Toms Holds Early Lead at U.S. Open

By ALAN ROBINSON

OAKMONT, Pa. – David Toms’ past visits to Pittsburgh haven’t always been pleasant; maybe this trip to the U.S. Open will make up for it. Toms, in danger of dying during a heart flare-up during the 84 Lumber Classic in 2005, was 2 under through 13 holes Thursday and held a one-shot lead as the U.S. Open returned to Oakmont Country Club. Defending champion Geoff Ogilvy was a stroke back.

Despite early indications that a Wednesday thunderstorm might have softened Oakmont’s traditionally fast greens and created better scoring conditions, only six players were below par with about half the 156-man field on the course.

Among those fighting the course was Tiger Woods, who was 2 over through 13 holes – he is playing with Ogilvy – during his first competitive round at 103-year-old Oakmont, home to what may be the fastest greens in golf.

Some of the bigger names in the field were having the most trouble. Sergio Garcia was 7 over at the turn and was a dead-last 8 over through 13. Colin Montgomerie, who tied for second a year ago at Winged Foot, was 4 over through 15 and two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen was 3 over through 11 after making the turn at even par.

Toms came into the U.S. Open off a third-place finish in Memphis last weekend, his only Top 10 since he was ninth in the Masters.

With 70-plus golfers already in black numbers only a few hours into the opening round, it appeared the rain storm that dropped slightly less than a half inch of rain didn’t soften Oakmont’s historically fast greens enough to cause a major improvement in scores. Johnny Miller shot his record 63 to win the 1973 U.S. Open at Oakmont following such a storm.

Toms, a former PGA champion, is playing in the Pittsburgh area for only the second time since his brush with death two years ago.

Then, he dropped to a knee as his heart raced out of control while he was on the course, and he was later taken by helicopter to a Pittsburgh hospital, where doctors were forced to stop his heart, then restart it, to slow his racing pulse. A few months later, he had surgery to repair a condition that caused the problem.

"It was a scary situation," Toms said. "I really didn’t know what was going on. It got obviously kind of hairy there for about 45 minutes. … I knew right away my vitals weren’t very good, and I was hurting real bad in my chest."

Toms was 3 under through 10 holes Thursday and briefly held a two-stroke edge, but dropped a stroke by bogeying No. 13, a 183-yard par 3.

Among the bigger names teeing off later were Phil Mickelson, who has a left wrist injury that prevented him from playing a full practice round this week, Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk.

This is a record eighth U.S. Open at Oakmont, but the first in 13 years, and only a dozen or so players have tournament experience on a course reputed to be the toughest in America. On Wednesday, Arnold Palmer questioned whether the field was ready to challenge Oakmont and its speedy greens.

This Oakmont doesn’t look like that pre-Tiger Oakmont of 1994, not with 5,000 trees leveled since then, the bunkers made deeper and more threatening and the Church Pews bunker expanded.

With so much trouble awaiting, and so little Oakmont experience out there, Palmer predicted it could be a very shaky opening round or two for many. He hasn’t missed an Open at Oakmont in more than 50 years, but he almost sounded relieved to be sitting this one out.

For all the changes, he said, what sets Oakmont apart are greens so fast and tilted that the USGA is having trouble finding four adequate pin placements on each hole.

"I’ve talked to some of the guys that have been out there and I’ve talked to some of the former champions who have been out there, and they tell me this field – and this is just an observation – is not really ready for Oakmont," said Palmer, the tournament’s honorary chairman. "That they haven’t really learned yet how to play Oakmont."

Palmer has played Oakmont for 66 years and even The King isn’t entirely sure if he fully knows a course whose greens are so frighteningly fast, so unnervingly difficult to read.

"There are golf courses over the years that I could play a practice round or two and feel pretty comfortable that I knew how to play it," Palmer said. "Oakmont just doesn’t happen to be that kind of golf course. I’ve played, well, since I was 12 years old. And I’m not even sure now that I know every shot that I should hit, if I could hit it."

Mickelson, among the favorites, won The Players Championship last month and had a pair of third-place ties before that, and would seem to have plenty of momentum since switching to Butch Harmon as his coach. But even he didn’t know until he got on the course how much his left wrist injury would affect him.