Hedblom locates clubs, discovers sure route to 66

PINEHURST, N.C. – Peter Hedblom lost his golf clubs on his flight from Sweden. Once they finally arrived, he wasn’t sure he could find his game. Just when it appeared his first U.S. Open was going to be a short trip, he posted the lowest score in an Open at Pinehurst No. 2.

“Golf is so strange,” Hedblom said after a 4-under-par 66.

This is only the second time the Open has come to the fabled Donald Ross design, although it already has proven to be a tough place to go low. Six years ago, four players shot 67 in the first round, and no one did better than 69 the rest of the week. Olin Browne and Rocco Mediate each had a 67 in the first round Thursday.

Stranger yet for the 35-year-old Swede, he was trying to play it safe.

“I just got the shots in there somehow,” he said. “I was trying to hit the middle of the green, and then I’d pull it and hit it pretty close.”

The 66 assured he would be around for the weekend, even after opening with a 77.

What a drag for Woods

Tiger Woods dragged his putter and marked up the ninth green in a show of disgust. When he missed his short birdie putt on the last hole, he stepped off the green and shouted an obscenity.

For a guy who spent the week preaching patience, Woods had a hard time keeping his.

Woods drew a mild rebuke from the USGA for damaging the green on the ninth hole and some disapproving stares from the crowd around the 18th green for cursing. When the day ended, though, his party line hadn’t changed.

“You can’t have highs and lows,” Woods said. “Yeah, I get frustrated out there and excited out there, but you try to keep everything down, keep it as level as you possibly can.”

Woods remained in contention for his third U.S. Open title and his second major of the year, overcoming his anger with a good finish for a 1-over 71 that left him right where he began the day – three shots off the pace.

Woods putted from the front edge of the green on the par-3 ninth and ran it past some 12 feet. He missed the putt coming back and, as he walked toward the cup, he pushed down on his putter and dragged it heavily on the green in frustration.

The putter clearly marked up a line on the green several feet long, and Woods sheepishly tried to pat it down after tapping in his putt for bogey.

Toms takes tumble

David Toms is only four shots out of the lead. That fact alone was enough to console him after a collapse on the final two holes cost him a spot at the top of the leaderboard.

The 2001 PGA champ was in the lead, but finished double bogey-triple bogey in the second round to drop him all the way down to a tie for 17th after a 2-over 72.

Former USGA president dies

Harry Watkey Easterly Jr., 82, former president of the U.S. Golf Association who also served as executive director, died Thursday of cancer in Richmond, Va.

Easterly served as president for two years, 1976-77. He was known for his attention to the rules of the game.