“This is the old Tiger,” said Bubba Watson, the last Green Jacket and who played with Tiger Woods yesterday in the first round of the U.S. Open in San Francisco, which is provisionally led by Michael Thompson at -4. He did not incur in a bad position, none of his shots escaped into the overgrown grass that flanks the fairways. He hardly showed the tension of someone playing such a demanding major. Tiger, who won his last major, precisely the US Open, in 2008, played under par (-1) at the stressful Olympic Club. He only used his driver on three holes and his 69 strokes were like the basic lines of the manual with which the Californian became practically invincible years ago. With consecutive birdies at the end of his round, including a 14-meter putt to sink the ball on the fifth hole, Woods carded a 69, one under par, which gives him hope of finally leaving behind a four-year drought in the majors.
“I feel like I had control of my game all day,” Woods expressed. “I just stuck to my game strategy and executed it.”
Bubba Watson and Phil Mickelson, his traveling companions until Friday, bit Tiger’s dust as before: Bubba signed 8 over and Phil, also a left-handed player, +6.
“El Tigre” gave a superb lesson to the two best left-handed players in the world.
The table is led by the modest 27-year-old Thompson, who made more birdies than anyone else (seven) and only 22 putts.
Thompson, the 29th in his only previous U.S. Open experience (Torrey Pines, 2008), is in the lead, although the afternoon round is yet to tee off.
In addition to Thompson and Tiger, only four other players were under par, including former U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland, England’s Justin Rose, and Americans David Toms and Nick Watney, who made an albatross on the par-5 17th hole, holing from the fairway.
The four were tied for second place with Tiger at 1 under par, three strokes behind the leader.
Argentina’s Angel Cabrera had a great start, with two birdies in the first three holes, but in a demanding course he then made four bogeys and ended up with a 72, 2 over par on Thursday. Anyway, he was tied for 23rd place and will have material to work with on Friday morning when he restarts his championship.
The group composed by the three best players in the world did not have a good afternoon. Only Lee Westwood could “escape” with a 73, +3, which left him tied in 39th place with several players, including Spain’s Sergio Garcia. Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, World No. 2 and defending champion, and England’s Luke Donald, leader of the world ranking, recorded rounds of 77 and 79 respectively in what was a start to forget for both of them.
“My putter went cold today, otherwise I might have been able to get a more reasonable score,” Donald said. “But this place is tough. I feel like it got a lot tougher than Wednesday and I didn’t hit the shots when I needed to.”
Collectively, the world’s top three signed a combined score of 19-over-par, and that seemed to sit well with USGA chief Mike Davis.
“It had the difficulty that we want a championship course to have,” Davis said. “It was definitely a good test of golf.”
“It tested virtually every part of the game. And I think the key was that the field got a little firmer relative to the practice rounds. Our course technical team felt that we really need to hydrate the course if we’re going to survive the next four days.”
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