PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – As it usually is, the spotlight was on names such as Tiger Woods, Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler and Brooks Koepka on Day 1 of the U.S. Open. But plenty of players who came into Pebble Beach flying under the radar put red numbers on the board on Thursday and are in a good position through 18 holes at the year’s third major.

• Aaron Wise’s upward trajectory continued on Thursday at the U.S. Open, where he sits in a share of second place with Rickie Fowler, Louis Oosthuizen and Xander Schauffele after his round of 5-under 66.

Wise, 22, may be a somewhat of a surprise to casual golf fans, but he has some big wins in his short career, including the 2016 individual title as an Oregon Duck and a breakthrough PGA Tour victory at last year’s AT&T Byron Nelson en route to being named the 2018 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.

"Winning is kind of a habit. Everything in life is kind of a habit. And you want to make winning one of those habits, especially being as competitive as I am," Wise said.

• Louis Oosthuizen finished T-2 at the 2015 U.S. Open, and he put himself in position to do one better here at Pebble Beach after an opening 5-under 66 that puts him one off the lead through 18 holes.

The 36-year-old had been marred in a slump until breaking through for his first victory in three years at the South African Open in December, and has a chance to return to major glory for the first time since the 2010 Open Championship.

“To be able to win a U.S. Open would be very magical to me. It would be I think something that anyone can dream of winning an Open and the U.S. Open,” Oosthuizen said. “I think Pebble to me is probably one of my favorite, if not the -- my favorite venue for a U.S. Open.”

• Scott Piercy only got into the U.S. Open last week as part of the top 60 in the word (No. 59) exemption, but he’s making the most of his opportunity so far. Piercy, who finished T-2 at the U.S. Open in 2016, sits one two off the lead after shooting a 4-under 67 that he said he’d take “every time.”

Had he not gotten in, Piercy’s other plans didn’t sound too bad … “There would be an indentation in the couch,” he joked after his round.

• Bryson DeChambeau, 25, has four wins in his young PGA Tour career, but he's the first to admit he has had issues with the game mentally, and he said as much on Thursday after an opening 69 that left him four shots off the lead.

"I was coming back off of a lot of neurological damage that I've had from just hitting bad shots and not doing the right things with my swing and just going down rabbit holes that weren't really pretty," said DeChambeau. "It's going to create some neurological damage there for me. And I'm trying to get over that as of right now. I'm doing a pretty good job so far. Today is the best I've felt in a long time."

DeChambeau's best finish in a major is a T-15 at the 2015 U.S. Open. He's in a spot to improve upon that through 18 holes at Pebble Beach.

• Francesco Molinari had been on an extraordinary roll before collapsing at the Masters and eventually losing to Tiger Woods, but his opening 3-under 68 puts him in the mix to get back on the major train.

The reigning Champion Golfer of the Year had it going early, birdieing three of his first seven holes, including the iconic par-3 seventh, and although he cooled off on the backside, he was able to close his round with a birdie on the par-5 18^th hole.

• Jon Rahm’s last six major finishes look like this: 4th-MC-MC-T4-T9-MC. So it’s a good sign for his chances that Rahm started the U.S. Open with a 2-under 69. Rahm, 24, likes the course setup, so it could bode well for his chances at a first major title this week.

“I think it's about as good as a U.S. Open setup as I've seen for a first round,” he said.

• Graeme McDowell didn't win the U.S. Open on Day 1, but he certainly didn't lose it. The 2010 U.S. Open champion here at Pebble Beach carded a 2-under 69 on Thursday and he provided the story of the day afterward, telling reporters about Tuesday night's champions' dinner.

"I think the best story for me was just kind of at the end of dinner, Jack [Nicklaus] and Tom Watson got up and told some stories, and Jack pretty much took the microphone around to every table and - bullied is the wrong word, but forcefully asked players to stand up and tell some stories," McDowell said. "And let's just say Tiger was the first guy that got picked on by Jack, and it was like: You, up. You know, it was just Jack, you know, taking his position as the greatest in the game. Certainly it inspirational. It was really cool to sit there. And for me, just as I get a bit older, looking around and feeling part of that special fraternity and the players that you're surrounded by, it's brings - it quantifies what it is to win the U.S. Open trophy."

