Oakmont, Pa. – They held the first round of the United States Open on Thursday and a Ryder Cup match broke out – you know, that biennial event in which Europe shows how it has it all over the Red, White and Blue.
It has been almost eight years since someone from the Continent, Scotland’s Paul Lawrie at the 1999 British Open, won a men’s major championship, but judging from the opening 18 holes at Oakmont Country Club, there may be a few USGA officials pursing their lips and getting ready to whistle a few bars of “Hail Britannia.”
The morning wave of players finished up with England’s Nick Dougherty setting the pace with a 2-under-par 68, a score that held up as the afternoon groupings wearily made their way around in what became a five-plus-hour round. The only other player to shoot under par was Argentina’s Angel Cabrera, who finished a stroke behind Dougherty.
The first American on the leaderboard was Bubba Watson, tied with Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal at even-par 70. The duo was trailed by a thicket of 16 players, including five more Europeans, at 71. Also in that group were Tiger Woods and defending champion Geoff Ogilvy.
Phil Mickelson, who haltingly entered play with a bum wrist, finished at 4-over 74.
“It’s aggravating,” Mickelson said. “I wouldn’t say it’s painful, not at all, but it’s annoying – that’s probably a better word.”
That seemed to be the order of the day at Oakmont, which played slightly softer than expected following a heavy downpour Wednesday afternoon. Even though there were far more rounds in the 80s than the 60s (17-to-2), and only two of the 156 players, Cabrera and David Toms, managed to get their scores as low as 3-under at any point during the day, no one came off the 7,230-yard course threatening bodily harm to the USGA.
Then again, it was only the first round.
“It’s probably perfect for Thursday,” Ogilvy said. “Two or three guys under par maybe, then they’re all gone by Friday night.”
One of the myriad theories on why the Europeans have held sway in the Ryder Cup, winning the past three and five of the last six competitions, is that their side has a whole lot more fun than ours. If that’s the case, it’s hard to fathom how Dougherty has been left off the team heretofore. Good times have followed the 25-year-old all his life; born in Liverpool, his father once sold a guitar owned by Sir Paul McCartney in order to buy another instrument for Dougherty – a flute.
“I don’t know why he did it,” Dougherty laughed. “He said, ‘When you’re on Tour, it will entertain you, to be able to sit in your room and play the flute.’
“Can you imagine? TGI Fridays is much more fun.”
Of course, during the start of his now five-year tenure on the European Tour, Dougherty preferred venues that didn’t serve chicken wings. While he’s had at least one top-five finish each season, and won one event in 2005, Dougherty admitted Thursday that he’s probably squandered even more opportunities at victory.
“I prepare as well as anyone,” he said. “I train. I do everything the right way. I strive for perfection. Back in the day, that wasn’t the case. When I won, that was not long after I decided to change my lifestyle.
“But I was a young man, and young men have fun. I don’t regret it, because now I know the right way to run my life and how to go about my professional career to get the most out of it.”
If his play doesn’t get him there, Dougherty even has another ace up his sleeve in his efforts to make the 2008 Ryder Cup team – an early mentor was Nick Faldo, the captain for the European team. But if Dougherty should happen to hold on to the lead over the next three days, it’s safe to assume there’d be no need to call in any favors.
“I believe I’m a good enough golfer to contend in majors, whether it’s now or this year or down the line,” he said. “I want to be one of those European players the media looks at to fly the flag for us in these tournaments.
“We’ve had a drought recently, but hopefully it will be over starting from this week.”
Staff writer Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
U.S. Open – First Round Scores
AT OAKMONT COUNTRY CLUB
Oakmont, Pa.
