PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Spencer Tibbits had everything in place to begin the first round of his first U.S. Open.
He had the hat, a multicolored thing that Nike hasn’t even released to the general public. It matches the soles of his shoes, just so you know.
He had the proud mom (“He’s worked very hard for this,” Ronelle Tibbits said). He had a cluster of supporters in Beaver orange, including the proud dad, Steve Tibbits, and his long-time swing coach, Bruce Stewart.
And he had an opening tee shot to savor, a bomb that bisected the fairway on the absurdly scenic No. 10 hole at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
After that, the golf was a putt or three and a couple bad breaks from being very good.
Tibbits followed a 3-over-par first nine with an even-par second nine in a round of 74, nine shots behind the tournament’s first-day leader, Justin Rose, at 6-under 65.
“It’s a hard course and it’s super-penalizing,” Tibbits said. “I didn’t play terrible. I had some bad breaks I’ve never seen happen before.”
Tibbits, 20, a sophomore at Oregon State, competed through adversity, some of his own making but more from sheer bad luck.
The most freakish circumstance came on the par-3 No. 5 on his second nine. An apparently perfect flop chip, which seemed sure to trickle close to the hole, hit a sprinkler head and bounced straight backward.
It cost him a bogey one hole after his first birdie of the day on a downhill 12-foot putt on 4, his 13th hole of the day.
On the par-5 14, Tibbits second shot bounced once on the green and hit the flagstick squarely, bounding 30 feet straight back, negating a promising birdie chance.
Tibbits made a tough par save after his drive found a fairway bunker to the right. He blasted out 200-plus yards to the fringe of the green and got up and down from there.
Even more spectacular was his birdie on the dramatic cliff-side No. 6 hole. Tibbits drove way left into ridiculously long grass and, from a poor downhill lie, managed to hit it back into the fairway 100 yards
from the green. He hit his third shot to 17 feet and drained the putt.
Tibbits opened his round with consecutive birdies, but righted the ship with a nifty flop shot from the rough that led to a par putt on No. 12.
Side note: Rory Sabbatini, playing in the group behind Tibbits and his partners, Hayden Shieh and Connor Arendell, made a hole-in-one on 12 immediately after Tibbits’ par save.
Tibbits had three bogeys and no birdies on his first nine, but balanced his two bogeys on the back (including his last hole of the day, No. 9, when his tee shot nearly flew into the ocean) with two birdies.
On the grand No. 8 hole along the ocean, Tibbits left a birdie putt inches short.
“He’s doing fabulous for his first U.S. Open,” Stewart said as Tibbits neared the end of his day. “Let me put it this way: The global stage is brutal. He’s playing like he belongs out here.”
Tibbits tees off at 8:57 a.m. Friday from No. 1, possibly needing to improve by a couple shots to make the cut.
