Rory McIlroy completed his first round at Pebble Beach with one bogey and four birdies to be -3. Like last week when he won the Canadian Open he says he feels ‘free’ and ‘comfortable’.

It was good to hear him praise the greens, bearing in mind all the trouble that the USGA have had from the players about the US Open set ups in recent years. Rory said that the poa annua greens today were ‘perfect’ and ‘wonderful’ completely different from when the US Open was last played there in 2010. The greens are very small and Rory’s group started on the 10th and had them soft before the wind got up. He said he was pleased with his round.

The USGA have admitted they got it wrong – possibly after their “Justin we need to talk” talk with Justin Thomas who was very critical on social media about their decisions bringing in professional Jason Gore as a consultant as he is head of player relations. It sounds as though they have really listened to him.