Jun 16, 2016 4 min read

OAKMONT – The brightest day in Andrew Landry’s professional golf career came on one of the cloudiest for the U.S. Open championship at Oakmont Country Club.

Landry, 624th in the World Golf Rankings, maneuvered through three weather stoppages, navigated the treacherous par-70, 7,219-yard course and held the lead when the first round was suspended at 4:37 p.m. Thursday because of the dangerous weather.

Landry, whose career earnings on the PGA Tour are $69,130, amazed the rain-soaked fans and himself as he was at 3-under par and needed to make an 8-foot birdie putt on his 18th hole, No. 9, to finish the round. That’s when play was stopped.

“I hit the ball really well and just made a bunch of putts and just kept it going,” said Landry, whose only pro win came on the Web.com Tour.

The first round will be completed and as much of the second round as possible will be played today.

Landry, a 28-year-old native of Texas, made birdies on Nos. 2, 3, 4, 10 and 17 to reach 5-under. But back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 7 and 8 gave two strokes back.

“I played it twice and nine holes on Wednesday, so I got a little bit of a taste of it kind of softening up a little bit on Wednesday,” said Landry of the famed course. “We kind of got a little bit of showers. But it’s played different every day since I’ve been here.”

Landry said the delays were a time when he tried to gather his thoughts.

“It was tough. I just kind of kept to myself, had my family here with me, and just kind of kept to myself, went to the locker room, stayed by myself, talked with my caddie a little bit, and turned my phone off,” he said. “I had my phone off the whole time. It was good to just kind of be by myself and just take it all in.”

Landry is the lowest-ranked golfer to hold the lead in the first round of the U.S. Open since Justin Hicks in 2008 at Torrey Pines. Hicks was ranked 662nd when he shot 3-under 68 in the first round. He finished 17-over and completed that tournament tied for 74th.

Landry earned his tour card with a win on the Web.com Tour and made it into Open through qualifier in Memphis.

Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson and Danny Lee were each one stroke back, and defending champion Jordan Spieth was at 1-over par through 13 and thoroughly frustrated.

When his wedge into the 17th green landed behind the pin but spun back and fell into the bunker, Spieth could be heard yelling on the televised broadcast: “You’ve got to be kidding me. How is that in the bunker?”

Watson made the turn at 1-under and had a birdie and four pars to start the second nine. He said the weather wasn’t a problem.

“The golf course affects the play more than anything,” he said. “We always got off the golf course before the rain. So the rain had no chance to affect us.”

Amateur Scottie Scheffler, who is heading into his junior year at Texas this fall, was one of nine players to finish and shot 69.

“Three more rounds to go,” he said. “We need to get a game plan going for the next round. We’ll see where the lead is at. My game plan isn’t going to change too much. Try to get the ball in play and see what I can do on the fairways out here.”

Masters champion Danny Willett was at 4-over par through 1 and Mike Van Sickle of McKees Rocks, who qualified in Rockville, Md., shot a 6-over 76.

Such greats as Phil Mickleson, who has never won a U.S. Open, Jason Day and Jim Furyk, who won the Open in 2003 at Olympia Fields in Illinois, never teed off and could play 36 holes today.