Former MSU’er James Piot Under Par After Round 1 Of The U.S. Open

Reigning U.S. Amateur champion and former Michigan State University golfer James Piot (pictured above) shot a 1-under 69 in the first round of the 122nd U.S. Open golf championship at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts on Thursday morning.

His 1-under par tied him with his playing partners, defending U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm and reigning British Open champion Collin Morikawa.  As of 12:30pm on Thursday, Piot was in the top 10.

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Piot won the U.S. Amateur last August at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania over Austin Greaser (who's also in this year's U.S. Open field).  Winning that qualified him for this year's Masters, U.S. Open, and British Open.  It is unclear as to if Piot will play at next month's British Open at the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland.

James shot -2, 33 on the back nine to finish under par.  He tees off his second round tomorrow afternoon at 1:03pm off the 10th hole.  He will play with Rahm and Morikawa tomorrow.

Piot has played in four professional tournaments in 2022.  He missed the cut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March.  He also missed the cut in April's Masters Tournament, and missed the cut at The Memorial earlier this month.

He did play in the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational last week.  He won $163,000 for finishing tied for 25th at +7.  He is contracted to play in the LIV Golf Series this season, and has an option to play in the series in 2023.

If Piot wins the U.S. Open, he'll get $3.15 million for his efforts.  He'll also get a 10-year exemption to the U.S. Open and a five-year exemption to all four majors.