PINEHURST — As it hosted the opening round of its fourth U.S. Open on Thursday, it’s no secret Pinehurst No. 2 is a difficult layout.

But given the recent track records of Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg and France’s Matthieu Pavon, perhaps that’s just how they like it.

Åberg shot a 4-under 66 to sit in third place and Pavon a 3-under 67 to tie for fourth, leaving both just behind Rory McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay, who each posted a 5-under 65 to share the first-round lead.

Åberg finished second at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, one of two regular PGA Tour stops played on recent U.S. Open venues, and also placed second in his Masters debut in April. He is playing his first U.S. Open this week despite sitting at No. 6 in the world rankings after a rapid rise over the last year.

“I think staying very disciplined is important. There’s a lot of pins where you don’t really think about going for. So me and Joe (Skovron), my caddie, we have a lot of good conversations about certain areas that you try to hit it on,” said Åberg, who made six birdies in Thursday’s round. “It’s difficult to be very, very precise with the numbers and those things. But try to get a gauge on where to hit it, where to miss it, make sure that we stay disciplined towards things.”

Pavon, who eagled both par 5s in his opening round, earned his first PGA Tour win earlier this year at the Farmers Insurance Open, played at Torrey Pines, the other recent U.S. Open venue played on Tour; he then finished third at Pebble Beach.

“It’s really different than Torrey for sure,” said Pavon, who reached 5 under par after his second eagle at the 10th but bogeyed the 11th and 16th holes on the way in. “Obviously, when it’s really, really tough like this week, at least you know that sometimes you have to take away some pressure and some expectations and play smart to the great spots and make one or two up-and-downs when you need them. This is what really changed compared to some of the last weeks.”

Tiger provides early flashes, grinds way to opening 74

For a few moments of time before the dew morning dew had even evaporated away, Tiger Woods held a share of the lead at Pinehurst No. 2, and 2024 felt like 2005 all over again.

The 15-time major champion birdied his opening hole, stayed in red figures through the first six holes of his opening trip around Pinehurst No. 2, struggled through the middle of the round then provided a steady finish to post a 4-over-par 74. He is tied for 86th, with the 36-hole cut of the top 60 players and ties looming after Friday’s second round.

“I was somewhat conservative in some of my end points. Then again, I didn’t hit the ball very well either. It added upped to quite a bit of distance away from the flag,” Woods said. “It’s not where I wanted to be on a lot of the holes. It just ended up being that far away because I wasn’t as sharp as I needed to be.”

The opening birdie came on a 12-foot putt on the par-5 10th, creating the first roar to reverberate through the pines in this Open. With only a fraction of the field on the golf course, the 1-under-par score put a “T1” by Woods’ name on the leaderboard.

Par roars — a thing that generally only happens for Woods and rarely anyone else — followed with putts of 10 and nine feet on the 12th and 13th.

Woods’ share of the lead wasn’t continuous through his first six holes as others briefly reached 2 under, but he was back in a tie for first as he played the long par-4 16th still at a 1-under total. But a bogey there began a stretch of five bogeys in seven holes, sending him back to 4 over on the day. Woods birdied the par-5 fifth to stop the bleeding, with three pars and a bogey over his final four holes.

Woods is playing his third U.S. Open at Pinehurst and 23rd overall; he finished in a tie for third in 1999 and in solo second in 2005.

Online models suggest the cut line could fall at around 4 over, which would require an even-par 70 by Woods on Friday to advance to the weekend.

North Carolinians in The Cradle

Thursday’s best round of the eight players from North Carolina in the field came from Wake Forest native Akshay Bhatia, who made four birdies in a 2-under-par 68 and sits tied for sixth, three strokes behind the co-leaders.

“I think anything under par here is really good,” Bhatia said. “Didn’t feel like I swung it great, but I managed to kind of just work my way around the golf course and hit a lot of good shots. I’m looking forward to some fresher greens in the morning and get right back to it.”

The 22-year-old rising star is making his fourth career start in a major championship, with a best finish of tied for 35th in this year’s Masters. He hopes to improve on that result this week as he plays close to home.

Southern Pines native Michael McGowan struck the first shot of the championship at 6:45 a.m. Thursday, but the round was bookended with struggles in a 7-over-par 77, leaving him tied for 132nd and needing a strong round Friday for any chance to play the weekend.

McGowan made double bogey on the par-4 first hole, birdied both par 5s as well as the par-4 seventh, and made two more double bogeys late in the round at the 16th and 17th holes.

Also a part of the first group was Raleigh native Carter Jenkins, who shot 3-over 73 and is tied for 65th.

