McDowell cuts up rough

Graeme McDowell had an early taste of Winged Foot’s feared rough when the 106th US Open got underway today.

McDowell pulled his drive on the opening hole into the “second primary cut” of five-and-a-half inch deep rough, and did not even contemplate trying to reach the green.

The 26-year-old from Northern Ireland was only able to advance the ball around 60 yards up the fairway, but then pitched to six feet and holed the putt to save par.

Playing partner Nick Dougherty had found the fairway and the edge of the green in regulation, but three-putted from long range for a bogey five.

The early lead was held by American JJ Henry who had birdied the second and third to be one shot ahead of England’s Kenneth Ferrie.

Starting from the 10th, Ferrie had parred his opening hole and then picked up a shot on the 11th.

Ten minutes earlier Warrington’s Phillip Archer, playing in the first match out from the 10th at 7am local time, had a putt to be the first player under par but missed from eight feet.

Vijay Singh, winner of the Barclays Classic at nearby Westchester n Sunday, parred the opening hole but playing partner David Toms found a similar spot to McDowell and was unable to match the Ulsterman’s recovery.