• Viktor Hovland picked up right where he left off from his U.S. Amateur victory at Pebble Beach last August.

The 21-year-old Oklahoma State product, playing in his last tournament as an amateur, birdied four of his first six holes to move within a shot of the U.S. Open lead. Despite a double bogey at the par-4 eighth and two more bogeys, Hovland managed to finish strong, as well, making birdie on each of his last two holes and shooting 2-under 69 to tie playing competitor and two-time reigning U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka.

“I don't feel like I had my best stuff,” said Hovland, who is trying to become the first amateur to win the U.S. Open since Johnny Goodman in 1933. “I'm not hitting it quite where I want to and how I want to, so that really gives me a lot of comfort knowing that I can hang with the best in the world with not quite my best stuff.”

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Justin Rose played alongside Tiger Woods, and then joined him in the U.S. Open record book at Pebble Beach.

In a gentle start to the toughest test in golf, Rose birdied his last three holes Thursday for a 6-under 65, giving him a one-shot lead on a day so accommodating that more than three dozen players broke par.

It was an ideal start for Rose and for the USGA, which wants a smooth ride after four years of various mishaps in the U.S. Open. The idea was to start safe and make the course progressively more difficult, and a forecast of dry weather for the week should make that easier to control.

This was the day to take advantage, especially with a cool, overcast sky for most of the day.

Rose knew what was at stake when he blasted out of a bunker short of the par-5 18th to about 12 feet. He was watching the telecast earlier when Rickie Fowler had a birdie putt for a 65 to tie the lowest U.S. Open round at Pebble Beach, set by Woods in the first round of his record-setting victory in 2000.

''I was thinking, 'This would be kind of cool doing it front of the great man himself,''' Rose said.

He lightly pumped his fist, partly for the record, mainly for the best start.

Fowler had to settle for a 66, tied with Aaron Wise and two others who had big finishes. Xander Schauffele caught a break when his tee shot on the 18th caromed off the rock edge of the left fairway, setting up a 12-foot eagle. Louis Oosthuizen finished on No. 9 by holing a bunker shot for a birdie. It felt almost as good as the wedge he holed from 95 yards for eagle on No. 11.

Woods took advantage of the scoring holes with three birdies, but there was one blunder – a tee shot he hooked on the par-3 fifth that smacked off the cart path into gnarly, deep grass some 20 yards behind the edge of the bleachers. He blasted that out beyond the green and made double bogey.

After two straight birdies, he finished with 11 straight pars for a 70.

''Pebble Beach, you have the first seven to get it going, and after that it's a fight,'' Woods said. ''I proved that today. I was trying to just hang in there today. Rosey proved the golf course could be had.''

Two-time defending champion Brooks Koepka proved the opening holes could be had. He was 4 under with his birdie on the par-5 sixth hole and appeared to be on another major mission until a few errant tee shots into nasty rough, a few missed putts and a few bogeys. Even so, he had few complaints about his 69 to begin his bid for a record-tying third straight U.S. Open.

''I didn't shoot myself out of it,'' Koepka said. ''I'm right there. I feel like if I get off tomorrow to a good start, I'm right back into it.''

Phil Mickelson, in another U.S. Open quest to complete the career Grand Slam, didn't feel he was out of it either, despite only two birdies in his round of 1-over 72, which included a 22-inch par putt that he missed.

Woods also had a one-shot lead when he had his opening 65 in 2000, a lead he stretched to six shots after the second round, 10 shots after the third and 15 shots at the end, a record for major championships.

But only 17 players were under par in the first round of 2000. For this U.S. Open, in these relatively soft conditions, 39 players broke par.

Perhaps more telling about the course, and depth of talent compared with two decades ago, there were 17 eagles. That's the most for any round at any U.S. Open, breaking the record of 13 set in 1983 at Oakmont. The eagles included Callum Tarren holing out from a bunker on No. 10, the hardest hole at Pebble, and Rory Sabbatini making a hole-in-one on No. 12.

