Irish trio have mountain to climb
He shot a bitterly disappointing six over par 76 in the first round of the US Open.
And it was an even worse day for the major Irish hope Pádraig Harrington who slumped to a 77, leaving Graeme McDowell best of our three strong Irish challenge on four over.
McGinley readily admitted that he came here "buzzing" at the thought of playing his third US Open. He had missed the cut in his two previous attempts and now accepts he has "a mountain to climb" if he's to be around for the weekend.
"I putted atrociously and didn't make a birdie, hence my score," said McGinley. "It was tough out there but I have no complaints about the golf course, none at all. It's the US Open and that's a tough exam. It's what I prepared for and mentally I was ready for it. For the most part I stuck to my game plan. I got two six footers, otherwise I didn't hole a putt. The greens were perfect, it was just one of those days when nothing went in. A total of 33 putts, you'll find the leader today probably had 23 and that's a ten shot difference for a start.
"I drove it okay, I missed three or four fairways but everybody will be doing that. It's hard to get any momentum when you're not getting any birdies and you're giving shots away all the time. It's just very disappointing to have prepared as well as I have done and then putt so badly. I need 64 now to get back into the tournament and that's not on here."
Harrington hasn't had a top ten finish in a "major" since this championship in 2002 at Bethpage and is now looking down the barrel of a missed cut for the second successive week. He claimed that he played well and even drove the ball competently, it was just when he did find the rough, he was unable to recover. That was a familiar story from just about everybody and he added: "I didn't putt very well and that's the nature of the course. You're always going to miss fairways and I wouldn't have wanted to drive it any better. It's just that I couldn't get it out of the rough. I have played tougher courses. I did my best so I can't be disappointed. I have no complaints at all."
If he didn't realise it before the championship began, Graeme McDowell is now fully aware of the importance of hitting the Pinehurst fairways.
The 25-year-old Portrush golfer found the short grass at eight of 14 holes but the misses proved extremely costly as he ran up seven bogeys in a disappointing round of 74. Four over par isn't exactly a disaster on such a difficult course but McDowell fully accepts that he needs to be a lot more accurate off the tee if he is to make the cut.
"Miss the fairway and you're dead unless you get lucky and catch a lie", McDowell conceded. "I don't know how the rest of the guys are getting on but I don't have the power to get it on the green from these lies. I was a bit sloppy around the greens but it's not easy. I got myself back into it with successive birdies at the 12th and 13th at which stage I was only one over and was rolling the putts nicely. But I missed the fairway at 15 and the green at 16 and gave those shots straight back to the course. Then I hit it in the right rough at 18 and that was another one gone. You've got to hit on the fairways, some pins you can go for, others you can't, and even with a wedge in your hand you can't get aggressive."
It was a reasonably good day for the Europeans as Lee Westwood led the way with a splendid four under par 68 in spite of waking up yesterday morning with a very sore throat. He made light of the handicap to produce his best start to a major championship since the 2000 Masters and so put himself in the perfect position to mount a challenge into the weekend.
Said Westwood: "I struck the ball well all day, hit a lot of fairways and greens. It's the kind of course where you sometimes have to play away from the hole and you need to be very disciplined and take your chances when they come. I had a big bonus at 14 where I came out of a fairway trap to about 60 feet. I was just trying to get it close and it went in. This is the kind of start you want because you can't be aggressive on a course like this, you want to get in credit early on and keep building on that."
The quietly fancied Luke Donald made it a good day for the English when he shot a one under 69.
CHUBBY CHANDLER, Darren Clarke's manager, revealed here last night that the player's cancer-stricken wife Heather will be discharged from hospital on Monday next. She has improved appreciably having taken seriously ill during the BMW PGA Championship a fortnight ago. Darren quit after 36 holes at Wentworth and then withdrew from the US Open so as to be with his wife and two young sons. It is now likely that he will compete in the Smurfit European Open at The K-Club at the end of the month having originally dropped the event from his schedule.
A FURIOUS Ian Poulter lashed the USGA after rulings went against him on the 18th and 1st greens in yesterday's first round. He claimed his two-foot putt for par at the 18th, his 9th, was prevented from dropping because the metal rim of the cup had risen above ground level. He called for a ruling but the first official on the scene wasn't prepared to adjudicate and invited tournament supremo David Fay to do so instead. He in turn not only decided it was simply a case of bad luck or a rub of the green and in any case he didn't accept that there was anything amiss with the way the hole was cut. The colourful Englishman argued the point heatedly and play was held up for ten minutes before Poulter finally tapped in. He then grabbed the flagstick and slammed it into the hole, watched by playing partner Chad Campbell who sat on his bag through it all and never got involved. Some quarter of an hour later, there was a similar occurrence on the first green and this time Poulter really saw red.
"I don't expect to see that kind of thing happen anywhere and certainly not in the US Open", he raged. "I'm choosing my words as carefully as I can but I admit I'm shocked that such a thing could happen. The rules say the rim should be at least an inch under ground and I don't care what they say, that certainly was far from the case.
And, you know, it's hard enough out there without having to wonder whether the hole has been pushed down an inch or not. I read somewhere that it happened at the Tour School once but it's the first time it's happened to me." Poulter struggled round in 77 with a single birdie at the short 9th.
"THIS is very tough, it's not Korean style where the fairways are wider and the ball lands softer." - K.J. Choi after shooting an opening 69.
THANKFULLY, the temperatures dropped a few degrees yesterday so the greenkeeping staff weren't as busy as they might have expected. They have what they call "spray technicians" here at Pinehurst and their task is to hose down the greens and even the golfers, spectators and anybody who wants a squirt!
They were out there all right, "syringing" the greens as they put it over here, but more as a precautionary measure rather than in the panicky way they reacted at Shinnecock Hills last year when they all but lost the 7th green on the final day.
"THESE are more rejection greens. They're like upside down salad bowls. They don't accept shots into the greens and I don't think I hit one shot at a pin today." - Peter Jacobson, playing his first US Open in six years and happy to have got round in 72.
"THERE'S a reason why Retief Goosen and Ernie Els have each won twice. They're able to handle the choke factor." - former champion and NBC analyst Johnny Miller who wasn't surprised that the South African stars shot openings rounds of 68 and 71 respectively.
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