Tough opening day all around at Pebble

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — The two best players in the world couldn't make a birdie. A dozen others got to the top of the leaderboard only to see themselves fall right back down.

The winner on Thursday at the U.S. Open was prickly Pebble Beach, the toughened-up beauty — a wind-blown course that tamed Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson and drained the momentum from any player who dared get too far under par.

"It's survival," said Tim Clark, after shooting a 72 to finish three strokes behind clubhouse leaders Shaun Micheel and Paul Casey.

Mickelson shot 4-over-par 75 during a birdie-less morning round that included one shot onto the beach and another off the rock wall on 18 that went careening into the ocean.

Woods went through the first 17 holes without making a birdie either, and this was even though he was the only player to hit the first 10 greens in regulation. With one hole to play, he was at 2-over par, four shots behind the leaders.

Micheel, the 2003 PGA winner, finished fourth last week at a tournament that was close to home in Memphis, Tenn. His inspired play of late has been in honor of his mother, who is in a hospice with cancer.

"It's nice, because I'm playing for someone else," Micheel said. "It was always about me, me, me. What's my money list, where am I on the FedEx Cup? It doesn't matter anymore. I love my mom. What do you say? She's hanging in there."

With his inspired 3-under-par 69, capped by a birdie on No. 18, Micheel joined Casey as the only two players to crack 70. They'll enter Friday's second round one shot ahead of the quartet of K.J. Choi, Mike Weir, Ian Poulter and Rafael Cabrera-Bello.

Woods, meanwhile, has some catching up to do.

Ten years ago at Pebble Beach, he shot 6 under in the first round on the way to shattering the U.S. Open record and winning by 15 strokes. But this is not the same course and he is not the same person. This year, the world's top-ranked player came into the U.S. Open not on a roll, but trying to round his game into shape after taking time off when sordid details of his personal life went public over the winter.

He received a nice ovation before teeing off on the par-4 first hole. His approach almost went in the hole but skidded 12 feet past, and thus began a string of eight straight pars.

He missed some opportunities — from 12, 15 and 7 feet on the first three holes — but at least he didn't go the way of some of the would-be leaders.