Keith Mitchell was six over par after nine holes.

The 34-year-old finishes at level par after draining a nine-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole, his last.

Sensational recovery to save his opening round.

He went out in 41 shots, came home in 29. A 12-shot difference between the two nines. Incredible.

He looked shattered as he walked off the green.

Keegan Bradley drops a shot on the 17th. Can he respond and finish under par?

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Rory McIlroy groans as his shot into the par-three seventh drifts in the wind and plonks into the bunker. He splashes out to six feet and rattles his putt into the back of the cup to remain one clear of Sam Stevens.

A nice sand save, too, for Ludvig Aberg and a two-putt par for Tommy Fleetwood and it's as you were.

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Big chance missed for Brooks Koepka again as a cracking tee shot on 17 leaves him with 11 feet for birdie - it's a big right-to-left breaker though and he just doesn't hit it hard enough to hold its line as it swerves across the front of the hole and stays up.

The king of the bounce back birdie strikes again as Scottie Scheffler follows that bogey on 13 with a birdie on 14 to get right back to two over, which wouldn't actually be a bad score to finish on.

Smacking a 370-yard bullet off the tee down the fairway always helps, but so does Scheffler remembering that he's Scottie Scheffler after all with a striped iron to four feet.

A double bogey sinks Rickie Fowler down the leaderboard.

It comes after back-to-back birdies - all that good work undone.

Sam Burns is scrambling to save par on the short seventh after pulling his tee shot left of the green. His second shot is also a little errant, and he's left with a 20-footer. That stays on the green. A tap-in four. Shot gone.

Tyrrell Hatton fired his tee shot to about 30 feet and he makes a solid two-putt par from there.

No wonder he's smiling!

Adrien Dumont de Chassart's hand comes off his club as he sends his approach into the green at the ninth, his final hole of the day.

If he doesn't like it, I'm not sure why as it lands holeside and nearly drops in for an eagle!

It's a simple birdie and the Belgian cards a solid opening 71 that included five birdies and six bogeys.

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Take a bow, Tommy Fleetwood!

Buoyed by a birdie four at the last, the world number six holds a long iron against the wind from 208 yards at the sixth. It lands just shy of the pin and trundles up to five feet. Two birdies on the spin.

Rory McIlroy finds another fairway, sends another approach over the top of the flag, but settles for par after a misjudged birdie try from 27 feet.

Brooks Koepka lines up a birdie putt on 16 and puts a nice stroke on it, but the ball has a bit too much pace to take the break as it whizzes past the hole.

Sam Stevens is one of the stories of the first round.

Having just dropped a shot, he responds immediately.

A stunning approach and a brilliant putt see him sign for a round of 68.

Not bad at all.

How about that!

After picking up his first birdie at the third, Alex Fitzpatrick splashes out of the bunker at the fourth and drains a 20-footer to remain level par.

Scottie Scheffler is just starting to find his groove now as he has a great birdie look on 13, but despite hitting a good putt there's just a bit too much heat on it on that line and the ball does a big horseshoe and stays above ground.

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The Shinnecock Hills grounds crew are out watering the putting greens now as the late wave of players are about to start their first rounds, but why?

The course dries out incredibly fast due to the winds whipping around, and when the US Open was here in 2004 and 2018 the putting surfaces become unplayable at times.

So a splash of water now will just keep the greens from getting out of control, and also ensure that the later players get similar conditions to play in as the early wave - they'll do the same tomorrow too for fairness.

Also, the water should prevent the grass from decaying on the greens heading into the weekend, when they won't be watering during the round, but won't have to as they'll still be green enough. There's a lot of thought gone into this.

Feel like I've seen Sam Burns putting from distance on so many occasions today.

Shows his approach shots are holding the green pretty well, but he's not getting many birdie looks.

Another par and three holes to go.

Three birdies in five holes for Rickie Fowler and he's into the red for the first time.

It's been a fine round for the Californian who has three top-five finishes at the US Open.

Still chasing his first major though.

Sam Stevens started his round with a double bogey, and then dropped another shot three holes later.

Since then, he has been in total control - until now.

He is unable to get up and down, and drops a shot with one hole remaining.

Ranked 54th in the world, Stevens, who was the previous leader, still would have taken this.

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As Nial mentioned in the post at 19:08, Rory McIlroy sent a stratospheric drive 396 yards down the fairway at the downwind par-five fifth.

He followed that with a towering approach from 192 yards to 12 feet and makes the eagle putt.

And just like that, he catapults to three under and takes sole possession of the lead.

His first eagle at the US Open since 2017!

No eagle for Tommy Fleetwood but he makes a welcome birdie to move back to one over.

Scottie Scheffler has been grinding away saving pars when out of position but finally he hits a fairway and a green and bang, funnily enough after doing that he's able to roll in from 11 feet for birdie.

JJ Spaun is losing his grip on the title already though - a birdie on 12 at least stops the rot after back-to-back bogeys but he's five over for the day and without a single birdie as yet.

Mason Howell has a birdie, but sadly the 18-year-old amateur champion also has five bogeys and a triple bogey in his stuttering seven over so far.

Neither Tyrrell Hatton or Sam Burns can eke into the lead of those above them at the par-five fifth.

Couple of pars pocketed and on they go.

The end is in sight for this group.