Clearing skies and warm temperatures helped the late starters at Bethpage Black steal a march on their earlier rivals as Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell held a precarious share of the clubhouse lead halfway through the rain-delayed first round of the 109th US Open.
McDowell, coming off a final-round 63 at the St Jude Classic in Memphis last Sunday, posted a one-under-par 69 after opening-round play resumed on Friday morning following Thursday's washout on Long Island, while defending champion Tiger Woods suffered a nightmare finish to his first round.
Peter Hanson of Sweden and former Masters champion Mike Weir of Canada were taking their turn at the top of a fluid championship leaderboard having reached four under par after 11 and nine holes respectively. That gave them a one-stroke lead over Colombia's Camilo Villegas, who had played 11, with American duo Sean O'Hair and Kenny Perry both two under after 10.
McDowell's 69 gave him a share of the early clubhouse lead alongside American amateur Drew Weaver but Thursday's late-starting half of the draw were finding conditions much easier as they finally got their first rounds under way in drying conditions on still soft greens. The Northern Irishman was certainly not getting carried away.
"I've led a few majors after day one," McDowell said. "It's not really what I'm trying to do. I'm just trying to stick around for the weekend. I'm trying to position myself as well as I possibly can and compete in Sunday afternoon."
Joining McDowell and Weaver at one under was an ever-growing group including England's Ross Fisher, after 10, Denmark's Soren Hansen, who had played 11, last year's runner-up Rocco Mediate, who had reached the 11th and world number two Phil Mickelson, having played 10.
Also at one under were Adam Scott of Australia, after 11, and Americans Anthony Kim and David Toms, both of whom were playing the 13th.
Those low scores could spell trouble for world number one Woods, who had been at level par with four holes to play but finished his round with a run of double bogey, bogey, par, bogey to leave him with a four-over 74.
"I was even par with four to go," Woods said. "I was right there where I needed to be, and two bad shots and a mud ball later, here we go and I'm at four over par."
