Tiger Woods’ nightmare form continues at the US Open

UNIVERSITY PLACE, Washington: Chambers Bay can be as hard as the USGA wants it to be. And Henrik Stenson and Dustin Johnson shared the lead at 5-under 65, and the other 23 players who managed to break par in a gentle debut of the new golf course off Puget Sound agreed that it likely will only get tougher the rest of the way.

Another mystery deepened. Tiger Woods. In a hole deeper than that bunker he found by topping a 3-wood on his final hole, Woods sunk to another low with the highest opening round of his PGA Tour career and his worst score by three shots in two decades at the US Open. He shot an 80, which would have been even more shocking if he hadn’t had two scores even worse already this year. “I fought. I fought hard. And that was my number,” Woods said.

At least this time he had company. Woods beat only two players in the 156-man field. One of them was Rickie Fowler, who shot an 81.

Their scores were hardly a reflection of the way Chambers Bay was playing.

Johnson was flawless and powerful. His only mistake came on his final hole when he pulled a 6-iron on the par-3 ninth over the green and made his only bogey. Stenson, among the cynical of Chambers Bay when he first saw it, birdied four of his last five holes. He poured in a 25-footer on the 18th for his 65.

They had a one-shot lead over Patrick Reed. Matt Kuchar, Ben Martin and Brian Campbell, the amateur who just finished his college career at Illinois, were at 67.

In the group one shot behind was Masters champion Jordan Spieth, a 21-year-old Texan who has been around long enough to know that anything around par is considered good work at a US Open. “I think if I did it three more times, I’d be in really good position come Sunday,” Spieth said. “No complaints there.”

Rory McIlroy had a rough day. He was frustrated with the bumpy greens and shot 72.

Several tees were moved forward. Several pins were in spots where the slopes could be used to get the ball close.

Complaints – except for the greens – were at minimum.

“My guess was there would be 20 to 30 guys under par after today, and by the end there will be barely any,” Geoff Ogilvy said after his 69.

“With a course like this, I would have thought that would be a sensible strategy to keep us all happy on Thursday and then gradually wear us down.”

Woods said he was on the right path with his new swing, but it was taking time and he was trying his hardest.

That’s the message he gave at Memorial after his 85, yet his struggles were never more exposed than at the toughest test in golf, a major he has won three times.

From the side of a hill in deep, yellow grass, he hit one shot in which the club came out of his hand and landed some 15 feet behind him.

That would have been an image that defined this day at Chambers Bay — until he got to No 18 and hit a shot with which millions of hackers could identify.

Leave it to Woods to steal the show even if he wanted to hide.

Camilo Villegas took four shots to get out of a bunker on No 12 that ruined his birdiebirdie start. But as co-leader Stenson remarked: “It’s still a long journey until Sunday afternoon.” – AP