After a weather delay and some pushback of tee times, the U.S. Open is fully underway again on Thursday for the first round and Phil Mickelson sat on top of the leaderboard as he finished his round early in the afternoon with a three under after hitting some great shots down the stretch and throughout the day.
Mickelson finished up his round just as some players were starting off after the delay, including Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott, who all will be grouped together for the first two rounds at Merion, which has gotten a bit wet and wild since the rain started falling last weekend. Woods is the favorite at the tournament and a betting man might put money on his group to win, as Adam Scott is coming off of a win at Augusta and McIlroy has won two majors over the past two years.
Mickelson had a wild week as he flew out for family business and then came back and he passed the first test at the US Open as the course at Merion offered a number of challenges to players on the first day and now he leads Nicolas Colsaerts and Jerry Kelly while Mike Weir is also at one under. Mickelson is at three under 67 and he had the clubhouse lead as the second set of players started to tee off.
The grouping of Woods, McIlroy and Scott will have the most attention, but it is Mickelson that now should take some of that off, as his early lead bodes well for him heading into the weekend after winning once on tour already this year and having some so-so results later on. The 42-year-old looked sharp and he decided to play without his driver and he ended up getting back from his daughter's graduation in plenty of time and he was out on the course very early on Thursday before the delay horn came in.
Mickelson started off the number 11 tee and he looked good after bogeying the first hole and added birdied on the 13th, first and seventh holes on his way to a three under. Mickelson came into the tournament looking good after coming in second in Memphis and he is hoping to turn that into a major victory, something Woods would like to do as well. Woods hasn't won a major since 2008 and this will be his best chance, as he is playing extremely well on tour while winning four times already.
No one can knock Mickelson for being tired, as he flew back to California for his daughter's graduation where she was serving as the speaker. Mickelson was back in time and maybe the travel ended up helping him get sharp, as he took the early lead and he knows that every stroke counts at the US Open, as he has had some heartbreak with his five runner ups coming on a combined nine strokes over the years as the only player to do it that many times. The under par round was a welcome sign for Mickelson and now he will have the early advantage over players like Woods and McIlroy heading into Friday's play.