Jenkins was a high school golf teammate of Grayson Murray, the PGA Tour winner who died tragically on May 25. After qualifying for a championship that Murray had earned a spot in before his death, Jenkins recovered from a triple bogey on the par-4 12th with birdies on three of his final six holes, giving himself a fighting chance to make the cut on Friday.

Hickory native J.T. Poston also shot a 3-over 73 on Thursday and is tied with Jenkins. Cary’s Brendon Todd shot 4-over 74 and is tied for 86th. Raleigh natives Webb Simpson and Chesson Hadley each shot 5-over 75 and are tied for 105th and Cary resident Ben Kohles struggled to a 7-over 79 and is tied for 132nd.

Among players with previous USGA championships won in the Pinehurst area, 2014 U.S. Open champion Martin Kaymer turned in an even-par 70 and is tied for 16th. Frankie Capan III, part of the winning team in the 2017 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, shot 1-over 71 and is tied for 34th, while Nick Dunlap, the 2021 U.S. Junior Amateur champ at the nearby Country Club of North Carolina and the 2023 North & South Amateur at Pinehurst, is at 3 over after a 73 and is tied for 65th.

Alternate Suber outlasts major-champ playing partners

Jackson Suber wasn’t even in the U.S. Open field until Tuesday, when a foot injury sidelined Jon Rahm. Since the 2021 U.S. Open champion and former world No. 1 was in a marquee grouping, paired with major champions Jordan Spieth and Hideki Matsuyama, Suber inherited that spot on the tee sheet for Thursday’s opening round.

If getting in the field was unexpected, Suber shooting 1-under 69 to beat both Spieth and Matsuyama by three strokes was even more so. Suber is tied for ninth after the opening round.

“Jordan probably after Tiger is the most popular golfer in the world,” Suber said. “Like if you ask people who don’t play golf, that’s one name they know. Hideki is a global superstar. It was really cool to play with them and be up close with them and talk to them. It was just a great opportunity.”

Suber lost in a playoff at an Open qualifier in Rockville, Maryland for a spot in the original field. The Korn Ferry Tour member has missed four straight cuts on that tour and is ranked 44th in its points standings.

Garcia extends streak with bogey-free round

Sergio Garcia was one of the last players to get into the U.S. Open field, but in doing so and teeing off Thursday morning the Spaniard made his 25th consecutive appearance in the event.

He made more history with a bogey-free round, something done only five times in the three previous Opens at Pinehurst No. 2, to post a 1-under 69. He is tied for ninth after the opening round.

Garcia made birdie on the par-5 fifth and made par on the other 17 holes. He hit 16 of the 18 greens in regulation, and only had one par putt that wasn’t short, a 15-footer at the second hole.

“I’ve always liked U.S. Opens because I don’t feel like you have to birdie every hole,” Garcia said. “I don’t feel like — you’re making a lot of pars, you’re not losing really much ground, other than a couple of venues that we played in the last maybe seven or eight years. I think that on a course like this, like Pinehurst No. 2, you can celebrate a lot of pars, and that’s what we were doing today.”

Garcia’s streak includes previous Pinehurst appearances in 2005 and 2014, including a tie for third in 2005.

Some stars struggle

Phil Mickelson finished second in the first U.S. Open contested at Pinehurst in 1999, and as of Thursday’s opening round is one of two players to play in all four Opens at the venue. But the 2024 tournament is not going nearly as well for the six-time major champion.

Mickelson needed a 24-foot putt to drop on the finishing hole just to break 80, and even when it did to give the big crowd on 18 a chance to cheer, he finished the day tied for 146th with a 9-over 79, with no birdies on the scorecard. Mickelson beat just four players in the 156-man field.

Viktor Hovland, the No. 5 player in the world, entered as a player many saw capable of contending this week. But two back-nine double bogeys doomed the Norweigan in an 8-over 78, and he is tied for 142nd.

Two-time major champion Justin Thomas shot 7-over 77, as did Sahith Theegala, a rising star who some considered a dark horse for the week. The pair are each tied for 132nd.

Cooper visits U.S. Open

Among the thousands of interested spectators walking the grounds of Pinehurst Thursday was Gov. Roy Cooper.

Cooper also briefly met with reporters, touting the state’s $25 million investment to help bring the USGA Golf House, the organization’s second headquarters which is on site at Pinehurst Resort and opened earlier this year.

Asked who was his pick to win the U.S. Open, Cooper — almost reluctantly — blurted out the name Collin Morikawa, before more excitedly mentioning Simpson, the Raleigh native and past champion of the event.