Grace leading SA fight at Chambers Bay

Cape Town - Fancourt star Branden Grace is the leading South African golfer after Thursday's first round at the 115th playing of the US Open.

Grace began his first round with a bogey at the difficult 10th hole before making an eagle on the 12th to move under par.

With nine worldwide victories to his name, Grace proved his star quality by finishing his front nine with a birdie on 18 for a start of 32.

The difficult Chambers Bay layout bit back to see Grace unable to improve his standing on the back nine.

Grace made seven pars and two bogeys to sign for a 69 (-1) and is four shots off the pace set by Henrik Stenson and Dustin Johnson.

Ernie Els, who has two US Open titles to his name, finished alongside George Coetzee at +2.

Els got underway more than six hours after the competition began and made a steady start with one birdie and one bogey on the front nine.

Unfortunately for the 1994 and 1997 winner of this event, three bogeys followed quickly after his birdie on hole number 11.

Coetzee was unable to take advantage of some great golf on his front nine as he made two bogeys which dented his three birdies.

The three-time European Tour winner struggled to a 38 on his back nine, the course's front nine, to finish on 72 for his opening round.

The next best placed South African is Charl Schwartzel who got off to a slow start.

Schwartzel signed for a three over 73 with nines of 38 and 35. He made just one birdie on the opening day.

SA scores after round one:

First round US Open scores:

66 - Patrick Reed (USA)

67 - Matt Kuchar (USA), Ben Martin (USA), Brian Campbell (USA)

68 - Cody Gribble (USA), Jason Dufner (USA), Jordan Spieth (USA), Joost Luiten (NED), Francesco Molinari (ITA), Marc Warren (SCO), Jason Day (AUS)

69 - Geoff Ogilvy (AUS), Miguel Angel Jimnez (ESP), Branden Grace (RSA), Colin Montgomerie (SCO), Shane Lowry (IRL), Phil Mickelson (USA), Kevin Chappell (USA), Brian Harman (USA), Brandt Snedeker (USA), Charlie Beljan (USA), Tony Finau (USA), Ollie Schniederjans (USA)

70 - Michael Putnam (USA), Bubba Watson (USA), Chris Kirk (USA), Kevin Na (USA), Nick Hardy (USA), Jamie Lovemark (USA), Daniel Summerhays (USA), Angel Cabrera (ARG), Masahiro Kawamura (JPN), Hideki Matsuyama (JPN), Sergio Garca (ESP), Alexander Levy (FRA), Sebastian Cappelen (DEN), Brad Fritsch (CAN), Cameron Smith (AUS), Adam Scott (AUS)

71 - Marcus Fraser (AUS), Andrs Romero (ARG), Cheng Tsung Pan (TPE), Thongchai Jaidee (THA), Morgan Hoffmann (USA), Jim Furyk (USA), Russell Henley (USA), Denny McCarthy (USA), Beau Hossler (USA), Kevin Kisner (USA)

72 - Troy Kelly (USA), Brooks Koepka (USA), Webb Simpson (USA), J.B. Holmes (USA), Billy Horschel (USA), Jimmy Walker (USA), Zach Johnson (USA), Mark Silvers (USA), Sam Saunders (USA), Bernd Wiesberger (AUT), John Parry (ENG), Andy Sullivan (ENG), Rory McIlroy (NIR), Danny Willett (ENG), Justin Rose (ENG), Paul Casey (ENG), Ian Poulter (ENG)), Jimmy Gunn (SCO), Kurt Barnes (AUS), John Senden (AUS), David Hearn (CAN), Camilo Villegas (COL), Hiroyuki Fujita (JPN), Shiv Kapur (IND), Martin Kaymer (GER), Ernie Els (RSA), George Coetzee (RSA)

73 - Charl Schwartzel (RSA), Marcel Siem (GER), Liang Wenchong (CHN), Lucas Bjerregaard (DEN), Marc Leishman (AUS), Oliver Farr (WAL), Luke Donald (ENG), Lee Westwood (ENG), Alexander Norn (SWE), An Byeong-Hun (KOR), Jack Maguire (USA), Keegan Bradley (USA), Tom Hoge (USA), Lucas Glover (USA), Bo Van Pelt (USA), Lee Janzen (USA), Bill Haas (USA), Hunter Mahan (USA), Davis Riley (USA)

74 - Richard Lee (USA), Jason Allred (USA), Tim O'Neal (USA), Gary Woodland (USA), Robert Streb (USA), Lee McCoy (USA), Brandon Hagy (USA), Kevin Lucas (USA), Roberto Castro (USA), D.A. Points (USA), Bryson DeChambeau (USA), Ryan Palmer (USA), Jake Knapp (USA), Matt Mabrey (USA), Andy Pope (USA), Baek Seuk-Hyun (KOR), Yang Gunn (KOR), Graeme McDowell (NIR), Jamie Donaldson (WAL), Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), Victor Dubuisson (FRA), Stephan Jger (GER), Ryo Ishikawa (JPN), Garth Mulroy (RSA), Thomas Aiken (RSA)

75 - Anirban Lahiri (IND), Sam Horsfield (ENG), Steve Marino (USA), George McNeill (USA), Cameron Tringale (USA), Ryan Moore (USA)

76 - Matthew NeSmith (USA), Brad Elder (USA), Erik Compton (USA), Charley Hoffman (USA), Jason Palmer (ENG), Bradley Neil (SCO)

77 - Darren Clarke (NIR), Tjaart Van der Walt (RSA), Retief Goosen (RSA), Louis Oosthuizen (RSA), Cole Hammer (USA), Michael Davan (USA)

78 - Kyle Jones (USA), Matt Every (USA), Blayne Barber (USA), Brendon Todd (USA), Tyler Duncan (USA), Jared Becher (USA), Shunsuke Sonoda (JPN), Stephen Gallacher (SCO), Danny Lee (NZL)

79 - Josh Persons (USA), Pat Wilson (USA)

80 - Alex Kim (USA), Billy Hurley III (USA), Tiger Woods (USA)

81 - Rickie Fowler (USA)

83 - Rich Berberian Jr. (USA)