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After a damaging double bogey on the eighth, Brooks Koepka hits back as champions do, with a birdie to round out his front nine in level par.

Everything was going swimmingly until that missed green on eight, but on the ninth his response was emphatic, smacking a drive down the middle, striping an iron nice and close to the flag and rolling in a birdie from seven feet.

It's a bit of a rollercoaster finish but overall the two-time US Open champion has played beautifully, with just that one really bad hole costing him the lead. He's still well in touch though.

Patrick Reed stays in the mix as he backs up his birdie on five with three straight pars.

His long birdie putt for the solo lead comes up short on the eighth.

The American finished fourth at the 2018 US Open.

Now then. Three drives in the 18th fairway. Can they capitalise?

Tommy Fleetwood can't. With a hybrid in hand, his second gets bullied by the breeze and comes up short. From there, he pitches up the bank to six feet and rolls in the par putt for another gutsy save.

Rory McIlroy plays a beauty from 217 yards, hammering a long iron over the top of the flag to 15 feet. Great chance for a three, but he comes up agonisingly shy and taps in for a level par front nine 35.

Ludvig Aberg's second hangs on to the right edge of the green, and while his approach putt is weak, he hammers the next one in for par.

Two hours and 50 minutes for that front nine. It ain't quick out there.

With most of the early wave approaching halfway through their round, five holes are playing under par and the rest quite a way above par.

This is a tricky old course.

Nial Foster
BBC Sport NI at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club

The wind is beginning to bare its teeth at Shinnecock Hills. It's currently 21mph, with gusts up to 35mph.

If you're wondering why players fear this place, here's a stat for you:

654 golfers have started a U.S. Open at Shinnecock since 1896.

Only three have finished under par.

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An outside chance for Sam Burns to take the outright lead but he bends his knees with frustration as his birdie effort from 30 feet grazes the edge. He'll stay at -1.

As for Tyrrell Hatton, after visiting the grandstand, and the sand trap, he fires back over the green and ends up with a 16 footer to make bogey.

It's missed, handing him double. Shows how scores can unravel around here.

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This looks like being a US Open grind again this week, but is this how you like your golf?

Would you rather birdies were flying in all over the place or players having to work hard for their par?

Shinnecock at least looks fair so far - the fairways are wide enough to find and there is some control you can get with approach shots - the greens are the slowest in over 30 years of the US Open so precision is rewarded.

One wrong move though and you're toast. But is it your cup of tea?

Let us know using the feedback form.

Clang!

The sound of Tyrrell Hatton's golf ball crashing into the grandstand by the 18th green and ricocheting down into the sand behind it.

He definitely didn't plan that swooping draw but hopefully everyone's OK as he trudges after his ball.

After trudging their way up the gargantuan par-five 16th, a par-three offers something of a reprieve for this three-ball and there are no further struggles here as they record a trio of pars and move on.

Tommy Fleetwood holed a seven-footer for his three. Good to see the flatstick working for the Englishman so far.

Bad news for Graeme McDowell fans. He's just missed a three-footer at the 18th - his ninth - and cards his third bogey in six holes. That birdie-birdie start seems a long time ago now.

The 2010 champion turns in 36.

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A birdie on 15 for Brian Harman, his sixth hole of the day as he started on the back nine, as he joins that leading group on one under.

The left-hander won the Open Championship at Hoylake in some testing conditions, not entirely unlike what we've got here at Shinnecock, could that play into his hands?

Patrick Reed was a popular pick this week for a number of reasons - he's in great form this season, winning twice on the DP World Tour and finishing T10 and T12 in the first two majors of the season.

He's not played between the two majors as he waits to get back on the PGA Tour after leaving LIV Golf, but that extra prep time seems to suit him.

Also, the 2018 Masters champion is one of the best shotmakers in world golf, he's a sound putter and scrambler and he finished fourth here in 2018 when the US Open was last held at Shinnecock.

So zero surprise to see him join the leaders on one under with his first birdie of the day.

Sam Burns - brilliant. That's a terrific par save from 14 feet. He loves a putt.

He'll stay at -1.

Tyrrell Hatton knocks his to three-and-a-half feet and secures par.

At 620 yards, the 16th is a brute, and Rory McIlroy makes life difficult for himself by missing the fairway. His ball nestles into the thick rough around the edge of a bunker and he can only advance it 50 yards from there, leaving him 320 yards for his third.

His hat flies off for the second time today as he gives that one the full treatment, but he's still 76 yards short of the pin and comes up woefully short with his fourth.

Two putts from 48 feet and that's a bogey six after an almighty struggle on the longest hole on the course.

Tommy Fleetwood found the short stuff off the tee, and while he pulls his second into the rough, he produces a magical third, sending one in low which runs out to 10 feet. And he makes the putt - what a birdie!

Ludvig Aberg lost his drive right and, after a hack out, flew his third into the bunker, leading to a bogey which brings him back into the logjam at one under.

Add a 13 foot putt to the list of those holed by Brooks Koepka today - it's for a par not a birdie but around here today that's never a bad score.

Just ask Chris Gotterup who stood on the seventh tee level and walked off the green two over. He came up miles short on the 180-yard par three, which is playing tough today into the wind.

And he ended up missing a three-foot putt for a bogey so that's a double out of absolutely nowhere. That's the US Open for you.

A first missed green of the day for Sam Burns as he flies the par-three 17th into one of the run-off areas that are swallowing balls all over Shinnecock Hills.

It'll be a tough up and down from there to stay under par.

Tyrrell Hatton is safely on the putting surface but a long way back from the flag.

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Untidy from Sam Burns as he takes three putts on the 16th green.

That gifts Ludvig Aberg the solo lead in these early stages of round one.