US OPEN: Mickelson thankful for small mercies after solid opening

Such is the grind involved in competing at a US Open that it is little wonder Phil Mickelson celebrated sinking a first round bogey putt at Chambers Bay last night as if it was a major-clinching birdie.

Mickelson has ticked that box five times but he has famously not done so at his national championship.

Six times the left-hander has come up agonisingly short and been forced to settle for second place in a US Open but yesterday in Washington State his bid to finally get over the finishing line and with it complete a career Grand Slam of majors got off to an encouraging start, his avoidance of a double bogey at the 14th hole as significant as any of the three birdies he sank in an opening, one under par 69.

“Yeah, that was a big one,” Mickelson said. “It was a 15-footer for bogey. You’re going to make bogeys, everyone is going to make bogeys, it’s the doubles you want to try to avoid. To make that one and not make any doubles, that was a big one for me.”

The American had got his 25th US Open appearance off to a flying start with birdies at the third, fifth and eight holes — a par three, four and five hole respectively. He was putting very well, rolling in a 13-footer at the third after an excellent tee shot and a 14-footer at the eighth and his first spot of trouble came at the 10th after he got out of position off the tee, the resulting bogey at the par-four hole dropping him back to two under.

A birdie followed at the 11th only for back to back bogeys although the save on 14 sent Mickelson homeward in good spirits.

“I’m very pleased with the way the round went. I hit a lot of good shots today. I shot under par the first day of the US Open. The first round was the round I was going to be most nervous at, getting started. You don’t want to have to fight to come back all the time. You want to get off to a solid start around par.

“And I got off to a good start and shot one-under. Made a couple of bogeys coming in. The one on 14 was a good bogey, I’ll gladly take that. Missed a couple of birdie opportunities on 16, 17 and 18, but really pleased to be under par after the first round.”

As befits a golfer happy with his lot, Mickelson gave credit to the course and the way the USGA set it up, saying: “I thought it played terrific. I thought it played as we expected. I thought there was nothing hokey or crazy with any pin positions or how it played.

“I think the biggest challenge is that the green speeds are different from green to green. That’s going to wreak havoc on our touch. And that’s the only thing I could possibly think of that is not really positive, because I think it’s been very well done.

“What I found is that they’re not the most true surfaces downhill, because you can’t hit it hard enough to hold the line. But uphill they seem to hold the line just fine. I might have to factor that in in how I play some shots now, because I think the percentage of made putts uphill from three to nine feet is going to be quite a bit higher than downhill.”