Tiger Fumes At Open But Leader Montgomerie Tames Course With Precise Drives

Suddenly, Colin Montgomerie looked like a U.S. Open champion, playing with poise, patience and precision.

Shockingly, Tiger Woods behaved like a rattled 21-year-old, unraveling on the back nine as he lost his composure, his temper and perhaps his chance at a second consecutive major championship.

Four days is a long time. Four rounds of golf is a long way to go. And the U.S. Open is the most grueling of golf’s championships.

Yet Montgomerie and Woods gave startling different testimony on Thursday of how this drama may unfold this week at Congressional Country Club.

Fourteen times Montgomerie reached into his bag and plucked out the 3-wood to hit his tee shot. All but once he feathered the ball safely onto a fairway at Congressional, avoiding the 5-inch deep rough.

That kind of accuracy made Montgomerie one of the favorites coming into this tournament. And that kind of accuracy produced a 5-under-par 65 for the first-round lead by one stroke over Hal Sutton and Steve Stricker and two ahead of Mark McNulty and Tom Lehman.

It was a near-perfect round on the longest course ever in a U.S. Open, made even longer by a heavily penalizing rough that turned even the most marginally errant shot into a bogey - or worse.

No one knew that better than Woods. The Masters champion found disaster in the high grass three times on the back nine and ended his round with a ball in the water on the final hole one of seven greens he missed to shoot a 74, closing with a fat 40.

It was a startling but not surprising contrast to the way Woods dominated at the Masters, where he won by a record 12 strokes.

“I’m as happy playing in the U.S. Open as Tiger Woods is playing in the Masters,” Montgomerie said, comparing the tight Open fairways with wide open Augusta National. “I tend to drive the ball as straight as anybody.”

That is the key to this tournament. Miss the fairway, make a bogey. That was the mantra as the tangled rough swallowed player after player.

No one was in the fairway more than Montgomerie, who didn’t hit his driver the entire round.

“This is just the first round of four,” Montgomerie said after he kick-started his day with a great par save on No. 6, the only fairway he missed. “It’s nice to have 5-under in the bank. I might need them all as the week progresses.”

Montgomerie, who won the European Grand Prix last week and is 31-under for his last six rounds, made only one bogey - that on the 17th when he failed to get up-and-down from a greenside bunker - and avoided any disaster holes.

Woods, meanwhile, lost his composure and his patience.

He made a double-bogey on No. 11 when his 9-iron approach shot sailed into the high grass behind the green. His flop shot flew well past the hole and rolled off the green. He chipped long again - 16 feet behind the hole - and missed the putt to make a 6.

Woods made two more bogeys on the back nine, both after he drove into the rough. He ended the round with another double-bogey after hitting into the water on the par-3 18th.

Several times he registered his displeasure with wild shots by banging his club on the ground, slamming it back into the bag and muttering curses.

The rattled round put Woods nine strokes behind Montgomerie. Only Jack Fleck in 1955 was able to fall nine strokes behind in the first round of the U.S. Open and come back and win.

An obviously angry Woods stomped past reporters after his round and refused to answer questions. Later he told a USGA official: “I have had some disappointing rounds lately and this is one of them.”

While Woods seemed at a loss for the questions posed by Congressional, Montgomerie played his typical game based on hitting fairways and greens - the perfect game for this tournament.

The pivotal point in Montgomerie’s round came on the 6th hole when he drove into the rough. The Scotsman had missed three birdie putts from less than eight feet on the first three holes and was disappointed to be at even par.

When his drive settled into the high grass on the 475-yard 6th, however, par all of a sudden looked like a great score. All he could do was pitch the ball back onto the fairway with a sand wedge.

“Then I hit the most important shot of the day,” Montgomerie said. “I hit a 157-yard 8-iron stiff.”

He tapped in the 1-foot putt for what he called “the most important par I’ve made in a long time.”

What followed was finally the solid putting to back his pin-point iron play. He hit a 7-iron to three feet on No. 7 and a sand wedge to six feet on 9 to turn the front nine in 33.

A 4-iron to 10 feet on the 10th was followed by a wedge to 15 feet on the next hole. A 7-iron to four feet on No. 13 completed a run of five birdies in seven holes. His final birdie came on No. 16 when his 8-iron finished only four feet from the hole.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Leaderboard Scores Thursday from the first round of the 97th U.S. Open on the 7,213-yard, par 35-35-70 Congressional Country Club course: Colin Montgomerie 33-32-65 Hal Sutton 33-33-66 Steve Stricker 32-34-66 Mark McNulty 37-30-67 Tom Lehman 35-32-67 Hideki Kase 35-33-68 Dave Schreyer 35-33-68 Jeff Sluman 33-36-69 Justin Leonard 34-35-69