Until Thursday, the story of the tournament was the weather.

Each of the practice round days had thunderstorms pass through at least once a day, leading to speculation that inclement weather would delay play and make conditions for spectators wet and possibly dangerous.

The day broke clear and the 6:45 a.m. tee times on both No. 1 and No. 10 started on schedule. For those of you who watched the television coverage, it really was that spectacular of a day. The blue sky was dotted with wispy white clouds, which was a nice change from the dark gray thunderheads that threatened throughout the first three days.

Now at the end of the day, the story is the golf.

Well known fan favorite Rickie Fowler was among the early morning tee times and posted the top score of the day at seven under par. With three birdies on the front side and four on the back, Fowler hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation and was never in danger of posting a bogey on the card.

England’s Paul Casey shot a six under round teeing off in the afternoon but his round was much different. An eagle on the par 5 first hole was a fast start, and he followed with a birdie on the second hole. A bogey on the fourth, followed by two more birdies got him to the turn at four under par.

The back started with a bogey on 10, but Casey fashioned three more birdies to finish with a 6-under 66, tied for second with Xander Schauffele of the USA. Who? That is pretty much what everyone else was thinking. There was probably no gallery following his play, so his name on the leaderboard generated lots of questions. At age 23 and a recent graduate of San Diego State University, this is Xander’s first U.S. Open.

As a professional player, he still had to qualify as he was not exempt by being in the top 60 ranked professional players in the world. Not even close. To get to Erin Hills, he survived a 5-for-2 spot playoff in the Memphis, Tennessee, sectional qualifier, and he made the most of his debut by outshooting a long list of big name professionals in the first round. It will be fun to root for him to continue his good play. Following Casey and Schauffele, there were three players at minus-5 and four more at minus-4.

In all, 44 players finished under par for the opening round, which I believe is a US Open record. So much for the tale that Erin Hills was going to be a tough test.  However, 2014 U.S. Open champion Martin Kaymer was even par, 2015 winner Jordan Spieth was one over par, and defending champion and world number one ranked Dustin Johnson was three over par on the day.

Later in the day, I attended a typical Wisconsin Brat and Beer outing, a regular and popular affair in these parts, right up there with the ubiquitous Friday Fish Fry. The tournament was the main topic of discussion.

I had the opportunity to talk with a local excavation contractor whose company has been working on the new roads nearby and inside Erin Hills, including the volunteer parking lot. His firm alone has had 20 dump trucks averaging 10 loads each dumping gravel and remaking the temporary roads that had been washed out or damaged by the thunderstorms of the first three days, including the volunteer parking lot, which remained closed today.

And he disclosed that there was at least one other firm working the same projects. This sure reveals the magnitude of the undertaking that is required to host a major golf tournament in the middle of rural south central Wisconsin. This is really beautiful country, but it is remote and lacking major tournament facilities and infrastructure. The USGA has to create a venue with what is here, and it is quite extensive. The traffic enforcement presence is highly noticeable, which facilitates the access to the course. Traffic is planned and routed specifically with the flow of fan busses arriving from the two remote, but free, parking lots located 30 minutes away.

There is no fan parking anywhere near the course except for the local residents’ yards, many of which are directly across from the main gate and going for up to $50 per day. They are full.

I was back on the volunteer schedule Friday after two days off. My shift doesn’t begin until 3 p.m., so I will be able to get on the course earlier and watch some of the play before heading to my assigned spot.

The good news is my committee chair emailed me tonight to say the volunteer lot would be open in the morning, making my trip to the course from my brother in law’s house about 10 minutes instead of an hour.

Even better, the trip back at the end of a long day will be the same.

Rob Habicht, of Edwardsburg, is one of hundreds of volunteers who are working at the 2017 U.S. Open a Erin Hills in Erin, Wisconsin.