PUTTER PROPELS SPAUN: J.J. Spaun, right, set the early pace at the U.S. Open on Thursday. He tamed the tough test of Oakmont with his putter and shot a 66. Most remarkable for Spaun was not having a bogey on his card. It’s only the second bogey-free round in the last three U.S. Opens at the famed course near Pittsburgh. Thriston Lawrence was another shot behind. Five players broke par from the morning groups. Rory McIlroy looked like he might be one of them until a 41 on his back nine for 74.

RARE BIRD: Patrick Reed made only the fourth double-eagle since the U.S. Open started keeping records some four decades ago, dunking in his second shot from 286 yards on the par-5 fourth hole at Oakmont. The albatross is considered the rarest shot in golf, with only a few hundred made a year across the world.

— Associated Press