ARDMORE, Pa. — The big guns went out late, and they did not disappoint with the theatrics for the few holes they got to play.
The super-group of Tiger Woods, Rory McIlory and Adam Scott — ranked Nos. 1, 2, and 3 in the world, respectively — teed off 3 1/2 hours late in yesterday’s first round of the U.S. Open, finally striking a ball off Merion’s first tee at 4:43 p.m. They were interrupted by the day’s second weather delay in the early evening, and only partially completed 11 holes before darkness came.
It was an up-and-down start for Woods, who battled what seemed to be an injured left wrist throughout the afternoon and early evening. He finished his first 10 holes at 2-over par, six shots behind the leader Luke Donald (still with five holes to play) and five behind Phil Mickelson, who shot 3-under 67.
“I’m doing better and I’m looking forward to getting back out there,” Woods said.
It was unsure exactly when Woods first injured the wrist, but by the time he hit a 5-wood out of the right rough on No. 5, he shook his hand and winced in pain. After a 45-minute rain delay, he made a curling putt for bogey there, just the second time Woods had made bogey in three of the first five holes in a U.S. Open. The other was in 2006 at Winged Foot, weeks after his father passed away, which was also the first time he missed a cut at a major as a professional.
He managed to birdie No. 6 with a tumultuous 50-foot putt, but gave it back with a three-putt bogey on the par-3 ninth. He missed short birdie putts at Nos. 8 and 10, then as the daylight quickly disappeared, he hit an iron off the tee at the short par-4 11th. He missed the fairway left, and was upset with himself, knowing how deep the rough is in that damp section of the course.
When he chopped the ball out, he barely carried the creek fronting the green and openly grimaced in pain, shaking his hand repeatedly. He managed to hit a wonderful pitch that landed softly and crept to two feet, and that’s where he will resume today when play starts at 7:15 a.m.
“It’s kind of the way the Tour has been this year,” Woods said. “We’ve had a lot of bad weather this yearand this is the way it’s been,” Woods said. “I’ve got a lot of holes to play [today], and hopefully I can play a little better than I did [yesterday].”
If the wrist is an issue, it wouldn’t be the first time Woods has encountered that type of problem during a U.S. Open. He pulled out on the second day of his first Open at Shinnecock Hills in 1995 because of a wrist injury.
The 37-year-old Woods hasn’t won a major since 2008, when he took the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines on a broken leg, the most recent of his 14 major titles.
Scott won the Masters in April, and McIlroy won the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional and the 2012 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island. Both were more steady than Woods on this soggy afternoon, with Scott getting a chance to finish 11, rolling in a birdie putt to take him to 3-under. McIlroy wished the horn sounded faster, missing a short par put to fall to even.