2010 U.S. Open First Round This And That
/Larry Dorman summed up the opening day best:
It was pretty much an upside-down opening round of the United States Open on Thursday at the Pebble Beach Golf Links. Early starters struggled in benign conditions, late starters flourished on treacherous afternoon greens, and lesser lights outshone most of the game’s biggest stars as the sun slipped beneath the horizon.
An unbylined Sky Sports story on Paul Casey's putting getting him through the day, in spite of the greens. Oh and then there was 22-putt Shaun Micheel who is playing with a heavy heart, reports Mick Elliott.
Jim McCabe has a nice roundup of the various shorelines with a few of his observations thrown in.
Dave Shedloski on Phil's opening 75 and his "horrific" putting. Not the greens' fault for him either. I'm detecting a trend.
Steve Elling tells us more about Rafael Cabrera-Bello.
Scott Michaux reports on Mike Weir's comfort level with Pebble Beach, which some day might even translate to a comfort level with playing golf in front of people, cameras and other objects in need of shuffling around to work around his Monty-like pre-shot sensitivities.
Ron Sirak on the Woods, Els, Westwood marquee pairing:
The entire threesome of Woods, Ernie Els and Lee Westwood -- all considered contenders for this title -- played at low energy and far from form, Els shooting a 73 and Westwood a 74. There was not a lot of chatter in the group and even fewer birdies. Woods, in fact, made none, although he had several very makeable looks at birdie on the front nine.
But as the round went on, Woods became even more tentative, several times leaving putts short and low as if he were living in fear of the 4-footer coming back. You could almost see the lack of confidence in his hands as he was over the ball.
The field averaged 75.228 in benign conditions and the horrid 17th is playing about the same as some of the tour's drivable par-4s to finish as the No. 1 hole on the course. That's No. 1 in difficulty, not architectural quality.
