Southampton - It was a tough opening round of the 118th US Open at Shinnecock Hills.
Only four golfers managed to post sub-par rounds - and no one signed for a bogey-free card.
READ: Johnson shares US Open lead at windy Shinnecock
South Africa's six-man contingent struggled through the blistering wind as players saw first-hand how tough it will be to challenge for this year's US Open title.
Dylan Frittelli was the first South African to tee off in the morning wave and started at 1-over through his front nine.
The 28-year-old soon found himself in trouble on the back nine, however, and recorded six bogeys and a double bogey for a round of 8-over par 78.
Frittelli said that despite the wind proving difficult on an already tough Shinnecock Hills course, things "could've gone worse".
"It was tough. The wind went from hole one, the greens were pretty mild compared to what they could be, but it was just difficult to find the fairway and the green and try and make a par," Frittelli told Sport24 after his effort on Thursday.
"I think I handled myself pretty well, just a few bogeys on the back nine but all and all, it wasn't such a bad start. It could've always been worse.
"I struggled with the left to right winds today, all of them I pretty much hit it into the rough. I worked on the range now and I tried to fix that by hitting straight with a little fade at the end," he said.
Westerly winds were swirling in throughout the day with gusts averaging between 20-30 mph as the world bests golfers battled to break par.
The greens around Shinnecock Hills have been up for debate over the last 14 years - it's what made the 2004 edition controversial.
"It's tough on these greens, you've got tons of break and lots of slope around the hole," said the South African.
"A few of their pin selections were quite crazy for day 1 but I'm not going to worry too much about it and hopefully tomorrow I can make more putts.
"My putting hasn't been good these last few tournaments, I've switched putters so I'm trying to figure out what's best for me moving forward," he said.
Frittelli, who is playing in his debut US Open, is determined to make the weekend.
"My short-term goal is making the cut. We'll see what the number will be tomorrow and I'll try and play as well as I can and get through to the weekend," he said.
"It's a tough tournament where you just need to put your head down and just make par after par and keep going, and then look up at the end of the tournament and see where you are."
Frittelli tees off on Friday in Round 2 at 19:03 SA time.
. @Dylan_Frittelli on the range with his driver after recording a 8-over par finish in the opening round of the #USOpen pic.twitter.com/zb3bSvX2YS
— Sport24News (@Sport24news) June 14, 2018