Only four can finish under par
his own because he advanced it only 6 feet.
Mickelson asked an officialif there was a rule that allowed a player to see the ball ashe was trying to hit it.
“People talk about the fairways are ‘more generous’ for an Open,” Charles Howell III said after a 71. “When the wind starts blowing this way, they’re not generous.”
Woods ran into problems on the short grass — it took him three shots to reach the putting surface behind the first green on his way to a triple bogey, and he fourputted on No. 13 for the first of successive double bogeys.
“It was pretty evident nobody was making any birdies in the morning — lots and lots of bogeys and ‘others,’” Woods said. “My game plan was not to make any ‘others,’ and I made three of them. So didn’t do very well there.”
Piercy, the last man in the 156-man field as an alternate from qualifying, was so disgusted with his game in his final practice round that he walked off the course. He dropped only two shots, both on par 3s, and was the first to post a 69. Poulter also played in the morning, and Johnson and Henley played in the afternoon as the wind reached its full strength.
Henley was the only player to reach 3 under at any point, and he promptly gave that back with a double bogey on No. 10.
Even those at 71 felt as though they put in a hard day’s work, a group that included Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson.
Johnson holed mediumlength putts for birdies, a few short putts for par and picked up a bonus when his shot from a front bunker on the par-4 eighth rattled and rolled into the cup. He also got a break on the fifth hole. The only way he found his ball in the rough was that former PGA champion and Sky Sports reporter Rich Beem stepped on it. He still made bogey, but it beat having to go back to the tee to play his third shot.
It didn’t take long to figure out what kind of test this was going to be, with the 15 flags atop the grandstand next to the 18th green flapping as the first group teed off, and they were crackling by the afternoon.
Spieth missed a 4-foot par putt on No. 10 to start his round, and then tried to get that shot back by playing a bunker shot at the flag on the par-3 11th. It trickled over the green and down the slope, and Spieth didn’t get back on the green until he played three more shots. He salvaged a triple bogey and shot 78.
McIlroy was 10 over after 11 holes.
From the middle of the first fairway, Woods went long over the green. He chipped once, and it rolled back down the hill. Another try, same result. Finally, he rapped his putter up the hill and by the hole and missed the putt. He held it together until a four-putt on No. 13, the last three of those putts from 6 feet.
“Shoot something in the 60s tomorrow, and I’ll be just fine,” Woods said. “I just think today was the toughest day we’ll have all week. But then again, I think they’re going to let these greens firm out a little bit. They’ll start to pick up a little bit of speed, and it will be a good U.S. Open again.”