7,230 yards, par 35-70
a-amateur
Nick Dougherty 36-32-68
Angel Cabrera 33-36-69
Bubba Watson 35-35-70
Jose Maria Olazabal 34-36-70
Olin Browne 35-36-71
Pablo Martin 35-36-71
Ben Curtis 36-35-71
Tiger Woods 35-36-71
Geoff Ogilvy 36-35-71
Anders Hansen 35-36-71
Niclas Fasth 36-35-71
Peter Hanson 36-35-71
Jason Dufner 35-36-71
Brandt Snedeker 37-34-71
Vijay Singh 35-36-71
Fred Funk 37-34-71
Lucas Glover 37-34-71
Jim Furyk 37-34-71
J.J. Henry 37-34-71
Justin Rose 36-35-71
Craig Kanada 38-34-72
Boo Weekley 35-37-72
Tim Clark 35-37-72
David Toms 39-33-72
Tom Pernice Jr. 35-37-72
Stewart Cink 35-37-72
Ian Poulter 38-34-72
Shingo Katayama 35-37-72
Aaron Baddeley 37-35-72
Lee Westwood 38-34-72
Carl Pettersson 36-36-72
Marcus Fraser 36-36-72
George McNeill 36-36-72
Michael Putnam 35-38-73
Jon Mills 38-35-73
Tom Byrum 36-37-73
Graeme McDowell 34-39-73
Kirk Triplett 38-35-73
Michael Campbell 35-38-73
Ernie Els 38-35-73
Padraig Harrington 37-36-73
Stephen Ames 35-38-73
Rory Sabbatini 35-38-73
Scott Verplank 37-36-73
Arron Oberholser 38-35-73
Jeff Brehaut 39-34-73
Andrew Buckle 36-37-73
Joey Sindelar 37-36-73
Trevor Immelman 36-37-73
Camilo Villegas 38-35-73
Lee Janzen 37-36-73
Rich Beem 37-36-73
Chad Campbell 36-37-73
Sean O’Hair 35-38-73
Anthony Wall 37-36-73
Hunter Mahan 41-32-73
Ken Duke 37-37-74
a-Rhys Davies 39-35-74
a-John Kelly 37-37-74
Ryuji Imada 36-38-74
Vaughn Taylor 36-38-74
Mike Weir 38-36-74
Jerry Kelly 35-39-74
Stuart Appleby 38-36-74
Luke Donald 39-35-74
Nathan Green 35-39-74
Woody Austin 36-38-74
Harrison Frazar 38-36-74
Darron Stiles 35-39-74
Kenneth Ferrie 36-38-74
Jeff Sluman 37-37-74
Phil Mickelson 36-38-74
Anthony Kim 37-37-74
Kevin Sutherland 34-40-74
Tripp Isenhour 37-37-74
D.J. Brigman 38-36-74
Thomas Bjorn 40-35-75
Justin Leonard 38-37-75
Robert Allenby 38-37-75
John Rollins 38-37-75
Bob Estes 37-38-75
Johan Edfors 37-38-75
Darren Fichardt 38-37-75
Joe Durant 35-40-75
Steve Stricker 36-39-75
Charl Schwartzel 36-39-75
Davis Love III 39-36-75
Jeev Milkha Singh 39-36-75
a-Mark Harrell 38-37-75
Nobuhiro Masuda 37-39-76
Ricky Barnes 37-39-76
Colin Montgomerie 37-39-76
Chris DiMarco 38-38-76
Zach Johnson 38-38-76
Retief Goosen 36-40-76
Pat Perez 35-41-76
a-Jason Kokrak 38-38-76
Martin Laird 37-39-76
Nick O’Hern 38-38-76
Adam Scott 38-38-76
Charles Howell III 37-39-76
Dean Wilson 39-37-76
Soren Kjeldsen 38-38-76
Johnson Wagner 37-40-77
Tom Gillis 37-40-77
K.J. Choi 36-41-77
Mathew Goggin 40-37-77
Geoffrey Sisk 38-39-77
Kyle Dobbs 38-39-77
Paul Casey 39-38-77
Brett Wetterich 38-39-77
Robert Karlsson 38-39-77
Luke List 36-41-77
Joe Daley 40-37-77
Sam Walker 37-41-78
a-Richard Ramsay 38-40-78
John Koskinen 39-39-78
Christian Cevaer 39-39-78
Shaun Micheel 39-39-78
Kaname Yokoo 40-38-78
Paul Goydos 37-41-78
Toru Taniguchi 41-37-78
Ryan Moore 37-41-78
Brett Quigley 38-40-78
Tim Petrovic 34-44-78
Adam Speirs 42-36-78
Todd Rossetti 39-39-78
a-Trip Kuehne 42-37-79
Sergio Garcia 42-37-79
Nick Watney 42-37-79
Andy Matthews 40-39-79
Michael Block 43-36-79
Todd Fischer 41-38-79
Steve Marino 39-40-79
Henrik Stenson 37-42-79
Eric Axley 40-39-79
a-Richard Lee 41-38-79
a-Chris Condello 39-40-79
Frank Bensel 44-35-79
Lee Williams 39-41-80
Jason Allen 41-39-80
Chris Stroud 42-38-80
a-Martin Ureta 43-37-80
Allen Doyle 39-42-81
Todd Hamilton 43-38-81
a-Philip Pettitt Jr. 37-44-81
Michael Berg 40-41-81
Rod Pampling 42-39-81
Warren Pineo 38-44-82
a-Jeff Golden 39-43-82
a-Alex Prugh 40-42-82
Ryan Palmer 37-47-84
Steve Elkington 41-43-84
Miguel Rodriguez 43-41-84
Jacob Rogers 38-47-85
Mike Small 43-43-86
