US Open Golf 2012: Latest Updates on Tiger Woods and Bubba Watson

Heading into the US Open, Bubba Watson was coming off a win at the Masters, and Tiger Woods looked poised to return to dominance. 

While both were considered among the favorites before the start of today's first-round play at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, now only one is likely to have a shot to win. Woods finished his first round at one under par while Watson is eight over.

Woods’ tumultuous personal life has been well-publicized, but he recently won his first two tournaments since the scandal regarding his marital infidelity dominated the news. In March, he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and earlier this month, he took the Memorial Tournament. 

His fine form has continued in San Francisco, and he looked sharp in the first round of play.

He was extremely consistent throughout the course, bogeying just two holes. Those slipups were offset by three birdies, and Woods hit par on 13 of the 18 holes. 

This was an ideal first round of golf for Woods, and he should be content with his performance, so far. He is in excellent position to win his first major since the 2008 US Open.

As for Watson, he may not be able to recover from his poor showing. He shot just one birdie on the day and managed to get par on just half of the holes. He had seven bogeys and could not stop the bleeding as he double-bogeyed the last hole.

He now has 14 strokes to make up between him and leader Michael Thompson, who shot four under.

Watson played the tournament of his life at the Masters, and he will not be able to equal the success he had at his last major. He failed to finish in the top 25 at any major in all of 2011, and his victory at Augusta may be the only time he has a successful finish in 2012. 

At eight strokes back, there already is very little hope for Watson at the U.S. Open. Do not expect much out of him going forward at the tournament. 

As for Woods, this is looking like the tournament in which he will return to dominance.

Here is the leaderboard through all the action so far. All current scores can be found at ESPN.com.

Platyer	Score	Thru
Michael Thompson	-4	F
Peter Lawrie	-2	4
John Peterson	-1	6
Tiger Woods	-1	F
David Toms	-1	F
Match Kuchar	-1	1
Simon Dyson	E	3
Alistair Presnell	E	16
Jeff Curl	E	5
John Senden	E	2