Phil rallies, shoots even par in first round of US Open
Majors | 
Written by BigRed
In what was awaited as the most spectacular grouping in recent golfing history, Phil Mickelson yesterday came out on top after shooting an even par round 71 in the first round of the 108th US Open.
Being paired with Tiger Woods and Adam Scott and starting on the 1st tee, Phil had a rough front nine with three consecutive bogeys on holes number five, six and seven. However and just being his usual self, he never gave up and came back strong on the back nine with birdies on 10, 13, 14 and 18 to finish the day in a tie for 12th place.
Phil Mickelson did surprise a lot of people by not using a driver during yesterday’s round. Instead he put an additional wedge in his bag and even used his hybrid on some of the tee shots. A decision made even more interesting by the fact that Torrey Pines plays at a staggering 7,541 yards and the longes US Open course of all times. Mickelson said that he did not even want to hit it further than 300 yards since he saw the increasingly firm fairways narrowing after that distance. However, even with a fairway metal or hybrid club in his hand, driving was not the strong part of this game in round one as Phil did only hit one fairway during his poor front nine.
I really like that decision: adidas neo The back nine on Thursday proved that Phil doesn’t need a driver to score at Torrey Pines. He did easily reach the Par-5 13th and 18th in two after teeing off with a three wood. Given the enormous penalty for hitting it in the rough - on number 12 Phil did advance his ball only by about 6ft. with his hybrid - I feel that it is smart to sacrifice a bit of distance when you don’t really need it.
Mickelson produced the best result in his flight while Woods shot 72 (+1, T19). Scott is a further shot back at +2 (T31). All three superstars are still very much in the mix since the tournament lead is currently held by the rather unknown US professionals Justin Hicks and Kevin Streelman at -3 (68). No offense guys but I really don’t expect these two to be anywhere near the top of the leaderboard on Sunday afternoon.
