Americans lead the way at the US Open
13th June, 2008
Kevin Streelman and Justin Hicks, two relatively unknown American players, lead the US Open after the first round at Torrey Pines.
Both shot three-under-par 68s at the 108th US Open, whilst two more Americans and two Australians sit one shot behind. Tiger Woods shot a one-over in his first round back since playing at the Masters in April following an operation on his knee. He carded two double-bogeys in the round, and admitted feeling sore after the arduous 18 holes.
The English contingent faired well, with Lee Westwood leading the fight two shots from the lead, whilst Luke Donald dropped two shots in the last four holes to drop back to level-par. Oliver Wilson, who recently lost in a play-off against Miguel Angel Jiminez for the PGA Championship at Wentworth, was one over, whilst Ross Fisher was another shot back at two over.
Some of the more experienced English players didn’t do quite so well, with Ian Poulter, Nick Dougherty, Paul Casey, Justin Rose and Colin Montgomery all shot 78 or 79, with plenty of time to recover.
Our US Open tips are holding up, with Geoff Ogilvy, our main tipped player, in joint third one shot back. He joins fellow Autralian Stuart Appleby one shot back, with both in contention to win our ‘winning nationality’ bet. Oliver Wilson is also capable of taking the top Englishman spot at the golf major.
By Chris M
