Nine players now share the lead…

-1 Wu (8), Harman (7*), Hatton (5*), McIlroy (3*), Rose (3*), Glover (2), Connors (2*), Howell III (1), MacIntyre (1)

*denotes teed off on 10th

McIlroy makes a great save on the par-five 12th and now has a birdie chance on the 13th.

Is it too early to say his putter and irons look hot?

Yes, it is.

Morikawa actually found the tuft of rough on the thick lip. A pretty decent escape from a hipster beard of grass not shaved for eight years.

Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa try to lay up short - as advised - but find the trap on the left.

Don't they read our course guides?

A demanding hole made famous by the play of 1959 US Open champion Billy Casper, who purposely laid up short of the green and successfully pitched on and one-putted on the highly-contoured green in all four rounds.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

"What are you trying to do, embarrass the best players in the world?" Sandy Tatum, then chairman of the USGA's championship committee, was asked after Hale Irwin won at seven over par in 1974, the second highest winning total since World War II.

"No, we're trying to identify them," was Tatum's famous response.

A decade later, in 1984, Fuzzy Zoeller became the only man to win the US Open with an under-par score at Winged Foot on a slightly easier set up, though only he and Greg Norman finished in the red.

"The USGA usually lays a layer of difficulty on top of these golf courses, so anywhere you go it's going to get a couple of shots harder, just because of the length of the rough, firmness of the greens and tough pins," explains Ogilvy.

"Winged Foot just has 18 really treacherous, crazy greens. They are really wild and you could only build greens like that back that long ago - they had these crazy slopes."

I said it would be one over, but Tiger Woods saves par with a delicate putt. Little weight.

Thomas also saves, but it should have been a birdie - that iron went AWOL.

Great hands from Thomas. He puts enough swaz and a little flight on the ball from the bunker, allowing it to use the slope to organically (yes, I've used that word) find a spot near the hole.

Woods is out of his trap - but he's not a happy bunny.

Actually the Woods lie is OK in that fairly flat bunker on the second hole. Sadly for him he finds the bunker on the left of the hole.

He'll be dropping to one over here.

Thomas should find the green with his iron with 134 yards to go...ah...nope. That looks like the bunker.

Really poor from the 27-year-old, who is still looking for his second major.

BTW Jordan Spieth, the 2015 champ, has had a rotten start - hes' three over after the first two holes.

Image source, Getty Images

McIlroy almost birdies the 11th - the ball blows a kiss as it keeps its social distance.

The putting radar is fully charged for the former winner.

Only five players under par so far...

-2 Hatton (2*)

-1 Wu (7), Harman (5*), McIlroy (1*), Thomas (1)

*denotes teed off on 10th

Driver off the first for Tiger Woods - he finds a bunker. Looks a horrid lie tbf.

Thomas had no such problem in finding the fairway.

USPGA champion Collin Morikawa bogeyed the first. I'm already saying it now - this might not be his week.

Image source, Getty Images

Tommy Fleetwood, who finished joint second two years ago at Shinnecock Hills, heads into the tournament in good form, having finished third at the Portugal Masters last week.

Despite that, the Southport golfer has slipped to 15th in the world rankings with Tyrrell Hatton currently the highest-ranked Englishman, with Matthew Fitzpatrick, Paul Casey and Justin Rose, who plays the first two days alongside Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, also in the top 20.

Matt Wallace has carded six top-10 finishes in 2020, while Scotland's Robert Macintyre will compete in just his third major, and first US Open, having impressed at the Open last year with a sixth-placed finish.

Fellow Scot Connor Syme is also making his US Open debut and boasts good form with the successive top-10 finish on the European Tour.

Former world number one Lee Westwood, 2016 Masters champion Danny Willett and Ryder Cup hero Ian Poulter, who played in the penultimate group alongside winner Geoff Ogilvy in 2006, will also be looking to stage a challenge.

Tiger Woods' 19ft putt just grazes past the left of the hole.

That was a great opportunity missed by the 15-time major winner. It obviously didn't break like he expected it to.

A very, very easy birdie putt for Thomas. Lovely start.

Morikawa has some work to do for par.

England's Tyrrell Hatton has had the dream start from the 10th with two birdies to sit pretty at the top of the leaderboard on two under par. I wonder what he'd give to be at that score on Sunday evening?

Only once in five previous US Opens at Winged Foot has the winning score been under par.

Fellow Englishman Andy Sullivan birdied the par-five 12th to also get into the red.

Great approach from USPGA champ Morikawa from the rough on the first. He finds the green as does Woods, who plays the slope beautifully to see ball roll to just a few feet.

Justin Thomas trumps them all with his approach. Birdie o'clock.

Blimey!

McIlroy, who won this back in 2011, judges the left to right brilliantly with his first putt of the 2020 US Open.

What a start for the 31-year-old!

*started at the 10th

Not bad off the tee from Rory McIlroy on his opening hole - the par-three 10th; possibly 20ft to to the hole. The Northern Irish four-time major winner is still looking for his first top 10 since the resumption.

He's playing with Adam Scott (his game could work here) and top-10 expert Jason Day.

Collin "Big Col" Morikawa finds the rough from the tee. He'll probably land an amazing approach on the 16th hole on Sunday and then win the thing!

Better from recent former number one Thomas and almost as good from Woods.

Over to the 10th...