No one was expecting a breeze the rest of the week.

''It's a very soft start to a U.S. Open, which is a good thing,'' Rory McIlroy said after a 68, his first sub-70 round at the U.S. Open since he won at Congressional in 2011. ''They can do whatever they want with from here. It's not as if you're starting with a course that's in the condition like a Sunday, and then you get three days and it sort of starts to get away from you.''

Scott Piercy, who bogeyed the 18th for a 67, was the first player to get everyone's attention when he was at 5 under through six holes.

Graeme McDowell saw the score when he walked off the 10th green at the start of his round and quipped to his caddie, ''All the USGA radios are going off and they're saying, 'Turn off the water – NOW!'''

McDowell won the last U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in 2010 when it was so difficult he made only one birdie in the final round and no one broke par for the week. Even as he saw low scores on the board – he had a bogey-free 69, one of 27 rounds in the 60s – McDowell feared what was to come for those falling into a comfort zone.

''Careful what you wish for, because I think we're going to see it come the weekend,'' McDowell said.

''I don't think level par wins this week,'' he said. ''Careful what you wish for, because I think we're going to see it come the weekend.''

For one day, Pebble Beach was paradise.

''I wouldn't say it's exhilarating, because I feel like my mindset is I am in a 72-hole tournament,'' Rose said. ''This is just a very small step toward outcome. So you don't feel that buzz that you would on a Sunday, but you can't help but look around over your shoulder and ... damn, this is Pebble Beach. Shot 65 and you're in the U.S. Open. It's a cool moment. Whatever transpires the rest of the week, it was a cool moment.''

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Tiger Woods shot 1-under 70 in the first round of the 119th U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. That’s the good news. Bad news is that he played alongside Justin Rose, who shot 6-under 65 and leads the championship.

Here are a few nuggets from a stroll with the legend around these hallowed grounds:

• It was a weird day. Seems like if Tiger hit a good drive, he’d hit a poor approach shot and if he hit a poor drive, he hit a better approach shot. The only thing that was constant was his putting, which bailed him out several key times.

• Final stats: 10 of 14 fairways, nine of 18 greens and 25 putts. He had 11 straight pars to close his round.

• That Tiger struggled with his irons and still shot 70 has to be a good sign for the next three days. I think. Doesn’t it? If he can shoot under par without what has been the best part of his game that’s a good thing. 

• Par at the par-5 14th hole looked like a double bogey the whole time, until it wasn’t. Tiger’s second shot was in the greenside bunker, but he blasted his third out into the thick rough beyond the green. His fourth shot was chopped onto the green more than 30 feet from the hole. He drained the long putt for par and that was that.

• Speaking of double bogey, he made one of those – a real one – on the par-3 fifth hole when he hit an atrocious tee shot long and left of the green. He was lucky it didn’t bounce out of bounds. Tiger’s second was long, his third was 8 feet by the hole and he two putted from there for double-bogey 5.

• Tiger parred Nos. 1, 2 and 3 then the last 11 in a row. On Nos. 4-7 he went birdie, double bogey, birdie, birdie.

• Back to putting. It bailed him out more than just on the 14th hole. Tiger made a 20-footer for par on the second, a 25-footer for birdie on the par-3 seventh hole and made a terrific two putt from 60 feet on the par-4 15th.

• In his own words: “I didn’t hit my irons as crisp as I’d like. I tried to miss the ball in the correct spots, and a couple of times where I had wedges in my hand I was just dumping, center of the green, move on, get my 30-, 40-footer and move on about my business and take my medicine when I was in a bad spot.”

• Looking ahead, Tiger gets back out there in the morning at 8:24 a.m. PT (11:24 a.m. ET) but he starts his round on the 10th hole. After his first round he noted that he’s zeroed in on the first seven holes as the place to “make hay” this week. So, on Friday it means he’ll try to hang on over the first nine holes before he starts to go for it more once he makes the turn.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – The twisting and picturesque fairways of Pebble Beach weren’t supposed to be Brooks Koepka’s brand of vodka.

