In future years, the top 60 players in the Official World Golf Ranking, as of both three weeks prior to the tournament and immediately before play starts, received invitations.

Ángel Cabrera (3), Michael Campbell, Jim Furyk (9,10,17,18), Lucas Glover, Retief Goosen (9,10,17,18), Graeme McDowell (8,11,17,18), Geoff Ogilvy (9,10,16,17,18) David Chung (a), Peter Uihlein (a) Trevor Immelman, Zach Johnson (9,10,17,18), Phil Mickelson (8,9,10,12,17,18), Charl Schwartzel (11,14,17,18) Stewart Cink, Pádraig Harrington (5,17), Louis Oosthuizen (11,17,18) Martin Kaymer (8,11,14,17,18), Yang Yong-eun (17,18) K. J. Choi (10,12,17,18), Henrik Stenson Alex Čejka, Ernie Els (9,10,11,17,18), Grégory Havret, Dustin Johnson (9,10,17,18), Matt Kuchar (9,10,17,18), Davis Love III, Brandt Snedeker (17,18) Robert Allenby (10,17,18), Paul Casey (10,11,17,18), Ben Crane (10,17,18), Jason Day (10,17,18), Luke Donald (10,11,12,14,17,18), Rickie Fowler (17,18), Bill Haas (17,18), Charley Hoffman (10), Anthony Kim, Hunter Mahan (10,17,18), Rory McIlroy (11,17,18), Jeff Overton (10), Ryan Palmer (10), Justin Rose (10,17,18), Adam Scott (10,17,18), Heath Slocum, Steve Stricker (10,13,17,18), Bo Van Pelt (10,17,18), Camilo Villegas (10), Nick Watney (10,12,17,18), Bubba Watson (10,12,13,17,18) Martin Laird (12,17,18), Ryan Moore (17,18), Kevin Na, Kevin Streelman Miguel Ángel Jiménez (17,18), Robert Karlsson (17,18), Francesco Molinari (17,18), Edoardo Molinari (17,18), Ian Poulter (17,18), Álvaro Quirós (14,17,18), Lee Westwood (17,18) Aaron Baddeley (18), Rory Sabbatini (17,18), David Toms (17,18), Mark Wilson (13) Jonathan Byrd (17,18) Hiroyuki Fujita, Kim Kyung-tae (17,18) Peter Hanson (18), Ryo Ishikawa, Matteo Manassero (18) Gary Woodland None (a) denotes amateur (L) denotes player advanced through local qualifying Thursday, June 16, 2011 Overnight rain softened the fairways and greens and allowed for lower-than-average scoring for the first round of a U.S. Open.

22-year-old New Yorker Chris DeForest, playing in his first professional tournament, looked set to join them until double-bogeying his final hole for a 71.

Defending champion Graeme McDowell was well-placed after an opening 70; he was alongside Robert Rock, who had only arrived on-site at 3am that morning after visa problems.

This tied the record score under par for any player, at any point of the tournament in the history of the U.S. Open; Gil Morgan and Tiger Woods had previously achieved the feat, but having played only 34 holes at the time, McIlroy was the quickest to reach it.

An immediate double-bogey at the 18th – McIlroy's first dropped shots of the tournament – took him back to 11-under, and a second round of 66, but the record-breaking continued: his eventual six-shot lead was the joint largest after 36 holes in major championship history.

[18] The man McIlroy led was South Korea's Y. E. Yang, who added a 69 to his opening 68 to sit on his own at five-under-par; he himself was three clear of the chasing pack.

Like all the afternoon starters, they were disrupted by a 42-minute delay in play as a thunderstorm passed over Congressional Country Club; this meant seven groups would need to return on Saturday morning to complete their rounds.

Once again 13 proved to be McIlroy's unlucky number as he bogeyed the 10th hole, but he swiftly regained his composure to become the first man ever to reach 14-under-par at a U.S. Open, before parring his way home.

Alongside him, former PGA champion Y. E. Yang scrambled well through a difficult front nine, and picked up two shots on his inward nine for a good 70, putting him in the final pairing once again on Sunday.

[22] This matched the low score amongst the early starters, made by major debutant Webb Simpson, whose 66 took him from the cutline to one-under-par, and the top 15.

[24] Rory McIlroy and Robert Garrigus accomplished the rare feat of shooting all four rounds of golf under par in a U.S. Open.