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MAMARONECK, N.Y. - The numbers at the top of the leaderboard aren’t impressive. The names, however, certainly are.
Colin Montgomerie, still in search of his first major, overcame two bogeys over his first three holes to lead the U.S. Open on Thursday after shooting a 1-under 69 at a wind-blown Winged Foot that has been every bit as tough as advertised.
Jim Fuyrk and Phil Mickelson are among a logjam tied for second at even par. Vijay Singh is a shot back, along with Mike Weir.
All eyes this afternoon are on Tiger Woods, playing for the first time since the death of his father following the Masters. The rust is showing as Woods has bogeyed his first two holes to start his round.
Fuyrk, going for his second U.S. Open title in four years, was alone in the lead until he drove into the rough on the 18th hole. He took a stance for his second shot standing on a drain, but didn’t want to take the free drop, afraid the ball might fall deeper into the 5-inch grass. He made bogey.
“I think even par is very good,” Fuyrk said. “It all depends on the rest of the scores. It appears it’s going to be tough out there. It doesn’t look like there are going to be a lot of scores under par.”
Mickelson, going for his third straight win in the majors, scrambled all day — saving par after missing the green five straight times over his first nine. He made a pair of 30-foot birdie putts to offset his two bogeys.
Singh putted from the fringe from 60 feet on No. 15 for a birdie that put him at 1-under, briefly alone in the lead. He bogeyed the next two holes, however, to fall a stroke behind.
Many thought the heavily contoured greens on this A.W. Tillinghast course would be the undoing of the best players at this, the tournament considered the toughest of them all. Singh saw it differently.
“It’s still getting it off the tee and into the fairway,” he said. “There’s a lot of wind up there. And if you miss the fairway, you’re going to have trouble getting it up and down.”
Mickelson, winner of last season’s PGA Championship and this year’s Masters, played almost a dozen rounds at Winged Foot in the months leading up to the Open. After analyzing the severely sloping greens, he put a new 64-degree wedge in his bag to deal with the tough greenside shots he figured to face.
Starting his round on the back, and playing in a cool, blustery wind, Mickelson had plenty of chances to use the new wedge.
He hit an errant third shot into the sand on the par-5 12th that led to a bogey. He then missed the next five greens — but saved par on all of them. He got a huge break along the way, getting free relief from a sprinkler behind the 16th green. Instead of having the ball pressed against a two-inch collar of rough, he was able to drop in the first cut for an easy chip.
Davis Love is at 6-over — a bad start for the man who won the last time a major was contested at Winged Foot, the 1997 PGA Championship.
Among others struggling were Jose Maria Olazabal (75), Justin Leonard (77), David Toms (79) and Nick Price (81)
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