Colin Montgomerie was the only player to pass golf’s toughest test in the red colours on Thursday, as his one-under 69 gave him the first-round lead in the 2006 US Open.
Montgomerie’s was the only under-par effort on a day when a wind-blown Winged Foot humbled a host of top players, including Tiger Woods.
Superstar Woods and Masters champion Phil Mickelson were scripted to duel for the second Major championship of the season on the 7 264-yard, par-70 Winged Foot West course.
But 42-year-old Montgomerie stole the show.
”Obviously, 69 is a good score under any circumstances,” said Montgomerie, who rebounded from two bogeys in the first three holes to seize the early lead.
He added birdies at the sixth and ninth, both par-fours, around another bogey at the eighth to make the turn at one-over, then birdied the long par-five 12th and the 17th coming home.
”It’s got to be difficult when you’ve got the world’s best players and there’s only one guy under par,” he said. ”The greens are drying out considerably and it’s tricky to get the ball close to the hole. The greens are very tricky, and the fairways are narrow. You add all that in with a wind gusting — it’s very, very difficult.”
Mickelson, gunning for a remarkable third straight Major crown after his win in Augusta in April and at the PGA Championship last August, led a group of five players on even-par 70.
He was joined by 2003 US Open champion Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker, Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez and England’s David Howell.
Stricker rebounded after starting off with two bogeys and a double-bogey to stand four-over through three.
Howell, in contrast, mounted a late challenge and was four-under through 14 holes, but played the last four holes four-over.
He closed his round with a three-putt double-bogey at 18.
Howell said the knowledge that countryman Luke Donald and South African Trevor Immelman putted off the front of the 18th green earlier in the day was hanging over him at the last.
”I left it six feet short and missed it,” he said.
”It’s the best I’ve played at a US Open, that’s a positive,” Howell said. ”I hit bad shots probably at the easiest part of the day. If you hit bad shots around here, you’re going to get punished.”
Woods, playing for the first time since the Masters — and for the first time since the death of his father in May — finished with a six-over 76 that started with three straight bogeys and included a double-bogey at the par-five 12th.
The US superstar, whose 10 Major titles include two US Open triumphs, managed one birdie in his outward run, which was capped when he hit his approach on the ninth into a grandstand en route to another bogey.
Mickelson, too, ran into trouble at the 12th, picking up the first of his two bogeys there after starting at the 10th tee.
Mickelson got back to even par with a birdie at the par-four 18th, where he drained a difficult 30-footer.
”The rough is brutally tough, but I thought the graduated rough kept it fair,” Mickelson said of the set-up that punishes shots further from the fairway more severely. ”With the wind, though, it’s very tough because you can’t be as precise with your iron play.”
After narrowly missing a par putt at the second hole, Mickelson again got back to even with a birdie at the 162-yard, par-three seventh. And he was unhappy not to have picked up another stroke at the par-five fifth.
”I wasn’t pleased with making five,” he said. ”I hit a perfect drive off the tee, hit a good seven-iron to about 50 feet behind the pin and didn’t hit a good first putt,” he said.
World number three Vijay Singh of Fiji, US open newcomer Kenneth Ferrie of England, Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, Australian Geoff Ogilvy and former Masters champion Mike Weir of Canada were among eight players tied for seventh on 71.
Woods wasn’t the only player to struggle mightily.
The first-round scoring average of 75,984 was the highest first-round average at the US Open since the 77,8 at Shinnecock Hills in 1986.
The single sub-par round was the least for a first round since 1986, when none of the 156 players broke par.
Two-time US Open champion Retief Goosen of South Africa carded a 77, as did former world number one David Duval and former British Open champion Justin Leonard.
England’s Donald had a 78, as did Spain’s Sergio Garcia, while David Toms signed for a nine-over 79.
Defending champion Michael Campbell of New Zealand, playing with Woods, made the turn at two-over but bogeyed three in a row from the 13th en route to a 75.
Two-time champion Ernie Els of South Africa salvaged a 74 with an eagle two at his last hole — the ninth. — AFP