If I hadn’t flown into Washington, I could have sworn we were in Augusta yesterday as two names dominated the first day of the US Open.

There was Rory McIlroy building a big lead and then Charl Schwartzel coming with a late birdie run.  It might have been Masters weekend all over again.

But this was Congressional, a tough enough course even before the US GA put their own stamp on it... and what a day it was as those two dominated the proceedings.

Rory was simply Rory – unbelievably consistent on a day when some of the world’s best players left the course shaking their heads at what they had just encountered.

And Charl was simply Charl – unbelievably focussed and looking as if he was looking for his first major never mind his second in succession.

What a wonderful exhibition and you can add to that Louis Oosthuizen as another of our players who finished on the first day leaderboard after a two under score all our players would have settled for at the start of the day.

But Rory and Charl went better.  The Ulsterman led the way with a six under 65 while the South African was three behind in second place.

There’s still a long way to go, but, without being two greedy, we could not have wished for a better start to the year’s second major championship.