So far, the US Open is showing that golf can be exciting without Tiger Woods. Thursday’s revolving leaderboard included players from a variety of countries including, for a while, Bubba Watson, Ryan Palmer, YE Yang and Francesco Molinari, before settling in to a multicultural display of golf prowess.
Here are the top 15 unexpected happenings:
1. Rory McIlroy took the lead late in the afternoon at six under (par) round. He worked his way around the golf course with no bogeys. His playing companions, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, were a combined 13 strokes higher.
“This week it's about being aggressive to the spots,” McIlroy said. "A lot of it this week, there's 200‑yard plates and 150‑yard plates on the fairway. A lot of holes I'm just trying to hit it to the 150 spot off the tee, and then I'm playing my iron shot in from there, so it's being aggressive to the target that you have.”
2. Charl Schwartzel is in second place at three under (par). Grand Slam fever anyone?
3. Y.E. Yang led for about three hours until Rory McIlroy pulled away from the field with two birdies on his back nine. Yang finished the day tied for second. He birdied the par-three 10th, which was his first hole.
“I really didn’t think about it being intimidating until we went up on the tee and the two players in front of me, Ryo Ishikawa and Anthony Kim, when they both dropped it in the water, that’s when it really hit me that, ‘Oh, this hole is really tough.’”
Yang admitted that he was both disappointed and happy that Tiger Woods was not in the field. "As a fellow PGA Tour member, I really hope that he comes back quite soon because it’s just a little big different when he’s not there,” Yang explained through his interpreter.
He felt it was an advantage that he had already won a major.
“In Korea, they say that it takes a winner to recognize a winner,” he said. “I know the feeling, and I know that it’s a little more of everything in a major than it is in other tournaments, so it’s easier for me to cope with that kind of pressures.”
4. Phil Mickelson put a ball in the water on his first hole, the 10th. Strangely enough, it is not what he planned to do prior to the tournament.
“When I play that hole, three is a great score,” he said. “I'll take three every day, and if I happen to make a four, so be it. But you've got to take the front out of play. So you have to miss that hole long, and you might hit a shot out of the bunker. And I've spent some time out of that sand. I think I can get it up and down to most of those pins. So hopefully I'll take the water out of play, be either on the back edge of the green or just over and be able to salvage some pars there.”
Well, not exactly.
5. Lee Westwood was four over (par).
“I thought the golf course set up great today,” Westwood said after his round. "I’m quite surprised no one’s gone out this morning and shot a 66.”
6. World No. 1, Luke Donald, was three over (par) at the end of round one.
“Certainly at three over, I’m not out of it,” he said. “Everyone knows that it’s only going to get tougher, and if I can plug away and shoot some good scores coming in, I’m still right there.”
7. Bubba Dickerson, who won the 2001 US Amateur but currently plays on the Nationwide Tour, pulled himself into third place after being at two over (par) after just the first three holes. He finished in 10th spot.
8. Sergio Garcia, who has been MIA for months it seems, inched his way up to three under (par) and then dropped a shot coming in to finish at two under (par). He played with two Spaniards, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Alvaro Quiros.
9. The Golf Boys hung in there. If you missed their video, go to www.bencrane.com or The Golf Channel’s website to see it. Their scores today: Hunter Mahan, three over (par); Ben Crane, seven over (par); Rickie Fowler, three over (par); Bubba Watson, even.
10. Bubba Watson’s pants. The golf pants, not the video bib overalls. They were some kind of green camouflage pattern, perhaps selected in case he hit a wayward shot, because he would blend in to the foliage off the fairway.
11. Davis Love III was under par in the first round of a US Open for first time since 1991.
12. One guy nobody but his parents and golf coach knows is on the leaderboard: 24-year-old Kyung-Tae Kim of Korea who has played in three WGC events.
13. Ryan Palmer’s morning round of two under (par) held up for fourth place after all the afternoon groups played. He had a near miss at the HP Byron Nelson three weeks ago.
“I came out a week ago on Tuesday, just by myself, got in the golf cart and I and hit six tee shots on every hole,” he said about his preparation. “I had a good idea on every line I wanted to take coming into this golf course. This is one of my favorite golf courses to play.”
14. Robert Rock at two under (par), winner of last week’s BMW Italian Open, surprised with a tie for fourth. Rock did not get to DC until 4 p.m. Wednesday because his visa application was delayed due to a misspent youth (see golf.com for full story). He spent $1,000 on cab ride from Newark, NJ to Maryland.
15. The hardest hole on the golf course was not the 18th—that honor went to the par-four 11th with an average of 4.4615. The 18th was third hardest for the day with a scoring average of 4.3397. Second hardest was the 14th with an average of 4.42.95
Kathy Bissell is a Golf Writer for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand or from official interview materials from the USGA, PGA Tour or PGA of AMERICA.
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