US Open round one update
June 13th 2008 01:44
What a spectacular course and what a start to the US Open.
Tiger Woods definitely suffered from a combination of his sore knee and the layoff he required in recovering from surgery.
Given this tournament is being played on a course, Torrey Pines, which he usually brutalises into submission, the fact he could shoot only a one-over par 71 is great for the Open: Woods is handy to the lead but not dominating so we’ve got a contest. In fact, you could say Woods' knee is just the handicap world golf needs to make a level playing field!
Strangely Woods had two double bogeys in his round and was spotted more than once losing his cool on the scenic clifftop course.
There are a couple of unusual names on the leaderboard but the best you thing can say about the top 20 or so after round one is that there’s plenty of class there and plenty of Aussies: Stuart Appleby, Geoff Ogilvy, Robert Allenby and Adam Scott are all up there.
Golfdelerium’s pre-tournament tips are going OK. The best placed is Allenby, who at one point took had five birdies in six holes as he went from three-over par to two-under before finishing at one-under par.
Luke Donald, my top tip, was cruising at two-under par until bogeys at 14 and 17 late in his round dropped him back to even par. He needs to putt a little better.
Mickelson threw in a good recovery to get back to even par after being two-over, including hit one shot in the rough that went precisely three feet while steady Stewart Cink was another to claw his way back, getting to one over 71.
The only disaster is Sergio Garcia, who went six over par through seven holes before a string of pars capped by a birdie at the 18th to be five-under. With that bad round out of the way I expect him to pull himself together and improve steadily.
At this stage, while I’ve got an eye Stuart Appleby and Lee Westwood (whose accuracy makes him a good shot here), I’m not inclined to change my view as who might win – and I don’t think it’ll be Tiger.
Tiger Woods definitely suffered from a combination of his sore knee and the layoff he required in recovering from surgery.
Given this tournament is being played on a course, Torrey Pines, which he usually brutalises into submission, the fact he could shoot only a one-over par 71 is great for the Open: Woods is handy to the lead but not dominating so we’ve got a contest. In fact, you could say Woods' knee is just the handicap world golf needs to make a level playing field!
Strangely Woods had two double bogeys in his round and was spotted more than once losing his cool on the scenic clifftop course.
There are a couple of unusual names on the leaderboard but the best you thing can say about the top 20 or so after round one is that there’s plenty of class there and plenty of Aussies: Stuart Appleby, Geoff Ogilvy, Robert Allenby and Adam Scott are all up there.
Golfdelerium’s pre-tournament tips are going OK. The best placed is Allenby, who at one point took had five birdies in six holes as he went from three-over par to two-under before finishing at one-under par.
Luke Donald, my top tip, was cruising at two-under par until bogeys at 14 and 17 late in his round dropped him back to even par. He needs to putt a little better.
Mickelson threw in a good recovery to get back to even par after being two-over, including hit one shot in the rough that went precisely three feet while steady Stewart Cink was another to claw his way back, getting to one over 71.
The only disaster is Sergio Garcia, who went six over par through seven holes before a string of pars capped by a birdie at the 18th to be five-under. With that bad round out of the way I expect him to pull himself together and improve steadily.
At this stage, while I’ve got an eye Stuart Appleby and Lee Westwood (whose accuracy makes him a good shot here), I’m not inclined to change my view as who might win – and I don’t think it’ll be Tiger.
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