Well Jake, I have good news.

Justin Rose is in with a decent chance of a birdie birdie at the fifth. He's just off the green in two on this par five.

Image source, Getty Images

Phil Mickelson has experienced plenty of heartbreak in 26 prior US Opens. His six runner-up finishes are a record, with the US Open the only major missing from his resume.

"The last thing I'm thinking about right now is trying to win," said the American, who turns 48 on Saturday.

"When you try to go out and win a US Open you will lose it quick.

"I love that I have another opportunity to try and complete the career Grand Slam.

"My goal, though, is not to try to win on Thursday. My goal is to stay in it Thursday, stay in it Friday, and have an opportunity for the weekend."

Mickelson is having a chat with an official. He's put his second shot into the long grass at the side of the 12th green and doesn't fancy his lie. The leftie is saying he can't see the ball when he steps up to address shot and wants to know if anything can be done about it.

He doesn't get the answer he's after. Basically it's a no, get on with it Phil.

In the end he can only make bogey.

Rory meanwhile has a horribly quick little tiddler to save his par... missed. That was tentative, very tentative. No commitment from Rory and it's another shot gone.

Scrappy start from this headline group.

There's a Briton under par for the first time in this year's tournament!

Englishman Ian Poulter is the man to get there with a birdie on the 510-yard par four third. He's one of nine men under par.

Poulter's compatriot Justin Rose meanwhile has made a quiet start. He's made four successive pars to begin.

Defending champ Brooks Koepka however has dropped a shot. He's back to -1 after a birdie-birdie start.

McIlroy chops down to heave his ball out of the long stuff. The camera zooms in on Rory's face, rather than tracking the ball but the polite applause tells you that the Northern Irishman has hit a decent shot.

An up and down for par is by no means certain though.

Rory is in trouble. He has gone way right off the tee on the 12th and his ball has nestled at the bottom of some nasty long grass, the type of stuff that lines many a sand dune in the UK.

The wind must have caught Rory's ball in flight. As I said earlier, this course has a definite links feel.

Anyone backing Patrick Reed to make it two majors from two in 2018 this week? The Masters champion has made an excellent start.

The burly American holes a testing 20-footer to make a second birdie in his first two holes. Nice.

Aussie Aaron Baddeley is the other man on two under. The pair are currently sharing the lead.

It's a triple bogey for Spieth on the par-three 11th. Disaster. That's four shots dropped in the first two holes.

Rory McIlroy comes within a whisker of saving par after finding the bunker with his tee shot but his putt runs around the cup and stays out.

Rory can't quite believe it.

Image source, Getty Images

Dearie me. Jordan Spieth is having an absolute shocker. I mean, a total nightmare.

After finding the bunker with his first shot, he has hit his second too hard and dribbled on past the hole and down a slope at the back of the green.

From there he tries to chip back towards the flag but doesn't get enough on it. The ball skips up the bank but then rolls back down to finish near his feet.

He three-putted the first hole remember...

Sand, sand and more sand.

On the par three 11th hole, Rory McIlroy steps up and finds the bunker. Jordan Spieth up next... he finds the bunker too. Phil Mickelson? You guessed it. The bunker as well.

Image source, Getty Images

In 2004, Shinnecock's wind-seared greens - particularly the seventh - became virtually impossible to putt on.

USGA chief executive Mike Davis says the governing body is grateful to have a chance to do right by Shinnecock, and the field, this time around.

Phil Mickelson said it was crucial that they do.

"I think it's a very difficult job to find the line of testing the best players to the greatest degree and then making it carnival golf," he said.

"I think it's a very fine line, and it's not a job I would want.

"The difficulty is, when you dream of a championship as a child and you work hours and hours and you fly in days and days and do all this prep work and then you are left to chance the outcome, as opposed to skill - that's a problem."

Image source, Getty Images

There's certainly a traditional vibe around this year's US Open.

Shinnecock Hills, the venue of the second edition of the US Open in 1896, is the only club to have held the tournament in three different centuries.

It was also one of the USGA’s five founding clubs.

Don't let that fool you though. This course can have a serious bite, as was shown back in 2004 when it last held a major...

Ahhh. From around 10 feet Rory McIlroy misses his putt to the left of the hole. That was a decent chance to start with a birdie.

Now there's some "oooooohing" from the crowd. That routine putt I mentioned for Jordan Spieth? He's pushed it wide of the hole. He starts with a three-putt bogey.

