Sergio Garcia: Oakmont the toughest course I've played

"It's definitely the toughest I've ever played". Sergio Garcia was honest in his ranking of the challenging Oakmont Country Club after an exhausting days play in Pennsylvania.

After bad weather forced the abandonment of Thursday's opening round, Garcia finally took to the field on Friday, playing 36 consecutive holes as tournament officials tried to make up for lost time.

Garcia, who did not hit a ball on Thursday, battled to an even-par 70 after posting a first-round 68, to be two shots adrift of leaders Dustin Johnson and Andrew Landry at two under.

"We know how difficult the U.S. Open is, and here at Oakmont even tougher. But physically, at the end, it was -- you could feel -- I could feel my legs, they were tightening up a little bit. But we're so happy we got it done," the Spanish star said.

"We don't have to come back tomorrow until the afternoon. We can rest a little bit, take a nice, hot bath and get ready for tomorrow."

On the course itself, Garcia added: "It's definitely the toughest. Definitely the toughest I've ever played. There's no doubt about it.

"It is really tough the way it's playing right now, being a little bit softer. "It was easily the toughest on Monday and on Tuesday and Wednesday. No doubt. When the greens were firm. Good golf course, though."

He continued: "It was tough, obviously. I'm not going to lie, it was much easier than it was in the practice rounds because of the rain. But it was a little bit breezy this morning.

"It played tough. You still had to hit good shots. A lot of pins, you had to be careful not to spin it too much to spin it on the green, like it happened to us a couple of times. So you still have to think your way around very well. "I'm very happy to, obviously, finish at two under. I didn't play that great this afternoon but I thought I scrambled nicely and I made a couple big putts when I needed to."