Journeymen steal 1st-round thunder

LA JOLLA, Calif. – Phil Mickelson strode onto the first tee box at Torrey Pines at precisely 8 a.m. Thursday, the sleeves on his black shirt hiked to show off his newly chiseled arms.

Three minutes later, the heavyweight champion stepped between the ropes.

Tiger Woods, regal and impassive, was ready to go the distance on his surgical left knee for the first time since the Masters.

Under overcast skies, a gallery of several thousand expectant fans filled the bleachers and spilled down the first fairway. Throaty shouts of “Let’s go, Lefty!” and “Welcome back, Tiger!” rang out.

The only thing missing was Michael Buffer’s intonation, “Ladies and gentlemen, let’s get ready to rum-bllllllle!”

Like a big fight that doesn’t live up to its billing, however, Mickelson and Woods wound up circling and jabbing and all too often playing defense in the first round of the 108th U.S. Open.

While they battled Torrey Pines to the equivalent of a draw – Mickelson shot an even-par 71 and Woods a 1-over 72 – a couple of journeymen stole the show.

Kevin Streelman, 29, a PGA Tour rookie with just one top-25 finish in 16 starts, and Justin Hicks, a 33-year-old minitour veteran, shot 3-under 68s to share a one-stroke lead.

In January, Streelman opened 67-69 at the Buick Invitational, the PGA Tour event played at Torrey Pines. That earned him a third-round pairing with Woods, the eventual champion. Streelman shot 75-77 on the weekend but still tied for 29th place, his best finish this year.

“The main thing I took out of that was the necessity of rest,” he said. “I’m going to take that into (account) tonight and tomorrow. It’s wearing on you, especially playing with Tiger and under the media scrutiny and excitement and so many people around. It drains energy from you.”

Streelman isn’t well-known, but he’s an A-list celebrity compared to Hicks, whose media guide bio lists him as a two-time winner on something called the Montgomery Sports Tour.

You’ve never heard of Hicks? He’s not offended.

“I can see why you guys might kind of wonder, ‘Who does this guy think he is, showing up and making seven birdies at an Open?’ ” Hicks said.

He has even been dissed by the tour, which has mixed him up with a San Diego teaching professional by the same name.

“He played in the Buick this year, which caused a lot of interesting things for both of us,” Hicks said.

“The tour got us mixed up. Companies got us mixed up. Checks were going to my place. Checks were going to his place. There was all kinds of stuff going on there.”

The group at 69 included 2006 U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy, Rocco Mediate, Stuart Appleby and Eric Axley.

Woods, a six-time winner of the Buick Invitational on the same course that has been muscled up for the U.S. Open, got off to a wretched start in his first competitive round since April 13.

He hooked his drive into the left rough on the par-4 first hole, hacked back into the fairway, flew the green with a wedge on his third shot and failed to get up and down to save bogey.

Just like that, he was 2 over.

“You couldn’t ask for a worse start,” Woods said. “You figure you’re going to make bogeys out here. I just happened to make two on the very first hole.”

Asked if it took him a while to get into the flow of the round, Woods said, “It helps to hit six shots on the first hole. That’s a lot of shots to get into a flow.”

He battled back to 1 under with birdies on Nos. 4, 8 and 9 but made another costly double-bogey on the par-4 14th. He hit the green on the par-5 18th in two but three-putted for par.

“To make two double-bogeys and a three-putt and be only four back, that’s a great position to be in,” Woods said, “because I know I can clean that up tomorrow.”

Woods was tied for 19th place, four shots off the lead. Mediate said the top-ranked player in the world was still the man to beat.

“He is the best player that ever walked on grass,” Mediate said. “My friends asked me, ‘Is he still the favorite (coming off knee surgery)?’ Absolutely, he’s the favorite. No disrespect to anybody else.”

Mickelson, playing without a driver in his bag on the 7,643-yard course, made three consecutive bogeys on the front nine but bounced back with four birdies against a lone bogey on the back.

“Anything around par is kind of your target for the U.S. Open,” he said. “I should have a chance tomorrow to try to keep it around par, maybe get a couple birdies here or there, but really, that’s the gauge.

“I don’t really look at what everybody else is doing because I just feel like it all seems to gravitate towards par.”

Not for everyone.

Masters champion Trevor Immelman shot a 75 and Sergio Garcia, who won the Players Championship last month, struggled to a 76.

Defending champion Angel Cabrera blew up to a 79, as did Justin Rose and Colin Montgomerie.

U.S. Open

FIRST-ROUND LEADERBOARD

Course: Torrey Pines (South)

Par: 35-36–71

TV: ESPN at 10 a.m. & 2 p.m.; NBC at noon

Inside

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