A Power Trio Rocks the Open

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U.S. Open - First Round

The 108th U.S. Open played at Torrey Pines South Course in San Diego.

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However, Woods was a one-man carnival ride all day, starting with a double bogey on the first hole.

"You couldn't ask for a worse start. You want to get into the flow of the round . . . but six shots on the first hole . . . that's a lot of shots to get into a flow," said Woods who, with age, seems far more at ease with public displays of the sarcastic self-deprecation and sly humor for which he's known among fellow players.

"What did I find out today? Oh, I can walk 18 holes. I guess I don't need a cart yet," said Woods, who described his knee as "a little sore" but with a "totally different pain" than what he had at the Masters, when "the cartilage was in there flying around."

In addition to "plenty of warmup shots on number one," Woods also double-bogeyed the 14th hole, three-putted the 18th green, failed to birdie either back-nine par 5, cold-bladed a 40-yard wedge shot far over a green, chunked a short pitch shot, hashed up a simple sand blast, slammed clubs into the ground in disgust twice, drilled two fans in the gallery and fought a hook off the tee all day. Otherwise, there wasn't a sign of rust.

"I just go play . . . tee it up and go," he said. "I'm right there. I'm only four [shots] back. I'm in good shape."

That charismatic audacity is pure magnetism to his galleries. At the 612-yard ninth hole, Woods's high wild hook smacked Rich Goaslind, 42, of Salt Lake City in the right shoulder, raising a welt in which he took great pride.

"It was cookin'. Hurt like hell. Tiger came over, asked if I was all right and said he'd give me the ball after he finished the hole," said Goaslind, who was the only fan in sight wearing a Tiger Woods hat.

After Woods parlayed the lucky bounce into a five-foot birdie putt, he walked -- in his customary Open trance -- toward the next tee. Then he stopped, thought, remembered some responsibility unfulfilled, walked toward Goaslind, somehow remembered which person he was in the mob and flipped him the ball.

"Dude," Goaslind said with the right inflection of respect.

Mickelson played his role -- always a more ambiguous one -- to perfection as well. On Wednesday, he used driver throughout a practice round and couldn't keep his ball on the planet.

"So today, no driver. Now he's hitting 3-wood just as wild, but wild and short," said a USGA official and old Mickelson playing partner. "That's Phil, always overthinking."

Just like leaving out his 3-wood in '06 on Sunday at Winged Foot, then discovering it was just the club he needed on the final holes.

Afterward, Mickelson said that leaving out the driver, if fairways were firm, had been in his game plan "for months," even though he never had done it before in his life anywhere and has won at Torrey Pines three times, always with a driver.

"I know [short-game coach] Dave Pelz has been wanting me to play a tournament without hitting driver -- just 3-woods all the way through," Mickelson said. "So here you are, Dave."

Don't miss Friday, as if anybody here would dream of it. This is unique. Weekends are played in twosomes. So you can only get a No. 1-2-3 on earth group in the U.S. Open if you schedule it. And this year, they did. Call the carnival barker, because it's a circus under the Torrey Pines big tent. Step right up. See Tiger play on one leg, Adam with one hand and Phil with, who knows, maybe 11 wedges and a mashie niblick in his bag.