Colin Montgomerie's one-under 69 gave him the US Open first-round lead on Thursday as 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 this week.
But only the 42-year-old Montgomerie, still in search of his first major title, broke par. "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 finished," he said. "The greens are drying out considerably and it's tricy 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. Donald 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 18.
"I left it six feet short and missed it," he said. 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.
He fell further adrift with a double-bogey at 12, the 640-yard par-five. That was where Mickelson, who started on the 10th tee, picked up the first of two bogeys in his 70. Mickelson tried a strategic approach, but after he laid up his third shot found a bunker. He blasted out and two-putted for bogey.
Mickelson finally 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. "Downhill putts you don't want to give it too much energy. I left it about eight feet short and missed it." 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 on 71.
Woods wasn't the only player to struggle mightily. 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. David Toms signed for a nine-over 79 and England's Luke Donald a 78.
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.
69 - Colin Montgomerie (SCO)
70 - Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker, Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP), David Howell (ENG)
71 - Kenneth Ferrie (ENG), Graeme McDowell (NIR), Vijay Singh (FIJ), John Cook, Mike Weir (CAN), Fred Funk, Kevin Stadler, Geoff Ogilvy (AUS)
72 - Phillip Archer (ENG), Billy Mayfair, Adam Scott (AUS), Craig Barlow, Thomas Bjorn (DEN), Jason Dufner, Peter Hedblom (SWE), Woody Austin, sCOTT hEND (AUS), Stuart Appleby (AUS), Stephen Ames (CAN), Bart Bryant, Bo Van Pelt
73 - Kent Jones, Robert Allenby (AUS), Fred Couples, Zach Johnson, Padraig Harrington (IRL), Rod Pampling (AUS), Jeev Milkha Singh (IND), Mark Hensby (AUS), Darren Clarke (NIR), Tim Herron, Skip Kendall
74 - Ian Poulter (ENG), Angel Cabrera (ARG), Rory Sabbatini (RSA), Paul McGinley (IRL), Rich Beem, Jeff Sluman, Andrew Morse, JB Holmes, Camilo Villegas (COL), Steve Jones, Ernie Els (RSA), Charl Schwartzel (RSA), Taylor Woo
75 - Andrew Svoboda, DJ Trahan, Keiichiro Fukabori (JPN), Richard Green (AUS), Nick O'Hern (AUS), Lucas Glover, Jose Maria Olazabal (ESP), Stewart Cink, Henrik Stenson (SWE), Arron Oberholser, Duffy Waldorf, Jay Haas, Toru Taniguchi (JPN), Michael Campbell (NZL), Lee Williams, a-Billy Horschel
76 - Brandt Jobe, Chad Campbell, Scott Verplank, Rocco Mediate, Davis Love, Trevor Immelman (RSA), Dean Wilson, Michael Harris, Charley Hoffman, Ben Hayes, Maarten Lafeber (NED), Corey Pavin, Allen Doyle, Tiger Woods, Sean O'Hair, Peter Jacobsen, Chris DiMarco, KJ Choi (KOR), Ryuji Imada (JPN), Stephen Gangluff, Greg Kraft, Chad Collins
77 - JJ Henry, Shaun Micheel, Tim Clark (RSA), Justin Leonard, David Duval, Retief Goosen (RSA), a-Jonathan Moore, David Berganio, Jyoti Randhawa (IND), a-Alex Coe, Tadahiro Takayama, Paul Casey (ENG), Ben Crane, a-Edoardo Molinari (ITA), Todd Hamilton, Charles Howell, Carl Pettersson (SWE), Kenny Perry, George McNeil, Tag Ridings, Nathan Green (AUS), John Mallinger
78 - Ted Purdy, Nick Dougherty (ENG), Luke Donald (ENG), Brad Fritsch (CAN), Jay Delsing, Matt Kuchar, Mark Brooks, Tom Lehman, Ben Curtis, Niclas Fasth (SWE), Sergio Garcia (ESP), Travis Hurst, Jason Allred, Dustin White, a-Ryan Baca
79 - Chris Nallen, Steve Lowery, David Toms, John Koskinen, Stephen Woodward, Tommy Armour, Tom Pernice, Joey Sindelar
80 - Oliver Wilson (ENG), Brett Quigley, Bob Estes, Mark Calcavecchia, Olin Browne
81 - Nicholas Thompson, Mathew Goggin (AUS), Shingo Katayama (JPN), Nick Price (ZIM), a-Patrick Nagle, Madalitso Muthiya (ZIM), a-Taad Fujikawa, Graeme Storm (ENG), Michael Derminio
82 - Rob Johnson, Lee Janzen
83 - John Rollins, David Oh
84 - a-Ryan Posey, Andy Bare
85 - a-Dillon Dougherty
86 - Phil Tataurangi (NZL).