Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy leads the US Open by three strokes after a scorching first round at Congressional on Friday.
On a challenging course that is set to test all golfers, the Ulsterman shot a six-under-par 65 to build a handy lead on the rest of the field after the first day's play at the Congressional Country Club in Maryland.
Korean YE Yang and South African Charl Schwartzel - winner of the last major at the US Masters - are three shots off the pace while six golfers are involved in a tie for fourth, four shots adrift, including Australian Scott Hend.
Hend, playing the back nine first, had two bogeys on his first seven holes before firing four birdies on the way home to shoot a two-under 69.
Fellow Aussies John Senden also had a solid opening round, a shot further back after a 70, one ahead Melbourne's Aaron Baddeley and Queenslander Jason Day.
Robert Allenby, Marc Leishman (both two over), Adam Scott (three over), Geoff Ogilvy and Scott Barr (both four over) have work to do in round two to ensure they make the cut.
McIlroy was blemish-free in his round, with a birdie on his third hole of the day beginning his round in good fashion.
After starting on the back nine, McIlroy shot a hat-trick of birdies on holes 17, 18 and one, before adding two more birdies to finish with a 65.
But there is no chance of McIlroy getting complacent, with his last round in a major coming when he shot an 80 on the final day of the Masters to throw away a four-shot lead.
Yang will rue a last-hole bogey for robbing him of a chance to finish the day in outright second as he carded five birdies and two bogeys, while for Schwartzel, his conclusion was instrumental as he carded four birdies from five holes to finish with a 68.
The group of players at two-under comprises of Americans Ryan Palmer and Christopher DeForest, South African Louis Oosthuizen, Brazilian Alexandre Rocha, Hend, Korean Kyung-tae Kim and Spaniard Sergio Garcia.
The eclectic blend of nationalities make up just part of the field chasing McIlroy, with several big names lower on the leaderboard after a difficult day for many, particularly those who teed off early.
Defending champion and world no.7 Graeme McDowell is at one-under, with Day (ranked 18 in the world) and Bubba Watson a shot back after shooting even-par rounds of 71.
Watson will rue his finish to the day after three successive bogeys followed four birdies in a row, while world no.6 Matt Kuchar is one-over-par.
Several of the European big-names struggled, with Paul Casey shooting 73, world no.1 Luke Donald and Martin Kaymer carding 74s and Lee Westwood struggling to a 75.
The likes of Scott, former champion Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler all battled as well, with the trio all shooting 74.
from pgatour.com.au