Birkdale Bullies Field, but Rocco Is Solid

On 'Bloody Miserable' Day, U.S. Open Runner-Up Fights Weather, Injury to Tie for Lead

SOUTHPORT, England, July 17 -- It was a first round of high adventure in the wind and the wet at Royal Birkdale, where pars felt like birdies or better and bogeys weren't all that awful. "Bloody miserable," said Australian Craig Parry, the first to tee off Thursday, of the brutal conditions at the 137th British Open. The pelting rain abated later in the day, but scores soared for some of the grandest names in golf.

Still, when the ugliness had ended shortly before 9 p.m., Rocco Mediate was right back in the mix of a major championship. Four weeks ago, Mediate took Tiger Woods to the absolute limit in the U.S. Open before losing in a Monday playoff. On Thursday, with a birdie-birdie finish early in the evening, including a chip-in from deep rough off the 17th green, Mediate stunned himself -- and anyone who watched his physical therapist manipulate his hip as he lay in the rough at the 11th hole -- by shooting a 1-under-par 69 in his first British Open appearance since 2002.

That four-birdie, three-bogey score tied him for the first-round lead with Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland, who won the Scottish Open four days ago, and Australian Robert Allenby, with three top four finishes in his last six events on the PGA Tour. Those two also birdied the final two holes on a day when the scoring average was 6-over 76.

"I have no explanation whatsoever, no idea why that happened," said Mediate of his lofty perch. Therapist Cindy Hilfman apparently got the kinks out well enough for him to make three birdies down the stretch; he needed only 21 putts, fewest in the 156-man field.

"A lot of times you've just got to survive; you'll probably hear that from everybody," said Mediate, plagued by back problems throughout his 23-year career. "But I made pretty much every single putt I could have made today. It was just one of those rounds. I would have been ecstatic with 73 or 74 today. It's a hard course, it's a long course, it's windy. It was cold this morning. I'm old. But it doesn't matter how you get it done, and today was by no means pretty."

There were several other surprises. Greg Norman, 53, who married former tennis star Chris Evert less than three weeks ago, came in at even-par 70, and could have tied for the lead if his 18-foot birdie putt at the 18th had not veered just off line at the very end. Norman, who has missed the cut in all three PGA Tour events he has played this season, was tied with 27-year-old countryman Adam Scott, the only man in the field to get to 2 under before he bogeyed two of his last three holes, and American veteran Bart Bryant, who birdied the 18th.

Other prominent players also were sniffing the lead, including two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen, 2003 U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk and 2003 Masters winner Mike Weir in a gaggle of eight players at 71. Sergio García, the pre-tournament favorite and runner-up at Carnoustie last year, shot 72. Defending champion Padraig Harrington was at 74 despite a sore right wrist.

Others were not quite that fortunate. Phil Mickelson, the No. 2-ranked player in the world, must have known it was going to be a trying morning when he pumped his fist after making a six-foot putt to save a bogey at the 450-yard first hole, because that was about the only stroke he could truly celebrate. He lost a ball after an errant second shot at the treacherous 499-yard No. 6, a par 4 into the wind many players couldn't reach in two shots, hitting into a hillside of thick gorse and grass. Scads of spectators waded in to help him find his missing Callaway, but it never did turn up in the allotted five minutes, though they did unearth two other balls of the same brand. Mickelson walked off the green with a triple bogey.

There was even more insult when he missed a 2 1/2 -foot putt and made a bogey at the 408-yard No. 10. He ended with a 9-over 79, his worst start in this tournament since a first-round 77 on this same course as an amateur playing his first British Open in 1991.

"When I was playing, I thought anything in the 70s would be a pretty good score," Mickelson said. "A good, solid round will get me right back in it. Obviously when you shoot 79, you re going to have to come back with something pretty cool to get back in it."

Sandy Lyle, a two-time major champion, went double bogey, double bogey, triple bogey to finish his front nine with 45. He actually showed some improvement with a bogey at the 10th, but at 12 over with eight to play, he decided to withdraw. Rich Beem, winner of the 2002 PGA Championship, began bogey, quadruple bogey, had 46 on his front nine and also called it a day.

Eight players in the first five threesomes had rounds in the 80s. South African Ernie Els, No. 5 in the world and considered among the pre-tournament favorites, and Vijay Singh of Fiji, ranked No. 10 and also expected to contend this week, both shot 10-over 80.

After making the turn at 1-over 35, three-time major champion Els was in full meltdown, with chilly mid-50s temperatures, driving rain and winds whipping in the 30-mph range. He played the back nine in 9-over 45, with a double and triple bogey, and recorded his highest score in 67 British Open rounds. Singh, also a three-time major winner, had a double bogey, nine bogeys and one birdie contribute to his worst Open score in 71 rounds.

"It was miserable, miserable, miserable," Singh said. "You got rain blowing sideways. It was cold. It was windy, and I didn't play badly. I just couldn't stand over a putt and have a comfortable putt. I was always on defense."

Many veterans said this was the most difficult Open round since the cold, blustery Saturday in the 2002 Open at Muirfield, when Woods shot himself out of the tournament with an 81, his highest score in a major championship.

"It felt about the same," said Weir, who eagled the downwind, 572-yard 17th hole, hitting a 340-yard drive and a 235-yard 5-iron to within 12 feet of a bent flagstick, and sinking the putt. "It's tough to make a swing when it's blowing that hard and tough to keep your form. You have all those layers of clothes on, you're battling the conditions. I was trying to keep my hands dry, keep them in the warmers. It just makes it very difficult. . . . It was obviously a very tough day out there."

Bloody miserable, you might say.