Dougherty's 68 leads Open early; Woods shoots 71

Golf Betting Lines

06/14/2007 - Oakmont, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nick Dougherty was the early first-round leader at the U.S. Open after finishing off a two-under 68 Thursday afternoon at Oakmont.

Angel Cabrera was a shot further back at one-under 69.

Tiger Woods and defending champion Geoff Ogilvy both shot one-over 71 playing the same group, and a host of other well-known players were in the mix.

Wearing a brace on his left wrist, Phil Mickelson was on the practice green well ahead of his 1:36 p.m. (et) tee time.

Dougherty's number was already one shot better than the leading 18-hole score at Winged Foot last year, when Colin Montgomerie's 69 was the highest first- round score to lead a U.S. Open in 20 years.

Indeed, there were plenty of low scores early Thursday when it looked like the rain Oakmont received on Wednesday might have slowed the greens considerably and given the players some advantage.

"I certainly think it's helped us because it softened up the greens today," said Dougherty, who needed just 11 putts to shoot 32 on the back nine. "You can get putts to stop relatively close to the hole."

Dougherty had four birdies to go along with back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 7 and 8. His last birdie was set up by a 54-degree wedge shot to six feet at the 17th, a 313-yard par four.

The 25-year-old Englishman, who is still looking for his first PGA Tour victory, said he though the course was "easy." Not that he wanted everyone to know he said it.

"I hate saying it ... Especially if a USGA official picks up on that," he commented.

Still, there were only around a dozen players at even-par or better when Woods finished. Bubba Watson and Jose Maria Olazabal were in the clubhouse with even-par 70s.

David Toms started hot and was an early leader, but he made five bogeys on his last six holes and shot a two-over 72. Pablo Martin, a 21-year-old Spaniard, was tied with Woods and Ogilvy at 71.

Oakmont was showing its teeth.

Woods hit his first drive at No. 1 into one of the course's 210 bunkers and opened with a bogey, but came right back with a 15-foot birdie at the second hole to get to even-par. He made par from bunkers at the third and fourth, then rolled in another 15-foot putt for birdie at the sixth.

He was even-par around the turn, though, after making a bogey from a bunker at 288-yard, par-three eighth, then slipped to one-over with a two-putt bogey at the 10th.

Hitting into another bunker at the 12th, Woods made bogey and fell to two- over. But he made a good par after hitting into a bowl-like scoop in the green at the 13th, then later moved back to one-over with a three-foot birdie at the 17th.

It was a grinder's round from the world's top player.

"The golf course is playing hard, and this is with pretty benign conditions and pretty favorable pin positions," Woods said. "You know the U.S. Open is going to be a grind."

Woods missed the cut last year at Winged Foot when he opened with back-to-back rounds of 76, then admitted he wasn't ready to play so soon after his father's death.

Thursday, he did just enough to almost guarantee that wouldn't happen again.

"I hit enough fairways to at least give myself a chance," said Woods, who has won two U.S. Opens and 12 majors overall. "When I didn't, I just put it back in play."

The weather Thursday was overcast and cool with a slight breeze -- perfect playing conditions even if the course toughened steadily as the first round wore on.

"Oakmont probably will never play easier than we had it in the first nine holes," said Ogilvy, whose birdies included a six-foot putt at the 13th.