We look back through nearly 50 US Opens to see where the first round leader at the year's second major finishes the tournament. By Cameron Hazzard
Where Does The US Open First Round Leader Finish?
Going by the commonly used phrase ‘you’ve got to get off to a good start if you want a chance of winning,’ you would expect a large number of players who have led the first round at the US Open after the first round to go onto and win the tournament.
This article looks at how the first round leaders at the season’s second major tend to get on.
First Place
Of the 49 US Opens that have been competed since 1969, on only 10 occasions has the leader of the first round gone on to win the tournament.
Martin Kaymer -2014
Rory McIlroy – 2011
Tiger Woods – 2000 & 2002
Retief Goosen – 2001
Payne Stewart – 1991
Jack Nicklaus – 1972 & 1980
Hubert Green- 1977
Tony Jacklin – 1970
Of those 10, four have won it ‘wire to wire.’ They are:
Tony Jacklin – 1970
Tiger Woods – 2000 & 2002
Rory McIlroy – 2011
Martin Kaymer – 2014
With only 11% of first round leaders going on to win the tournament, we look at where the most frequent finishing position for the first round leader is.
Second Place
With 93 people leading the first round of the US Open since 1969, you would expect a number of them to finish in the runners up spot.
However, only six players have ever finished runner up having led the first round, with both Phil Mickelson and Colin Montgomerie finishing as the runner up on two occasions.
Dustin Johnson – 2015
Phil Mickelson – 1999 & 2013
Michael Thompson – 2012
Colin Montgomery – 1997 & 2006
Payne Stewart – 1998
Chen Tze-chung – 1985
Mickelson has actually finished runner up at the US Open on six occasions, the most of any player.
Third Place
With so few first round leaders going on to either win or finish as the runner up, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a number of them finishing in third place.
However again, this is not the case, with only two players coming third having been leading after day one.