The par-three third hole from the tee is a beautiful sight - as is McIlroy's strike to the green.

What time is it Rory?

Birdie o'clock.

Justin Thomas is now top of the pops at the US Open.

-4 Thomas (11)

-3 Thompson (a) (13)

-2 Todd (13), English (13), McIlroy (11*)

-1 Kokrak (14*), Reed (11), Woods (11), Ishikawa (9)

A solid par on the second for McIlroy after a little wobble. Great to see McIlroy, Thomas, Spieth and Woods going well.

Remember we have the likes of number one and FedEx champion Dustin Johnson yet to come out and in-form Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm and Paul Casey.

Mouth. Watering.

There's a whole lotta red, white and blue at the top of that leaderboard right now - as you might expect of a US Open.

Justin Thomas leads the way, one shot ahead of amateur Davis Thompson, with Harris English alongside Brendon Todd a stroke behind.

Then there's Tiger, Patrick Reed, after his hole in one, and Jason Kokrak.

Yet another birdie for Woods - his third on the trot. The big man is up to one under.

Former number one Justin Thomas, looking for his second major, has the outright lead after he birdies too.

Another slight error on a par three by our leader. Davis Thompson is half a club too long on the 215-yard 13th. The line is perfect but the ball trundles past the hole and off the back of the green into the cabbage.

It all depends on the lie. His ball looked like it settled down a little.

That's a decent chip back by the 21-year-old from Alabama but he can't sink the eight-footer for par.

The legendary Bobby Jones is the only amateur to have a round in the 60s at Winged Foot in a US Open. That was in 1929. He went on to win it...

...but Thompson's error means he's no longer leading...

Ridiculous from McIlroy, who was in a bit of trouble on the second but kills the ball dead with his iron about two feet from the hole.

How's Tiger doing?

Billy Casper won the first of his three major titles at Winged Foot in 1959, and laid up on the 216-yard par three on all four rounds - he made par each time, and won by one shot at two over par.

Casper told the New York Times in 2006 that he decided on that approach after a practice round a week earlier, when he went for the green and made a double bogey.

Casper knew he could reach the green with a 2-iron or a 4-wood but opted for a 5-iron as the safer play.

"I felt if you hit the ball right or left, it wasn't that easy to make a bogey on the hole," he told the New York Times., external "I felt you were setting yourself up for at least a bogey or a double bogey. I watched some of my competitors do it."

Smugly going to let you all know - and no doubt jinx him in the process - that Brendon Todd is one of my (Alex's) picks this week... the 35-year-old American has just birdied the par-three 13th to move to two under and within one shot of the lead. Easy does it.

Tiger Woods lands a beauty on to the green, with his second shot at the par-four 11th.

Playing partner Justin Thomas, adds a little less backspin swaz on his approach, leaving him with an easier birdie chance.

Re 15:55 BST.

Having said this is not playing like Harding Park, the scoring at Winged Foot isn't too dissimilar to the US PGA course during the first round.

There's everybody saying this was like some sort of Carnoustie!

Oh Rory!

McIlroy has a few feet to make par on the first, but misses and drops a shot. Such a shame to partially ruin a great run of holes.

Tiger Woods is back to evens with another gorgeous long putt for birdie. Absolutely perfect weight.

Justin Thomas is up with Rory McIlroy after holing a birdie on his own. He's now at three under.

As for the other member of the trio, Collin Morikawa, he is realising this isn't playing like that Harding Park US PGA course.

The major champ, 23, makes inches from the mixed deep rough on the left side of the green-side bunker. Most of us would not have struck the ball.

Davis Thompson is on the 643-yard par-five 12th. Let me just repeat that. 643 yards. That's a perfect drive followed by two perfect fairway woods for us mere mortals and even then we'd probably need a wee wedge shot to make the green.

Thompson finds a fairway bunker with his second shot but smashes an iron in to the guts of the green. He's got an outside birdie chance of 45 feet coming up...

...it's on its way and it's tracking the hole but bends off a couple of feet short. Another par though and zero dropped shots so far.

A pitching wedge on the first with 122 yards to go, but McIlroy leaves himself with a long putt. He takes off his cap, combs his hair back with his palm and places the cap back on his head - that seemed to be body language for, "should have done better".

The American amateur Davis Thompson has moved to -4 and leads the US Open after 11 holes of his career debut! Not bad, not bad at all!

-4 Thompson (a) (11)

-3 McIlroy (9*)

-2 English (11), Conners (7*)

-1 Poston (13), Kokrak (12*), Todd (11), Matsuyama (9), Reed (9), Thomas (8), Ishikawa (7)

Woods actually sinks a birdie, having missed a couple of decent chances earlier. There were at least two breaks from putter to hole.

It's very much relief etched across his 44-year-old face.

US PGA champion Collin Morikawa feels a lot better after sinking his second birdie, having made three bogeys as well on his front nine.

What a front nine for Rory McIlroy as his long straight putt on the 18th sinks much to his reserved delight.

Three under after his first nine.

It wasn't actually that bad of a lie in the rough just off the fairway on the ninth for Woodsy.

The 15-time major winner plays a decent shot on to the fairway and not a bad approach to the green, although he could have done with taking a bit off the backspin.

Collin Morikawa's approach runs to the edge of the green. Thomas looks to be in a good position on the dancefloor.

Big news on the 18th...

Another amateur off to a decent start is Scotland's Sandy Scott. Like Davis Thompson, he qualified through his world amateur ranking.

The 22-year-old from Nairn is based in the US and has his coach at Texas Tech University, Greg Sands, on the bag this week.

He's had a terrific start with six pars.