Landry Leads Field at Suspended US Open

OAKMONT, Pa. – Former Arkansas men’s golf All-American Andrew Landry ascended to the top of the leaderboard early Thursday morning at the 116th US Open at Oakmont Country Club and the PGA Tour rookie will hold the overnight lead at 3-under after play was suspended due to inclement weather.

Making his major championship debut at No. 624 in the official world golf rankings, Landry opened his round on the back nine and rolled home a birdie on the 10th hole to start his day. After six consecutive pars, he sank another birdie on the 17th hole and made the turn to the front side tied for the lead at 2-under.

The rookie caught fire on the front nine with a birdie on the second hole before play was halted due to inclement weather. After the delay, Landry never skipped a beat, posting birdies on No. 3 and No. 4 to get to 5-under par and create a three-shot lead on the field when play was suspended for a second time.

After another lengthy weather delay, this time for over two hours, Landry continued his consistent play, posting consecutive pars, before making a bogey on his 16th hole of the day. He had a birdie putt on his final hole to get to 4-under for his round, but the horn sounded once again on his walk up the fairway and play was suspended for the rest of the day.

If Landry can make his birdie putt on No. 9, he would turn in a 4-under 66 and give him the lowest opening round score in a US Open at Oakmont Country Club. The previous low first round is a 67 by Ben Hogan and Gary Player.

For the other former Razorbacks, David Lingmerth has three holes remaining in his round and is 1-over on the day and T-16th overall. Ethan Tracy never teed off and will make his major championship debut on Friday.

During his three years at Arkansas from 2007-09, Landry earned All-SEC honors three times, received honorable mention All-American honors in 2007 and 2008 and third-team All-American honors in 2009. His 72.61 stroke average in 114 collegiate rounds is the fourth-best mark in program history.

He holds the program’s all-time record for top 10 finishes in a career with 25 and he captured the 2009 Reunion Intercollegiate Championship with rounds of 72-72-71 – 215 (-1) to finish as the only player under par. In his three appearances at the SEC Championship, he finished T-4th, T-15th and T-9th.

Landry helped lead Arkansas to the greatest run in program history in 2009, as the Razorbacks advanced to the National Championship match against Texas A&M during the NCAA’s first year of match play format. The Razorbacks defeated Washington (3-2) in the quarterfinals, Georgia (3-1-1) in the semifinals and lost a heartbreaker to the Aggies (3-2) in the championship match.

Landry led Arkansas in stroke average all three years of his collegiate career, posting 72.20 as a freshman, 72.83 as a sophomore and 72.82 as a junior before turning professional.

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