PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — In a seemingly endless procession, player after player walked off Pebble Beach following their respective opening rounds in the U.S. Open yesterday with confounded looks etched on their faces.
None of them looked as bewildered as Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, the two odds-on tournament favorites, both of whom doomed themselves with their putters.
Mickelson, following his morning round of 4-over-par 75, chastised himself, calling his putting performance “horrific.”
Woods, who finished in the early evening with a 3-over-par 74 after bogeys on the final two holes, blamed not his putting but the bumpy Poana grass on the greens.
“These greens are just awful, bumping all over the place,” Woods lamented.
Five hours before Woods finished his round, Mickelson said, “I thought that the golf course was set up perfectly. It was very playable. There were some scoring [holes] out there if you played well. The pin placements were great. The rough was very fair. They put some water on the greens so that shots that weren’t able to hold [during practice rounds] held.”
The problem was that Mickelson’s score didn’t reflect the possibilities of going low day one.
Nor did the scorecards of many others, with a only handful of players inching their way under par, with Shaun Micheel, Paul Casey and Brendon de Jonge sharing the first-round lead at 2-under 69.
Yesterday marked the first time in all the events Mickelson and Woods have played in where both went without a birdie in the same round.
“I usually find a way to make some birdies, but this was tough,” Mickelson said. “But I had my opportunities. I had a number of chances. There were a number of birdie holes out there and I had my opportunities. I just didn’t make the putts.
“Obviously I didn’t score well, but I thought I played pretty well, other than putting,” Mickelson said. “I just putted horrific. It’s very frustrating for me to miss all those opportunities.”
The best Mickelson could muster in the way of a positive was this: “I thought going without any doubles was good.
“It’s just I’ve got to make birdies,” he said. “When I missed those 5-footers and that 3-footer and a couple of 10-footers . . . it just was very frustrating for me.”
Woods, who called his play “consistent” and “patient,” was under no illusions that he played particularly well, saying, “I three-putted three times and laid up in a bunker [on 18].”
Woods, too, said he was looking forward to putting on smoother greens when he plays his second round this morning.
Asked if he struggled with his putting in the practice rounds, Mickelson said, “I didn’t putt great in the practice rounds, but I putted great last week with [Dave] Stockton [his putting coach] and just thought I was ready. I’m rolling the ball well, but there’s something off.”
Mickelson’s ball-striking seemed pretty good — except for two holes.
On No. 17, he pushed a 5-iron off the rocks and into the Pacific. That led to bogey. Moments later, he donated another ball to the seals when he tried to draw a fairway wood into the front greenside bunker.
Coupled with his bogey on No. 16, that made for three consecutive bogeys and left Mickelson, who began his round on No. 10, 3-over at the turn.
“We have three rounds left and I know if I shoot under par [today] I’ll be right there,” Mickelson said. “There’s no way under par is going to win here, I don’t believe. I think over par will win. Because of that, I’m right there. But I need to play well. I need to putt well, score well.”