US Open - Casey tied for early lead at Pebble
Pebble Beach may be the world's most spectacular venue for a game of golf, but the course wasn't cultivated with a view to yielding outrageous scores. In the first round of the US Open yesterday, just nine players broke par, while some of the world's greatest golfers slumped to scores of three and four-over par.
England's Paul Casey (pictured), America's Shaun Micheel and Zimbabwe's Brendon de Jonge shared a narrow lead of just two-under-par 69 - that despite the 29-year-old de Jonge, who has never won on the PGA Tour, carding four bogeys (but also an eagle on the 14th). Micheel carded three bogeys and five birdies, while Casey picked up two bogeys to his four birdies - flawless rounds here are clearly going to be at a premium, with no-one managing one yesterday.
Among those tied for fourth place, a stroke back on one-under, was another Englishman, Ian Poulter. The 34-year-old carded three birdies and a pair of bogeys to finish in the top 10, along with Germany's Alex Cejka, Canada's Mike Weir, Korea's KJ Choi, and Spain's Rafael Cabrera-Bello.
Ryo Ishikawa also finished on the same score; already a superstar in his native Japan, where he was the Golf Tour money leader last year, the 18-year-old Ishikawa has struggled to make an impact in the US before now. But the youngster nonetheless made headlines around the world in May this year when shooting the lowest-ever score recorded on a major professional golf tour, a 58-under-par at Japanese event the Crowns in Japan - on the same day Rory McIlroy won at Quail Hollow.
McIlroy was one of the names tipped for possible success here in California before the tournament began, but the Northern Irishman was off to a slow start yesterday - in common with much of the field. Tied for 66th place on four-over, the good news for the 21-year-old is that score seems par for the course, pardon the pun. Mac's opening round featured just one birdie yesterday, on the 6th, with a double bogey on the 14th - one of Pebble's more accommodating holes, at least on the evidence of de Jonge's earlier eagle.
McIlroy's countryman Graeme McDowell did much better, finishing on level par along with Englishman Luke Donald, who is currently going through something of a renaissance after winning his first tournament in four years at the Madrid Masters a few weeks ago. Donald and McDowell were tied with the Americans Dustin Johnson and David Toms.
Sergio Garcia was two-over - under the circumstances, that's actually encouraging for the Spaniard, who's been in awful form of late. Padraig Harrington and Ernie Els were on the same score, Els performing the best of his grouping - which contained Tiger Woods and Lee Westwood.
So what about those big names? Woods, No. 1 in the world, and Westwood, No. 3, each came home three-over, Woods' steady round featuring three bogeys and no birdies. Westwood had a more chaotic opening, the Englishman carding five bogeys and a double, but clawing some ground back with a quartet of birdies, three of which came in the last five holes.
And Phil Mickelson went one worse, the recently turned 40-year-old emulating Woods as he racked up four bogeys with not a birdie or eagle in sight - it's the first time both players have played in a tournament without one of them collecting a single birdie. Mickelson is known for taking on risky shots but he was sticking with a safety first approach yesterday - a strange assertion in the wake of that four-over-par scorecard, perhaps, but Pebble is brutal this year, and Mickelson's high score is likely still enough to make the cut.
Whether Mick can find it within him to challenge for a top three placing, thus displacing Tiger Woods as No. 1 in the world, seems more doubtful right now.
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