Mickelson also bogeys this group's first hole, the 10th.

There's a smattering of spectators around this 10th green but no large crowds. With the sun shining there's a sedate feel about proceedings.

After sliding off the back of the green with his second shot, Phil Mickelson can only chip towards the flag on his third and still has plenty to do to save par.

Jordan Spieth has the full length of the green to putt across but rolls up close enough to the hole that he should make a four.

Rory is in the best shape of the lot...

Image source, Getty Images

10th tee

• 11:45: Scott Stallings (US), Sebastian Munoz (Col), Matthew Southgate (Eng)
• 11:56: Trey Mullinax (US), (a) Matt Parziale (US), Jason Scrivener (Aus)
• 12:07: David Bransdon (US), Eric Axley (US), Tyler Duncan (US)
• 12:18: (a) Garrett Rank (Can), Mackenzie Hughes (Can), Aaron Baddeley (Aus)
• 12:29: Alexander Levy (Fra), Brian Harman (US), Patrick Cantlay (US)
• 12:40: Paul Casey (Eng), Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn), Branden Grace (SA)
• 12:51: Zach Johnson (US), Charl Schwartzel (SA), Patrick Reed (US)
• 13:02: Rory McIlroy (NI), Jordan Spieth (US), Phil Mickelson (US)
• 13:13: Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Marc Leishman (Aus), Rickie Fowler (US)
• 13:24: Charles Howell (US), Bill Haas (US), Charley Hoffman (US)
• 13:35: Im Sung-jae (Kor), Russell Knox (Sco), Matthew Wallace (Eng)
• 13:46: (a) Shintaro Ban (US), Park Sung-joon (Kor), Timothy Wilkinson (NZ)
• 13:57: Dylan Meyer (US), Sulman Raza (US), Chris Naegel (US)

Image source, Getty Images

Here are the tee times in full for the players out early today. As you can see there are plenty of big names out there...

First tee

• 11:45: Harold Varner (US), Scott Piercy (USA), Matthieu Pavon (Fra)
• 11:56: Michael Putnam (US), Scott Gregory (Eng), Will Zalatoris (US)
• 12:07: Brendan Steele (US), Chesson Hadley (US), (a) Harry Ellis (Eng)
• 12:18: Jhonattan Vegas (Ven), Dylan Frittelli (SA), (a) Doug Ghim (US)
• 12:29: Louis Oosthuizen (SA), Jimmy Walker (US), Justin Rose (Eng)
• 12:40: Bubba Watson (US), Jason Day (Aus), Brooks Koepka (US)
• 12:51: Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Danny Willett (Eng), Ian Poulter (Eng)
• 13:02: Kevin Chappell (US), Andrew Johnston (Eng), Daniel Berger (US)
• 13:13: Bryson DeChambeau (US), Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng), Matt Kuchar (US)
• 13:24: Thorbjorn Olesen (Den), Shubhankar Sharma (Ind), Patrick Rodgers (US)
• 13:35: Lanto Griffin (US), Tom Lewis (Eng), (a) Jacob Bergeron (US)
• 13:46: (a) Kristoffer Reitan (Nor), (a) Luis Gagne (CRC), Cole Miller (US)
• 13:57: Mickey DeMorat (US), (a) Tyler Strafaci (US), Calum Hill (Sco)

Here we go with that bumper McIlroy, Spieth, Mickelson group...

"Please welcome from Northern Ireland the 2011 US Open champion, Rory McIlroy," says the man with the microphone on the tee.

Up steps Rory - dressed in white shirt and grey trousers today - with iron in hand and belts his first shot safely down the right side of the fairway. All good that, despite a couple of nervous looks at the start.

This is the 10th hole these three are beginning their rounds on and Spieth and Mickelson follow McIlroy in finding the fairway. There's plenty of support for Phil.

Speaking of the defending champion Brooks Koepka, he's made an ominous start to this year's championship.

The American has made a three on the 407-yard par four first hole to take an early share of the lead.

Koepka is playing alongside American Bubba Watson and Australian Jason Day. That's another fascinating match-up.

One stat that will strike fear into fans of European golf, particularly in a Ryder Cup year, is that all four of golf's major trophies are now held by Americans.

Will that run continue this week?

Which European do you think can mount the best charge at Shinnecock Hills? This course does seem to have a British feel about it.

Let me know your thoughts at #bbcgolf on Twitter or by texting 81111.