Summary Phil Mickelson grabbed early clubhouse lead in the 113th US Open at Merion Golf Club on Thursday.
ARDMORE (AFP) - Phil Mickelson shrugged off an overnight flight scramble and an early morning thunderstorm to grab the early clubhouse lead in the 113th US Open at Merion Golf Club on Thursday.
Mickelson skipped practice rounds at the course on Tuesday and Wednesday to fly back to California and attend his daughter Amanda s eighth-grade graduation ceremony, then flew back in time to start the Open on Thursday.
The airplane landed at Philadelphia at 4:15 in the morning and the 42-year-old left-hander reached the course 87 minutes later, well ahead of his 7:11 a.m. tee time.
Seeking a first US Open title after finishing runner-up a record five times, Mickelson then set about tackling Merion s East course, hosting the US Open for the first time in 32 years.
He opened with a bogey at the 11th, but was back on level par before a storm system dumped torrential rain on the course and sent the morning starters scurrying for cover after just 111 minutes of play.
When the round resumed 3 hours 32 minutes later, Mickelson, a four-time major champion, used his supreme short-game skills to added birdies at the first (his ninth), seventh and ninth holes, the last where his putt went in from 30 feet.
His three-under 67 was his lowest opening round in the US Open since 1999.
It also gave him the clubhouse lead and the luxury of putting his feet up and watching the afternoon starters try to match him, knowing that due to the delay they would be unable to complete their rounds by nightfall.
"I loved having an early tee time," Mickelson said.
"I wish we didn t have the rain delay because it made for a little bit longer day, but the golf course is playing about as easy as it could and yet Merion is really fighting hard.
"We were having a hard time scoring low here. It s so demanding. It s such a great track. It s one of the best I ve seen for a US Open."
Big-hitting Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts was closest to Mickelson, two strokes back after a 69 and he expected to stay near the top of the leaderboard.
"I would be surprised if someone goes crazy today, really," he said.
At level par 70 were were South Afrian pair Charl Schwartzel and Tim Clark along with Americans Rickie Fowler and Jerry Kelly who had a double-bogey six at the tough 18th, and Australia s Jason Day.
Justin Rose, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson and Steve Stricker were among those handily placed on 71.
There were early struggles for Sergio Garcia and Padraig Harrington, both of whom had 73s, while world number four Matt Kuchar disappointed with a 74.
Tournament favorite Tiger Woods saw his afternoon start time delayed by three and a half hours as he set off in the company of the two players after him in the world rankings - Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott.
The delay meant that they and the 25 other afternoon groupings in the 156-strong field would not be able to complete their opening rounds, even if a secondary belt of bad weather, forecast for late in the afternoon, failed to materialize.
Woods, whose last major win came at the US Open at Torrey Pines in 2008 when he won an 18-hole playoff against Rocco Mediate on what turned out to be a broken leg, is back near his best with four tournament wins this year already.
But to seal his comeback he needs to win a 15th major title and move to within three of the all-time record of 18 set by Jack Nicklaus when he won the 1986 Masters.
Playing partner McIlroy is still waiting for his 2013 season to catch fire after an equipment change that has proved more problematic than he expected.
