Four! Is the Shout After First Round

PINEHURST, N.C. — Now that the first round of the U.S. Open is over, take me to your leaders:

David Duval (who everybody says should win a major), Phil Mickelson (who many people think already should have won a major), Billy Mayfair (who some people believe has a chance to win a major) and Paul Goydos (who most people figure gets into majors by buying a ticket).

So there you have it. After an opening day at Pinehurst that began in light rain and ended in sunshine, there’s a four-way tie for the lead at three-under 67, with Tiger Woods, John Daly and Payne Stewart clumped in a scrum of five one shot behind.

Rain overnight and then persistent drizzle Thursday morning transformed bold, bad Pinehurst into a soft, soggy, green doormat, which a bunch of players wiped their cleats on, then looked confidently forward to another day of fun, frolic and birdies.

But we get ahead of ourselves. First, how good was it Friday?

“It was good, really nice,” said Stewart, who failed to mention that it could have been a lot nicer if he had kept his drive on the 18th fairway and managed to avoid a bogey.

Oh, well, there’s plenty of time for everybody to dig in, providing Pinehurst doesn’t dry out too much and those spongy fairways and those greens like wet towels become as hard as the cement on Highway 1 outside town.

But when the pine needles settled Thursday, it was really crowded at the top. Everybody should have seen it coming. They play the U.S. Open and the starting gate at the Belmont breaks out.

Add it up and there are 19 players within two shots of the leaders. The guys everyone is chasing took advantage of a course made easier because of the conditions.

Duval said his index finger was sort of sore, the one he burned last week when he touched a hot tea kettle at home, but it didn’t appear to inhibit his golf game, only his post-round news conference. Pine cones are more interesting.

He weighed in with such heavyweight material that the course will become more difficult the rest of the way, that he practices some when he’s off, that his caddie cleaned some mud off the ball a couple of times and that one birdie is just as good as the next.

Maybe Duval has simply grown so weary of discussing how he burned his fingers that it has become contagious to all his conversations.

Whatever the reason, Duval permitted his play to speak for itself.

He even admitted that it’s really good to play in a steady manner.

“I find it to be less stressful,” he said. “I very much enjoyed the day.

“All in all, everything was pretty.”

It became a lot more attractive late in the round. That’s when he birdied both par threes on the back--No. 15 and No. 17--from two feet and 10 feet, then sat back and waited to see if anyone would catch him.

For a while, it seemed as if everyone would.

Mickelson was three under after five holes, including a 25-foot chip-in at No. 5, but fell off the pace and then caught up again with back-to-back birdies at Nos. 13 and 14.

Afterward, Mickelson was relieved.

“I think that this is the best test of golf that I’ve ever played in a major championship,” he said. “It tests every area of your game. It tests every shot.”

Actually, Mickelson is getting tested on a lot of levels, including the personal one. His wife, Amy, is pregnant and could give birth before her June 30 due date, so Mickelson is playing while waiting for a pager signal that he says would force him to withdraw and return to Phoenix.

Mayfair, as steady and unspectacular as his even-tempered personality, parred the last eight holes.

“I’m thrilled to death,” said Mayfair, who had every right to be after snaking in a birdie putt from 20 feet on No. 10. For Goydos, it was an eventful back nine. Even through 11 holes, he had three birdies coming in.

But Goydos sounded a note of caution about what is bound to happen the rest of the way.

“Good golf courses tend to separate the guys who are playing great from the guys who are playing good, and the guys who are playing good from the guys who are playing average,” he said. “Eventually that’s going to happen here.”

After he opened with a 68 made possible by birdies on the last two holes, Woods found himself tied with Stewart, Daly, David Berganio Jr., and Kaname Yakoo of Japan.

Woods wound up with four birdies, two bogeys, 12 pars and a huge sigh of relief.

“If you saw me play today, you would say there’s no way he could have shot the number he shot,” Woods said. “It was not a pretty round, but I scored. And the name of the game is scoring.”

Daly’s score would have been better if not for his drive on the last hole, where he yanked his drive into a tree about 100 yards off the tee. He may have found the only hard object at Pinehurst, at least on the first day.

“The conditions were soft,” Woods said.

Expect them to get a lot harder faster.

U.S. OPEN LEADERBOARD

At Pinehurst, N.C.--Par 70

David Duval: 34-33--67 -3

Phil Mickelson: 34-33--67 -3

Billy Mayfair: 33-34--67 -3

Paul Goydos: 34-33--67 -3

David Berganio: 34-34--68 -2

Kaname Yokoo: 32-36--68 -2

Tiger Woods: 36-32--68 -2

Payne Stewart: 34-34--68 -2

John Daly: 32-36--68 -2

Complete Scores: Page 6

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ALSO

GETTING TO KNOW HIM: Little-known Paul Goydos, a Long Beach State product, shares the top spot with some big names. Page 6

WHAT’S UP, JOHN? Even John Daly is surprised by his first-round performance that left him one stroke off the pace. Page 7