U.S. Open Golf Scores 2012: Final Results for Tiger Woods and Top Golfers
The big names participating in the U.S. Open at Olympic Club in San Francisco experienced drastically different first rounds on Thursday.
As always, all eyes were on Tiger Woods, and for the first time in a long time, he delivered with a one-under 69. He is currently three back from leader Michael Thompson who is currently at four-under.
Woods seemed very even-keeled and never lost his cool—something that has been a rarity of late. His putting game looked strong. There was only one hole, 12, in which I considered him to slip-up. He had an easy two-foot putt that lipped out, having to settle for par.
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ESPN’s Rick Reilly had this fantastic tidbit that should really excite Tiger fans heading into Day 2 on Friday:
"Tiger has opened under par at an Open four times. He won two of the first three.
— Rick Reilly (@ReillyRick) June 14, 2012"
Expectations are enormous for Woods moving forward.
That was the good news for big names. The bad news is that the following golfers are already all but out of the running for collecting the win:
Phil Mickelson (+6)
He took a penalty on his very first hole and ended up two-over after two. He never really recovered from that as his aggressive style is clearly not suited for a course with little margin for error.
He hasn’t missed a cut at a major event since the 2007 Open Championship, and he’ll need a big-time effort on Friday to avoid resetting that.
Rory McIlroy (+6)
The defending champion has really struggled in the last two months, and it looks like his slide will continue beyond this week. He had seven bogeys scattered throughout his round and didn’t have a single memorable shot to hang his hat on.
Has McIlroy allowed success to creep into his head? Something clearly isn’t right with one of the big stars of today’s game.
Zach Johnson (+7)
One of the big sleepers going into play, Johnson double-bogeyed on two separate occasions and had a nightmarish run where he was five-over on holes No. 3 through No. 6.
I’d be shocked if Johnson is playing this weekend after his lackluster performance.
Luke Donald (+8)
This guy is the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world?
He didn’t register a single birdie and looked like a guy struggling to keep his tour card, not the top ranked player currently in the sport.
Bubba Watson (+8)
Another highly-ranked golfer (No. 5) who had an awful day; it’s the double-bogey on No. 18 that really sticks out.
Playing with Woods and Mickelson, it reminded me of the ‘ole days when whoever played with Tiger got spooked out beyond belief and ended up playing horribly.
Leaderboard
| 1 | Michael Thompson | -4 | -4 | F | 66 | - | - | - | 66 | ||
| T2 | Nick Watney | -1 | -1 | 17 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| T2 | James Hahn | -1 | -1 | 14 | - | - | - | - | |||
| T2 | Tiger Woods | -1 | -1 | F | 69 | - | - | - | 69 | ||
| T2 | David Toms | -1 | -1 | F | 69 | - | - | - | 69 | ||
| T6 | Jim Furyk | E | E | 16 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| T6 | Justin Rose | E | E | 17 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| T6 | Matt Kuchar | E | E | 16 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| T6 | Ryo Ishikawa | E | E | 16 | - | - | - | - | |||
| T6 | Beau Hossler | E | E | F | 70 | - | - | - | 70 | ||
| T6 | Jason Bohn | E | E | F | 70 | - | - | - | 70 | ||
| T6 | Jae-Bum Park | E | E | F | 70 | - | - | - | 70 | ||
| T6 | Robert Karlsson | E | E | F | 70 | - | - | - | 70 | ||
| T6 | Alistair Presnell | E | E | F | 70 | - | - | - | 70 |
For a complete look at the full leaderboard, click here.
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