly good.”

Like Lester, Fortlage, who spends his summers in Florida enjoying on the Hurricane Junior Golf Tour, had a robust day on the greens, changing a 20-foot par putt on the 189-yard, par-3 12th gap. He additionally almost holed a 110-yard wedge strategy on the 351-yard 16th gap.

Whereas Cantlay posted the lone 67 at Bandon Dunes, Dianchou Wu, who holed out for an eagle two from 70 yards out on No.8, and You Seong Choi shot the identical quantity at Bandon Trails, a Ben Crenshaw/Invoice Coore design that measured 6,723 yards.

Caden Pinckes, whose father, Mike, is the PGA Tour’s common supervisor of media, was amongst 4 gamers who shot 68 at Bandon Dunes, a David McLay Kidd design that measured 6,912 yards. The others have been incoming Georgia Tech freshman Aidan Tran, who was the youngest competitor within the 2019 U.S. Beginner 4-Ball Championship at Bandon Dunes, together with Australian Jayden Ford and Pongsapak Laopakdee.

Nicholas Gross, a 2018 Drive, Chip & Putt age-group finalist, joined Li and Caleb Surratt in posting 68s at Bandon Trails.