Pebble Beach stymied the world’s top two golfers as Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson failed to find a birdie on Thursday in the first round of the US Open championship.
England’s Paul Casey, Zimbabwe’s Brendon de Jonge and American Shaun Micheel shared the first-round lead on two-under 69, squeezing past a group that had held sway on one-under 70.
All day players struggled to build momentum on a par-71, 7,040-yard Pebble Beach layout that gave, but also took away. Woods and Mickelson never did.
“It was just tough,” said Woods, who finished with a three-over 74 that left him five adrift.
It was the third time in Woods’ career that he failed to post a birdie or better in a round at a major championship. His opening round in the 2000 US Open here was a six-under 65, the springboard for his record-setting 15-shot victory that year. Ten years on, the 14-time major champion is in the midst of a troubled season that started amid scandal and has been slowed by the pain from inflammation in his neck.
However, Woods said he played just as he had hoped, as evidenced by the fact that he hit the first 11 greens in regulation. But he couldn’t capitalise on any of his chances and made the turn one-over after a three-putt bogey at the ninth. Bogeys followed at 16 and the par-five 18th, where he missed a 10-footer for par.
“I hit the ball well enough to shoot a good score,” Woods said. “These greens are just awful. They’re moving every which way.”
Reigning Masters champion Mickelson made two detours to the ocean but said the real culprit in his four-over 75 was “horrific” putting.
“I gave myself plenty of opportunities and just couldn’t get the ball in the hole,” Mickelson said.
Atwal off to slow start
Arjun Atwal’s US Open debut didn’t turn out to be a fairytale one as the former Asia number one stuttered to four-over 75 to lie tied 66th. Atwal had an overall poor round, the upshot being just four birdies as against eight bogeys which jeopardised his chances of lingering for weekend action.
— Agencies