Toms disappointed with first-round finish, pleased with result

David Toms looked positively superhuman during the first 10 holes of Thursday's opening round at Oakmont. His finishing score of 2 over may have been disappointing, but it put him in contention.

By Dave Shedloski, PGATOUR.com Senior Correspondent

OAKMONT, Pa. -- David Toms wasn't doing anything special to get to 3 under par through 10 holes and open a two-stroke lead in the first round of the U.S. Open Thursday morning. It took much more than that.

"I was just playing perfect golf," the former PGA champion said. "I was hitting a lot of smart shots, making some putts, just playing really well. It hit a lot of quality shots. If I could have kept it going I would have been a lot more satisfied."

Golf, of course, is not a game of perfect, so the odds were not in Toms' favor as he got deeper into his round at Oakmont Country Club. The breeze kicked up, the greens firmed up and the scores crept up, and Toms was no less susceptible to the vagaries and vicissitudes of a difficult golf course with too many secrets to unlock.

His score of 2-over-par 72 was a bit of a disappointment, but it was still among the better submissions of the morning wave of competitors in the 107th U.S. Open.

Beginning his round on the 10th tee, Toms converted four birdies in his first 10 holes against a bogey at the par-5 12th. "The first six or seven holes you had to be aggressive. I thought we'd be able to score," Toms said, "and I was doing it for a while."

Indeed, he was one of just two players to get as low as 3 under par, joining Angel Cabrera.

But freshening breezes and a bit of his own bravado eventually brought him back to the pack. The winds that kicked up blew across the fairways, making the narrow landing areas that much harder to hit. Toms bogeyed five of his last six holes, and the slide started by bogeys on Nos. 4 and 5 after hitting into fairway bunkers.

He compounded the problem by shooting at the back right hole location at the par-3 sixth and missing on the short side for a third bogey in a row and then three-putted the last two greens.

"I had a couple of bad holes and then I didn't keep my patience," Toms admitted. "That bogey at 6. I was playing well and then I had a couple of bad holes and I was trying to get it back. If I were 1 under and had just been going along instead of bogeying the two previous holes, I probably wouldn't have even looked at that pin. I got greedy. I have to do a better job of that tomorrow.

"I guess that's what this golf course can do to you," he added. "I was playing great, and then all of a sudden I was playing all that great. You can play smart and still make bogeys. You might avoid the high number but it's hard to make pars. The good news is I did avoid the high number. I'm not out of it. I know I'm not out of it. I'm probably going to end up far ahead of where most people finish. But after the start I had, I just wish I could have finished it off."