Phil Mickelson makes flying start at US Open

American, whose wife is suffering from cancer, receives a hero's welcome and responds with some sparkling golf
It was anticipated that Phil Mickelson would receive a hero’s welcome at this US Open, but what happened on the Black course at Bethpage State Park yesterday exceeded expectations. New Yorkers, who had taken him to their hearts in 2002, when he was the runner-up here to Tiger Woods, excelled themselves as they showed their support for the player and, indirectly, for his wife, Amy, who is about to begin treatment for breast cancer.
Mickelson was given ovations on every tee and as he left every green. Buoyed by this support, he responded with some sparkling golf — and some that was not so sparkling. The world No 2 had said that he hoped he would play well, but with all that was going on in his life now he could not be sure. Apart from losing a ball with a wild drive from the 13th tee, he took advantage of having his first round delayed from Thursday by going round in 69, one under par.
Good as that score was for Mickelson, it was five strokes more than Mike Weir’s remarkable 64, one of the best first rounds in US Open history and ten strokes fewer than Woods, the defending champion. Weir had one double-bogey, nine pars and eight birdies, which, wrung from a course that is very, very difficult, must have made him feel like a man who had got away with a bank robbery.
Weir’s play overshadowed a 66 by Peter Hanson, of Sweden, while elsewhere the day resembled a walk down memory lane with former winners of the tournament. David Duval, who last had a top-ten finish in any tournament in 2002 and is ranked 882nd in the world, showed some of the form that won him the 2001 Open. His 67 was the same score as Todd Hamilton, the 2004 winner at Royal Troon.
You can set your watch by Graeme McDowell. Come a major championship and he will be there atop the leaderboard after the first round. That is where he was on the Thursday evening of the 2006 Open at Hoylake and that was where he was on the Thursday evening of last year’s Open at Royal Birkdale, too.
And for a while yesterday, after the rain-interrupted first round of the US Open had begun again, there was McDowell in his customary position once more. “I am fascinated by the challenge of major championships,” McDowell said after his 69. “It is what we measure our games by. Pinehurst in 2005 was my first major championship and I was frozen, like a deer in a car’s headlights. I was probably two out of ten at coping then. Now I would give myself five out of ten. I am starting to get my head around these things. Guys like Tiger and Padraig Harrington have learnt how to do it and prepare mentally for it.”
McDowell’s reference to Woods and Harrington was understandable. Between them, the world Nos 1 and 11 have won three of the past four major championships, but for all that they have 17 major championships between them, the two were well outscored by the Northern Irishman yesterday.
Harrington was already four over par when he and Woods picked up where they had left off the previous night and for Harrington, things did not get much better. He finished with a 76. Harrington says he has to improve what has been the bedrock of his success, the short game. “Putting is the weak link,” he said, though to this observer it was his game from tee to green that let him down.
Friends and family are concerned that his tinkering either has gone on too long in 2009 or is not working. He has missed the halfway cut in three of his past four tournaments in the United States and in the 3 Irish Open at County Louth golf club, too.
Woods was level par with four holes remaining. It had been a mixed round to that point but on a course as wet as this one, even though some of the holes had been shortened because of the rain, this was only to be expected.
Woods was not concerned at his slow start nor his poor finish, although when he saw how those players who played their entire round yesterday had received such an advantage, he might have reconsidered his position. Even for a man such as he, making up ten shots on Weir is asking something.
First-round scores .
United States unless stated; * denotes amateur
64: M Weir (Can).
66: P Hanson (Swe).
67: D Duval, T Hamilton, R Barnes.
68: R Mediate.
69: G McDowell (N Ire), D Weaver, L Glover, D Toms, A Scott (Aus), P Mickelson, S O’Hair.
70: I Poulter (GB), J Brehaut, *C Tringale, J Edfors (Swe), R Moore, D Smail, *K Stanley, S García (Sp), S Hansen (Den), R Fisher (GB), F Funk, O Wilson (GB).
71: F Molinari (It), M Sim (Aus), J Leonard, K Sutherland, J Mallinger, T Murphy, A Kim, C Villegas (Col), T Lehman, K Perry, A McLardy (SA), B Snedeker, M Kuchar.
72: V Singh (Fiji), R Sabbatini (SA), J Furyk, K J Choi (S Kor), B Curtis, B Watson, L Westwood (GB), *B Martin, A Yano, D Johnson, R McIlroy (N Ire), H Mahan, T Levet (Fr), R Blaum.
73: S Stricker, J Merrick, C Wittenberg, G Ogilvy (Aus), A Romero (Arg), B van Pelt, T Clark (SA), H Stenson (Swe), R Spears, P Tomasulo, S Allan (Aus), *N Taylor (Can), B Baird, J J Henry, J B Holmes, A Quirós (Sp), N Watney, R Goosen (SA), J Rose (GB), S Cink, J-F Lucquin (Fr), B Gay, *T Alexander, M Welch, R Jacquelin (Fr), B Mayfair, S Stefani, G Woodland.
74: C Kirk, R Pampling (Aus), T Woods, J P Hayes, Á Cabrera (Arg), *B Burgoon, G McNeill, A Parr (Can), Bae Sang Moon (S Kor), C Bowden, L Donald (GB), J Kamte (SA), M Laird (GB), D Clarke (N Ire), S Ames (Can), D Batty (Aus), C Yancey.
75: C Wi (S Kor), Z Johnson, R Allenby (Aus), P Casey (GB), R Imada (Japan), S Khan (GB), M Bettencourt, G Fernández-Castaño (Sp), C Pettersson (Swe), C Lowe, D Stiles.
76: B Crane, K Duke, M Kaymer (Ger), E Romero (Arg), H Slocum, P Harrington (Ire), *V Snyder, C Beckman, D J Trahan, S Appleby (Aus). C Stroud, C Beckstrom, *M Nagy, *C Klaasen.
77: R Bland (GB), M Campbell (NZ), M Á Jiménez (Sp), A Que (Phil), J M Lara (Sp), N Tyler, K Yokoo (Japan), S Gutschewski, C Schwartzel (SA).
78: J M Singh (India), C Jensen, *D Erdy, S Dyson (GB), *R Fowler, J McCumber, K Silva, M Miles, J Nitties (Aus), E Els (SA), M Jones (Aus), C Beljan.
79: E Axley, B Weekley, G Kraft, S Kai (Japan).
80: *D Kittleson, C Campbell, A Svoboda, S Farren, S Conway. 81: D Horsey (GB), *S Lewis, *K Peterman.
83: *J Brock.
Source:The times