At Pinehurst No.2, players were hitting the ball long, with the hot, humid conditions meaning shots were going far during the first round of the US Open on Thursday and running out on the dry Pinehurst fairways.
As we know, it's no secret that players are getting longer off the tee, especially those coming out of college and, if you were to take a look at the stats for the first round, that was exactly the case, with amateurs Gordon Sargent and Luke Clanton leading the way in the driving distance category...
If you follow golf, you'll know that Sargent is one of the longest players in the game, with the American vaulting onto the scene at the 2023 Masters and gaining the attention of his more experienced counterparts.
Later on that year, Sargent secured his PGA Tour card but opted to stay in college to complete his degree and, at the US Open, the amateur averaged a whopping 346.9 yards off the tee for the first round, making him the longest of the entire field - by a whole ten yards.
What's more, in his last five tournaments prior to the Major, Sargent averaged 326.3 yards with the driver as he made two cuts in that time.
Along with Sargent, who fired a three-over-par round of 73, Florida State amateur, Luke Clanton, was also crushing the ball on Thursday, with the 20-year-old averaging 336.7 yards off the tee.
Ranked as the fifth-best male amateur in the world, Florida State University star Clanton made it into the field via the 36-hole qualifier at The Bear's Club in Jupiter, Florida.
The two big-hitting amateurs are just ahead of pros Chris Naegel and Joey Vrzich, with Bryson DeChambeau in fifth position - all three averaged 336 yards in round one.
DeChambeau hit the longest drive of the opening round, though, we believe. On the 8th hole, he unleashed a 379 yarder - which incredibly was 52 yards longer than anyone else on the hole on Thursday.
The longest drive in the fairway on 8 all day was 327 yards by Max Greyserman. Until Bryson hit one 379 yards. pic.twitter.com/yAOsNsd9CFJune 13, 2024
As well as his 336 yard average in round one, DeChambeau also hit an impressive 12 of 14 fairways. The 2020 US Open champion found 15 of 18 greens, too, in his solid opening 67 to lead the LIV Golf US Open leaderboard.
US Open driving distance stats: round 1
- 1. Gordon Sargent (a) - 346.9 yards
- 2. Luke Clanton (a) - 336.7 yards
- 3. Chris Naegel - 336.2 yards
- 3. Joey Vrzich - 336.2 yards
- 5. Bryson DeChambeau - 336.1 yards
- 6. Parker Bell (a) - 334.9 yards
- 7. Charlie Reiter - 333.9 yards
- 8. Cameron Young - 332.8 yards
- 9. Jake Knapp - 330.9 yards
- 10. Byeong Hun An - 330.4 yards
