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Rory McIlroy has an outside chance to take the solo lead at Oakmont but it's such a long range putt he's happy enough with a par on 13 to stay at two under and tied for the US Open lead with JJ Spaun.

Things looking good so far though for the Masters champion.

Wyndham Clark is another former US Open champion into red numbers.

The 2023 winner at Los Angeles Country Club sinks his birdie putt from seven feet on the third to move within one shot of the leaders.

Australia's Adam Scott has played five holes and is yet to register a par. But a birdie on the 14th is his third of the day, tipping the balance back in his favour.

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One of the quirks of Oakmont is the design of the ninth green.

If you've not seen a tournament played here before, you'll know what we mean shortly given that location will also serve as the practice putting green for those warming up for their rounds

Players will not be penalised if they go long with their approach shots, with the whole putting surface considered the ninth green.

However, ff a player goes on to the clubhouse side of the green, they must play the ball as it lies.

Oh and if their putting line has a hole in the way, players will be able to take relief and place their ball on the nearest point where a hole is not in the way.

What an approach to the fourth green by Xander Schauffele - from 287 yards, he sends a fairway wood to within 15 feet for eagle.

Is the two-time major winner about to join McIlroy and Spaun at the top of the leaderboard?

Rory McIlroy looks in fine form so far as he follows up that demon drive on this long par five with a sparkling approach play and two putts for what looked to us like a really comfortable birdie.

He really can make the game look so easy when he's on song.

Shane Lowry cards a disappointing bogey here after visiting the rough and then a bunker - just showing the difference in Oakmont when you play it from the short grass.

Accuracy is key around Oakmont and Bob MacIntyre wanders off the second green counting the cost of a slightly wayward second shot. He's only got 104 yards to the hole, from the centre of the fairway, but he's fractionally long, maybe by a yard, with his approach and that's enough to see his ball plunge into the bottom of the five-inch deep rough.

He pops his ball out easily enough but he has zero control and can only watch as it trundles six feet by. That par putt doesn't drop and that's a shot gone at one of Oakmont's simpler holes.

Peter Scrivener
BBC Sport

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This week's 125th US Open will feature the longest par-three hole in major championship history at 301 yards.

It has been called "ridiculous" by Collin Morikawa, who hit a driver off the tee in practice, and "silly" by Viktor Hovland, but will the eighth at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania prove to be a gimmick or psychological masterstroke?

John Bodenhamer, chief championships officer at the United States Golf Association (USGA), wants players to "get every club dirty, all 15 of them - 14 in their bag and the one between the ears" at a course which "prides itself on being America's sternest test of golf".

The eighth was the first 300-yard par three when Angel Cabrera triumphed at Oakmont in 2007. The Argentine holed a 20ft putt for a two in the final round and was the only one of the leading contenders to make birdie.

It has been a talking point for more than 70 years.

At the 1953 US Open the eighth played 253 yards, longer than the average drive by a PGA Tour player that year.

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The watching crowds at Oakmont are keen to get a look at the defending champion on the first morning of this year's US Open.

Bryson DeChambeau has a sniff of getting the shot back that he dropped on the first, but his birdie putt slides by the side of the hole and he has to settle for par on the third.

Xander Schauffele holes his par putt from about eight feet to remain level for his round, while Jose Luis Ballester has started with three consecutive bogeys.

After a bogey on the 12th, Ludvig Aberg gets a fine par on 13 consdering he left himself 35 feet, which would usually be a comfortable two-putt but the Swede has to aim 15 feet out to his right to navigate the slope!

It's a wonderful touch though and he almost holes it, but skips off delighted with a par.

The 12th hole is a monster 618-yard par five but Rory McIlroy has taken a huge chunk out of it by blasting his drive 392 yards.

That's some hit from McIlroy, somebody check that driver...

2019 champion Gary Woodland follows an opening par with a birdie on the short par-four second.

Woodland has made it back to the game's elite following surgery to remove a brain tumour in 2023 and there would surely be few more popular winners if he was to lift the trophy for a second time on Sunday.

A yelp from Tommy Fleetwood as he screws his second to the third hole out to the left of the green, which is way up above his head.

It's not as bad as he feared though, his ball bouncing on the green and trundling just off the edge, pin-high, maybe 20 feet from the hole and a great opportunity to get a shot back.

The flagstick is removed, he fancies chipping this in... but doesn't give it quite enough juice. Par.

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The US Open is the only major Phil Mickelson has failed to win during his illustrious career despite coming agonisingly close with six runner-up finishes.

This year is the last year of his exemption from his stunning US PGA Championship win in 2021 and with him now playing in LIV Golf his chances of qualifying for next year are minimal.

A top-10 finish at Oakmont will qualify him for next year - or he could go and win the thing which would also give him the career Grand Slam, but we're venturing into fairytale territory now.

The USGA could of course give him a special exemption into the field for 2026 - they actually gave him one in 2021 but he ended up not needing it as his US PGA success got him in by right.

Either way, this will be an emotional week for Mickelson. He's started with a bogey five on the 10th hole.

Rory McIlroy doesn't waste a chance on his second hole like he did on his first - well it's only half a chance from 25 feet or so but he rolls it in to get to one under and the signs are good for the Northern Irishman early on.

He spoke about a lack of motivation ahead of Oakmont but he looks dialled in so far.

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JJ Spaun - runner-up to Rory McIlroy at the Players Championship in March - is into a share of the lead at Oakmont thanks to birdies on 10 and 12.

The American's only previous appearance at the US Open was at Torrey Pines in 2021, when he missed the cut.

A regulation four for Scotland's Bob MacIntyre down the first. His approach to the green was pushed slightly into the collar of rough to the right of the hole but a 6/10 chip to four feet is followed by a solid putt.

Bryson DeChambeau and Jose Luis Ballester fall foul of the steep ledge the runs across the second green.

Ballester's approach lands short of the hole and spins all the way back to the fairway, while DeChambeau's pitch catches the slope and keeps running further away from the cup.

The defending champion rescues par, while Xander Schauffele gets a look at a birdie putt but his effort from about seven feet lips out.

Tommy Fleetwood's scruffy start continues on the second. He's forced to again take a penalty drop after another errant tee shot. He goes pin-seeking with his third shot, to a hole that is tucked in among rough and sand.

His ball pulls up 20 feet from the hole and he's a bit eager with the par putt, knocking it five feet past. That's a solid fifth though, but it's a bogey-bogey start.