Carnage.

That’s the best way to describe the opening round of the U.S. Open on a windy Shinnecock Hills in Long Island, NY. Deep rough, devilish cross winds, and lightning fast greens brought the best golfers in the world to their knees.

“I mean, obviously, it’s really tough,” said Brooke Koepka, the defending champion. “The wind’s blowing about as hard as it can. The pin locations are pretty tough. Like I said, sometimes you’re having to aim outside the fairway. If the wind’s off to the left, you’re aiming outside into the left rough. And if you just pull it and turn it with the wind, you’re into the left rough.”

Koepka shot 5-over, but that was hardly the beating taken by many of the best players in the game.

For most weekend golfers, shooting 80 is a solid accomplishment. When it is a golfer on the PGA Tour shooting 80, you know something truly unusual has happened. When dozens of players shoot 80 in the same round, it can only be the U.S. Open.

Tiger Woods was 4-over par through the first two holes and it never really got better. Jordan Spieth carded a triple bogey on his second hole of the day and closed with a score of 78, 8-over par. Rory McIlroy was even worse, opening with a double-bogey and adding two more on the back nine to finish at 10-over par with a score of 80.

That’s not to say everyone faltered on the day. Former U.S. Open winner Dustin Johnson carded four birdies to shoot 1-under and sit in a tie for first, with a handful of players, including former RBC Canadian Open winner Scott Piercy and a resurgent Ian Poulter.

Piercy said his key was solid ball striking in the winds, which he pegged at 30 km per hour while warming up. From there he played Shinnecock more like a British Open course than a U.S. Open venue.

“Once I started hitting it solid, I could start flighting the ball down,” he said. “The more you can flight the ball down and hit it solid, keep it out of the wind, the better. At least that’s how I feel.”

Poulter said players need to recognize the challenges of a U.S. Open require a golfer to understand the conditions are outside of their control, and mistakes will happen.

“Patience is everything, especially this week and especially any U.S. Open,” said Poulter after his round. “Every one of the U.S. Opens I’ve played in the past, you know, I’ve kind of been disappointed. I’ve been angry. I’ve been frustrated.”

There are three Canadians in the field this week, but none had the opening round they were hoping for. Battling the wind in the morning, PGA Tour winner Mackenzie Hughes, who qualified into the event, played alongside amateur and NHL referee Garrett Rank. Rank might find it easier breaking up fights in the NHL—he had four double-bogeys and no birdies on the round. Hughes stumbled early, but finished at 6-over, a solid score considering he played in the most challenging weather.

Adam Hadwin, the highest-ranked Canadian in the world, was the other Canadian in the group, and he struggled as well, despite playing in the afternoon. With three double-bogeys on the back nine, Hadwin will have to fight hard to play on the weekend.

It isn’t unusual for new equipment to start sneaking into the bags of the game’s best around the U.S. Open and this week isn’t any different. Titleist staff players Justin Thomas and Jimmy Walker are trying out Titliest’s new TS2 and TS3 drivers, which should be released to the public sometime in the early fall. This is a standard business strategy for Titleist, who use their staff players to provide feedback and gain early interest in new products.

“This is an exciting step in the development process for all Titleist equipment,” the company said in a statement. “Earning the validation of the game’s best players ensures that new products are faithful to the Titleist brand promise of innovation, performance and quality excellence.”

Titleist said it began fitting its tour players in early June, and the drivers appeared on the USGA conforming list on Monday. Beyond that, the details on the driver are few, but Thomas said he’d picked up a few miles per hour—and some significant yardage—with the new driver.