DAVE FAVILA | Staff Writer

The Rio Grande Valley will have to wait a little longer to be called home to a U.S. Open golf champion as 2011 Harlingen South graduate Roman Robledo did not make the cut Friday at Erin Hills Golf Course.

After shooting an opening round 6-over-par 78 on Thursday, Robledo came out on Friday and fired a disappointing 7-over-par 79 to finish the tournament at 13-over-par 157.

The former University of Houston standout quickly fell out of contention by bogeying six of the first eight holes he played followed by a double bogey to finish the front nine at 8-over 44.

Robledo began the back nine with consecutive birdies to get back to 6-over, but he simply couldn’t gain ground as he shot par the rest of the way except for the par-5 fifth hole that he bogeyed to fall back to 7-over for the day.

The 24-year-old will now return to work as part of the Mackenzie Tour (PGA Canada), which he has been a part of since graduating from U of H in 2015.

Earlier in the week, Robledo said that no matter what happened at the Open, he would continue to play golf and work toward becoming a member of the PGA Tour.

DAVE FAVILA | Staff Writer

Harlingen South graduate Roman Robledo’s first day at the 117th U.S. Open Golf Championship at Erin Hills Golf Course in Wisconsin could have gone better.

After shooting a 3-over-par 39 through the front nine, Robledo birdied the par-4 11th to move up to 2-over-par. However, he bogeyed the par-3 13th, double bogeyed the par-5 14th and bogeyed the par-4 17th to finish the day at 6-over-par 78.

“It was a grind out there, to say the least,” Robledo said. “I hit some real good shots and I wouldn’t say I played bad. It’s just a tough course.

“If you lose focus for a second in a major, you will bogey. They make it difficult out there for us because this is supposed to be a field with the best golfers in the world.”

The 2015 University of Houston graduate will now have a lot of ground to make up if he hopes to survive the cut heading into today’s second round. He is set to tee off at 9:57 a.m. today alongside Derek Barron, who shot a 2-under-par 70, and amateur Mason Andersen, who fired a first-round 1-over-par 73.

“I’m excited to see what I can do on Day 2,” he said. “It’s golf and I’m going to stick to my game plan, and accept everything good or bad. This is only the beginning of my career and I’m excited to see what is to come.”

NOTE: Robledo was tied for 143rd after Day 1. However, he still had a better first-day performance than the third-ranked player in the world, Jason Day of Australia, who shot a 7-over-par 79, and 2016 Masters champion Danny Willett of England, who fired a 9-over-par 81 to finish Thursday in second to last place.