Little known Landry leads as weather hits early

OAKMONT, Pensyllvania: Little known Andrew Landry was atop the leaderboard on Thursday when lightning in the area halted play with golf’s top names struggling to gain traction at the US Open.

Landry, ranked 624th in the world and boasting one win on the web.com developmental tour, made the most of the rain-softened course to nab three birdies in his first 11 holes.

He led a group four players on two-under that included former world number one Lee Westwood and fellow Englishman Matthew Fitzpatrick, New Zealand’s Danny Lee and American Kevin Streelman.

Defending champion Jordan Spieth was in a group at one-under with one birdie in his first four holes. World number three Rory McIlroy was one-over through five. McIlroy missed the first three fairways, making back-to-back bogeys at the second and third after finding bunkers at both.

He clawed back a shot with a creative birdie at the par-five fourth, where he reached the green in two but at 60 feet from the pin opted to chip toward the hole, leaving himself a three-footer for birdie.

The horn sounded to halt play because of the danger posed by lightning after three hours and 19 minutes of play.

A stream of the game’s best could only shake their heads during early week practice rounds as they recounted the dangers and difficulties posed by the par-70, 7,219 course laid out in rolling country northeast of Pittsburgh.

World number one Jason Day, seeking to add a second major title to the US PGA Championship he won last year, was due off in the afternoon alongside major winners Adam Scott and Louis Oosthuizen. The last US Open played at Oakmont, in 2007, was won  by Argentina’s Angel Cabrera.