Tiger gives prey a head start

THE fickleness of the game of golf has rarely been more evident than on the first day of the 85th US PGA Championship at sunny Oak Hill yesterday.

Whereas the runaway world number one Tiger Woods could do no better than a four over par 74 and the defending champion Rich Beem soared (along with the hapless Colin Montgomerie) to 82, Phil Mickelson, the man who can win just about everything except a major championship, struck early and impressively with a 66 to share the lead with the Australian Rod Pampling.

Darren Clarke, one of Ireland's big hopes, was more or less out of it after just two holes as he began double bogey, triple bogey. And any hopes we might have entertained of a first European success in 80 years were further eroded when Denmark's Thomas Bjorn, for whom there were high hopes after his near miss in the British Open, crashed to a 78.