U.S. Open 2013: Round 1 complete; 5 players under par
ARDMORE, Pa. — The temperature was slowly inching its way to the 60s on a cool Friday morning at the U.S. Open. Only five players wound up in the 60s as the first round was completed at historic Merion Golf Club.
Following storm delays of more than four hours on Thursday, 78 players completed the first round on the weather-challenged East Course in the Philadelphia suburb. Phil Mickelson, who woke up on a plane Thursday following an overnight flight from San Diego and then shot 3-under-par 67, remained in the lead as few players solved the challenging puzzle that is the short but testy East Course.
Luke Donald, who ended play at 4 under on Thursday through 13 holes, missed a short putt on the final hole and finished at 68. Mathew Goggin completed 10 holes and finished at 68. Russell Knox, who finished his last eight holes today, and Nicolas Colsaerts, who finished his first round Thursday, shot 69.
Defending champion Webb Simpson completed his round today at 71.
The marquee grouping of world No. 1 Tiger Woods, No. 2 Rory McIlroy and No. 3 Adam Scott finished their final seven holes and were a collective 8 over par. Woods and McIlroy each shot 73 while Masters champ Scott, who hit a ball out of bounds on the 15th, shot 72.
The second round began at 9:45 a.m. ET.
Donald went out at 10:22 and made birdie on his second hole and then chipped in for birdie on his third hole to get to 4 under. Woods, Scott and McIlroy began play at 10:44 a.m. McIlroy made birdies on his first two holes to reach 1 over. Woods made pars on both while Scott made a bogey to fall to 1 over.
Mickelson's second round is set to begin at 3:41 p.m.
There is a slight chance — 30% — for scattered showers this afternoon and into the evening. The high for the day could reach the 70s.
The top 60 and ties make the cut.
Woods grimaced multiple times from pain emanating from his left arm Thursday after hitting shots out of the rough. He was still in discomfort as he finished his first round and started his second.
"My left arm didn't feel very good … on a few shots," Woods said. " … But it is what it is and you move on and I got to get ready for this next round.
" … But overall it was not too bad a round. I certainly had two 3-putts and a boatload of putts and the round could have easily been under par. So that's good heading into this afternoon."
Woods also felt some pain on the greens.
"It's unbelievable how much faster they were this morning. That pin on 12 is a little quick from above and I barely hit mine and I ran it by about eight feet. And there are a couple pins like that," Woods said. "It should slow up a little bit by this afternoon, but there's still quite a bit of moisture in them so I think that the uphill, into the grain putts are really slow, and then obviously the downhill, down grain putts are really quick."
Donald said he misread both his birdie and par putt on the final hole, first missing from 35 feet and then from 5 feet. He still liked his position after the first 18 holes and said things will remain challenging at Merion, which has received more than six inches of rain in the last seven days.
"I think everyone thought that as soon as the course got wet it was going to play easy. The scores certainly aren't showing that," Donald said. "The tough holes are extremely tough. It does give you a little bit of balance with some of those shorter holes, but you really need to play those tough ones well."