PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – For the first 17 holes in his U.S. Open debut, former Southeastern Louisiana University golfer Hugo Leon played like a seasoned veteran as he stayed within a stroke of the leaders on Thursday at Pebble Beach.

Only a slight hiccup on his tee shot on the par-5, 543-yard 18th hole kept him from possibly being the story of the day.

Leon, who played for Southeastern from 2003-07, fired a 2-over-par 73 to finish four shots off the lead after the first round and was tied with Open veterans Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, Stuart Appleby and Sergio Garcia.

After recording a bogey on his second hole, Leon posted birdies at No. 3 and No. 6 before carding back-to-back bogeys on his next two holes. Leon bounced back on the back nine with birdies at No. 11 and No. 14 to move to even-par for the day.

Leon hit his tee shot at No. 18 into a tree and was forced to take a one-stroke penalty. After getting to within 10 feet on his fifth shot, Leon missed a putt for bogey – one of his rare misses of the day after recording 25 putts on the day.

Leon will return to action on Friday when he tees off at 4:31 p.m. CST from the 10th tee.

Live results and an interactive play tracker are available at www.usopen.com.