Woods and Mickelson level but trailing

After wildly contrasting starts Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson ended honours even in the opening round of the US PGA championship in Chicago today – but now they have some catching up to do.

The world number one and number two, going head-to-head in a major for only the third time, both returned three under par 69s at Medinah Country Club, as did playing partner Geoff Ogilvy.

But on a day of record low scoring in the event the trio majors, trail leaders Lucas Glover and Chris Riley by three.

Another American, Davis Love, threatened to be the story of the round when he turned in 30 and was seven under with two to play on the longest course in major history.

But Love, in need of a good week to earn a seventh successive Ryder Cup cap next month, triple-bogeyed the short 17th, going completely under his ball in the rough by the green and then hitting his next attempt into a bunker.

“I got the wrong club off the tee. I was one club away from a great round,” said the 1997 winner.

Luke Donald, wearing black in memory of Darren Clarke’s wife, was in the group on 68 and Sergio Garcia was on the same four under mark until he three-putted the 16th – the hole where he played his stunning eyes-shut shot seven years ago when finishing runner-up to Woods.

Lee Westwood and Padraig Harrington, whose wives attended the funeral for Heather Clarke in the North, had very different rounds.

Westwood had a 69, but Harrington, who is donating his prize money this week to breast cancer research, crashed from two under after 13 holes to 75, triple-bogeying the 453-yard 16th.

Colin Montgomerie, playing in America for the first time since he lost the US Open by double-bogeying the final hole, had four birdies, but also five bogeys and two double bogeys to be down on five over.

Three strokes worse than that, though, were Nick Dougherty and also Clarke’s close friend Thomas Bjorn, another dressed in black and very emotional at the prayer service led by American Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman before play got under way.

Open champion Woods kicked off with a bogey six on the 579-yard 10th after hooking his drive into the trees, while Mickelson smashed a 260-yard second onto the green from the edge of the rough, two-putted for birdie, then added another from five feet on the next.

Having given his rival a three-shot start Woods would certainly have taken being on equal terms at the end of the day.

He birdied the 12th, 14th, 15th and seventh, while Mickelson bogeyed the short second before picking up more shots on the fifth and seventh, the two par fives on the front nine.

Woods, who has won the last six majors in which he began with a score in the sixties, said: “I was behind the eight-ball early, but we all understand it’s a long way and you just have to keep plugging away.

“We all did that and were grinding away. I kept the ball in play and made a couple.”

Mickelson, whose short-game coach Dave Pelz had sparked a debate by saying he thought his man was the better of the two when playing well, had two drivers in his bag just as he did in winning at Augusta in April.

“We both played okay, but had the chance to go lower and I’ll try to get it ironed out on the range,” he commented.

“I’ve played a lot with Tiger (in all tournaments) and it’s very enjoyable. He’s in his own world, I’m taking care of what I’m doing and we shake hands afterwards.”

Westwood was in contention on the same course seven years ago, but then wilted in the intense heat and humidity of a third round played in the company of Woods. He had to be put on a drip afterwards.

Conditions have been nowhere near as fierce this week and, even with the closing bogey, he was delighted with his score after two weeks’ holiday in the Bahamas.

“I had 10 days lying on the beach. After six weeks in a row it was a rest I felt I needed,” he said.

Asked his thoughts about the funeral of the wife of his stablemate and Ryder Cup partner Westwood, who was encouraged to play by Clarke when they spoke on Monday, added: “I have a job to do, but when things go badly you do tell yourself a lot worse happens and has happened.”

Donald, who has had a base in Chicago since his student days, was pleased with his start too. It is the first time in the majors this year that he has got into the hunt on the opening day.

A holed bunker shot on the short 17th, his eighth, was the highlight. “I was a little between clubs and pulled it into the sand. It was a reasonably simple shot, but if I thinned it the water was behind. I got the perfect line and speed, though.”

Remarkably, Billy Mayfair had six birdies in the first 11 holes to lead just two weeks after surgery for testicular cancer, but then slipped back to three under.

Glover, 14th on the American Ryder Cup table, and 2004 team member Chris Riley were one ahead of their compatriot Billy Andrade, called in on the eve of the event when Steve Elkington became the eighth player to withdraw.