This wasn’t Bethpage Black, where Koepka powered his way to his fourth major in his last eight major starts, or Erin Hills, where he won his first major on wide, welcoming fairways. Yet after an eventful first round there he was perched just four strokes off the lead.

Maybe this is the ultimate chip for a player who relishes the role of being the overlooked superstar. Although he’d mentioned a promotional spot for this week’s championship that didn’t include him as a perceived slight, perhaps the real fuel comes from the idea that this wasn’t supposed to be his kind of course.

It certainly didn’t look that way early in his round when the two-time defending champion birdied four of his first six holes to move to within a stroke of the early lead.

There were hiccups coming in – a missed green at No. 8 that bounced hard and into the hay, a wayward drive at No. 13 and a tee shot at the iconic 17^th hole that airmailed the green. They all led to bogeys and added up to a 2-under 69 that was four shots off the pace set by Justin Rose.

“It's a battle if you're not going to hit fairways. If you're not going to hit greens, it's going to be tough,” said Koepka, who hit just seven of 14 greens in regulation. “I'm actually quite pleased.”

If that doesn’t exactly sound like the guy who is on the verge of becoming the first player in over a century to win three consecutive U.S. Opens, it’s yet another indication that Koepka is not a machine despite his often-stoic demeanor.

The best evidence of this came at the par-5 closing hole when Koepka pushed his 3-wood off the tee well right of the fairway and opted to play his second shot off a cart path. As he made his way to the green a group of fans cheered from one of the palatial homes along the fairway.

“I was trying to hit your house,” he said with a smile.

Koepka has learned in an amazingly short amount of time the ebb and flow of major championship golf and that if your worst day is under par, particularly at a U.S. Open, you’re doing fine.

“I would have liked to have shot a couple more. But considering how I hit it coming in, I'm pretty pleased,” he said. “I didn't shoot myself out of it. I'm right there. I feel like if I get out tomorrow and get off to a good start, I'm right back into it.”

He’s earned this calmness honestly. He was tied for 33^rd after Day 1 last year at the PGA Championship and tied for 46^th after his first 18 at the ’18 U.S. Open on his way to victory at both. By comparison his tie for 16^th at Pebble Beach probably feels like a reason to sleep easy.

He might not have started his week like some would have expected, but he’s still on pace to finish exactly where one would imagine.

Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee marveled over the ball-striking display Rickie Fowler put on Thursday in the first round of the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, but he wondered if Fowler’s flat swing makes it tougher for him to win a major.

Fowler opened with a 5-under-par 66, one shot behind the leader, Justin Rose.

“What he did today, I would dare say, was something we may never see again,” Chamblee said on "Live From the U.S. Open". “I don’t know that I have ever seen it. He led the field in driving accuracy, and he was second in driving distance. He led the field in greens in regulation.

“It was brilliant. He averaged 321 yards off the tee missing just one fairway.”

Chamblee, however, said he believes Fowler’s flat swing may be the reason he has struggled to break through and win his first major. Fowler, 30, is making his 39th start in a major. He has eight finishes of T-5 or better in majors with three of those second-place finishes.

“Why his path to a major championship victory has to come from the fairway is because, unlike some of the players we have talked about, Brooks Koepka, Justin Rose or Tiger Woods, who have been good out of the rough on the way to winning major championships, this is where Rickie Fowler struggles,” Chamblee said. “He has a very flat golf swing. As a matter of fact, maybe the flattest golf swing I have ever seen. Certainly, the flattest on the PGA Tour. Subsequently, a very shallow angle of attack with a little flip.”

Fowler ranked 168th on the PGA Tour in proximity to the hole from the rough two seasons ago, 151st last season, and he is 132nd so far this season.

“You need to be able to dig it out of the rough at major championships, where it’s a little thicker than in regular tour events,” Chamblee said. “He typically hasn’t been very good out of the rough.”