2023 U.S. Open leaderboard: Fowler, Schauffele make history as ...

The first round of the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club was one for the history books. It started by marking the first instance in 75 years of the championship being held in the City of Angels. As the first 18 holes transpired, though, it marked the first time in major championship history that two rounds of 62s were signed on the same day. Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele soaked in the spotlight of Hollywood en route to record days on the George Thomas design to stand at 8 under by day's end, two clear of Dustin Johnson and three clear of Rory McIlroy.

Both Fowler and Schauffele, who scored the lowest rounds in U.S. Open history, now share with Branden Grace the record for the lowest round in major championship history. Their work, however, is far from done. Despite holding five-stroke leads at the time they entered the clubhouse, the duo saw the afternoon wave significantly reduce that advantage.

Eight of the last 11 winners of the U.S. Open have been first-time major champions; Fowler and Schauffele's foot would fit into that glass slipper. However, directly in their rearview mirror are a pair of rather large obstructions looking turn their pumpkin into a carriage.

The two men just off the pace of the Americans possess a combined six major champions between them, and you can bet they will continue to pester over the next three days. Johnson was terrific posting a 64 as he hit every fairway on the property and threatened for a 62 himself before his lone dropped shot of the day came on his finishing hole.

McIlroy was equally as stunning with a six-birdie effort before a whiffed chip on 18 led to a bogey, his lone mistake of the round. Getting off to fast starts in the afternoon, McIlroy and Johnson now hold the advantage as a quick turnaround will be in their future as they step foot onto LACC Friday morning for their second rounds.

While the four big names at the top set the stage for the rest of the tournament, LACC itself will be equally as compelling over the final 54 holes. The course played extremely easy for competitors as the first round of the 2023 U.S. Open marked the most rounds of 65 or lower (six) being recorded in a single round across the history of the national championship. Whether the USGA chooses to bite back with tricked-up pin locations and crispy putting surface will have just as an effect on this championship as the play itself.

T1. Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele (-8): They both made history on Thursday, but they know full well that nothing counts until Sunday. Fowler and Schauffele have been among the most consistent players on the PGA Tour in 2023 as each have connected on 12 top-20 finishes, though neither has a victory. Statistically, they are sound, as they ranked behind only Johnson in strokes gained tee to green. LACC is likely to have more bite Friday afternoon as greens bake out, so don't be surprised if, by the time they tee off, their names are no longer atop the leaderboard.

"It's definitely been long and tough," said Fowler. "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. … This week off to a good start, but there's still plenty of golf to be played. It's going to be tough tomorrow afternoon."

T3. Dustin Johnson, Wyndham Clark (-6): The 2016 champion from Oakmont was nearly flawless in a round that mirrored his first from the last major championship at Oak Hill Country Club. Johnson ranked first in strokes gained tee to green, fourth in strokes gained off the tee and second in strokes gained approach. This may not even do D.J. justice as he signed for a 64 while clocking in outside the top 100 on the greens. The 38-year-old has faded ever so slightly as these major championships have gotten deeper into the tournament in recent years, but if he continues to strike the ball like he did on Thursday, that won't be an issue. "I just try to shoot as low as I can every day," he said. "What that number is at the end of the week, I have no idea. I wish I could predict that, though. That would be nice."

T5. Rory McIlroy, Brian Harman (-5): Getting paired with the man who just surpassed him in major championships may have done McIlroy some good. After getting off to less-than-stellar starts at the Masters and the PGA Championship, Rory shot out the gates at LACC. His start marks the first time in his last seven events that he finds himself inside the top 16 on the leaderboard. Five birdies in his opening eight holes put a shockwave through the grounds and brought up the thought of another member potentially joining the 62 club. McIlroy missed just two greens in regulation -- both late -- as his iron play was coupled with nice touch on the greens, areas of his game that are susceptible to shortcomings. If this remains true, McIlroy should continue to be on the first page of the leaderboard like the last four U.S. Opens.

T7. Bryson DeChambeau, Scottie Scheffler and five others (-3): Despite both notching top-five finishes at the PGA Championship, DeChambeau and Scheffler came into the U.S. Open with some question marks. Was DeChambeau's performance at Oak Hill an anomaly? Would Scheffler be able to hole enough putts to win? The former Ryder Cup teammates put those questions to bed on Thursday as DeChambeau rode six birdies to a 67 as Scheffler wielded the flat stick with some confidence. Despite finding themselves five strokes off the early pace, they are right in the heart of this tournament as 54 holes is a marathon when it comes to major championship golf.

"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. "I said that a little earlier, but hopefully I'm teeing off a bit later the next few days than I did today. Hopefully that'll be the easiest conditions. ... Hit a lot of good shots today and I did a good job of staying patient out there and posted a good number on a day in which I got off to a pretty slow start."

T14. Max Homa, Tony Finau, Joaquin Niemann and 10 others (-2): Homa did a lot of good Thursday ranking inside the top 40 in each strokes gained metric excluding around the green. For his efforts, the local kid finds his name firmly in the mix at a major for the first time in his career. Homa entered this week with 15 major appearances under his belt. He possesses eight missed cuts, six finishes outside the top 30 and only one top-20 finish. That could change this weekend as he'll have a wave of Los Angeles momentum behind him.

"I'm just so bad at Thursdays because I just I feel like I expect so much and I almost look at it as a barometer for how the week's going to go," said Homa. "So, it's a lot of pressure. ... Yeah, I think that they have the old cliche that you can't win it the first day, you could lose it, and I lose a lot of these things on the first day. So, it's nice to just good out there and treat it like a round of golf and not put too much on it."

T26. Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Phil Mickelson, Cameron Smith and 10 others (-1): Neither of the major fixtures had their best stuff on Thursday as they were overshadowed by Schauffele's historic performance. Still, Rahm and Hovland are still within shouting distance and only five strokes off Johnson. Rahm struggled mightily off the tee as he hit only five fairways and consistently found the left rough with driver in hand. Hovland's irons abandoned him more times than not as he lost strokes on approach despite holing out from the middle of the fairway on No. 2. One would expect both players to rectify these mistakes in the second round.

T56. Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa, Sungjae Im, Matt Fitzpatrick, Patrick Cantlay, Denny McCarthy and 20 others (+1): Koepka, a freshly minted six-time major champion, fell flat early as he dropped a shot on the easy par-5 opener. Two more bogeys saw him quickly fall to 3 over before he finally got his feet underneath him. A pair of birdies before the turn gave him some momentum, but the difficult back nine gave up few scoring chances. Koepka did well to play this back side with nine pars and he finds himself a full nine strokes off the lead. His play on Thursday was sloppy, but it was reminiscent of his first round at the PGA Championship where he scratched and clawed his way to a round of 2 over. Koepka found something with his iron play that Thursday evening at Oak Hill. This time he will need to figure out the big stick (ranked 137 out of 152 in strokes gained off the tee).