Woods opens with tough 71, and he’ll happily take it 

Tiger Woods played conservatively at Oakmont on Thursday, hitting his driver only six times. He found the rough a few too many times and missed a few putts, he said, but was content to finish only one over par and so close to the lead.

By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.com Correspondent

OAKMONT, Pa. -- Most days, he admits, he can take a shot or two off.

Not concentrate very well. Hit it with his eyes closed. Still find the green. Or fairway. Or bottom of the cup.

But not here. Not at the ultimate national examination known as Oakmont.

This place is a grind. Just ask Tiger Woods, who was as focused on his first shot Thursday morning as he was on his 71st.

"On this golf course, there are (no shots off), and no easy birdies," he said. "Most golf courses you play, you're going to pick up a cheap birdie here and there; there are none."

In their place? God-awful rough. Tilted greens. Downhill triple-breakers. Side-hillers. Four hours of mind-bending concentration -- think the most torturous final you ever took in college.

Take the 18th. Tiger's drive dove into the deep rough and he took a stance and a whack. Clumps of grass flew two ways. And the ball? It came up short. And in more rough.

From there, he put it to 2 feet for a 4.

"He parred the last hole out of a stinky lie," said playing partner Geoff Ogilvy, who also shot 71. "That's what the best player in the world does."

To no one's surprise, Tiger played the opening round of the 107th U.S. Open conservatively. Six drivers. Lots of position shots. A few putts that died or dove off at they approached the hole. Too many whacks in the rough.

Still, he's right there, right off the lead with three tougher rounds to play.

"On this golf course it's fine, it's right there," he said of the opening 71. "You know if you shoot even just 3, 4, 5 over par, you're still in the tournament and you've got to hang in there. You know that you're going to get some bad breaks and some good ones and go along with it and if you make a mistake, accept the ramifications of it."

And do your level best to not make it worse.

"It certainly tests you," he said. "Geoff and I were talking about that today; it's as easy as it's going to play and it's still pretty hard, not too many guys were under par."

He paused.

"Imagine if it didn't rain last night."

The half inch of combined rain and hail that fell on Oakmont late Wednesday afternoon was just enough to soften the fairways a tad and give players a chance to go for the greens.

"The greens were a touch softer. If we had wedges in our hand into the wind you had to worry about spinning the ball back if you had a full one, which most U.S. Open's that's not the case," he said.

Tiger bogeyed the first hole when his approach found the bunker and he two-putted from 15 feet, but he bounced back with a 9-iron to 15 feet at the second hole for an uphill birdie. He made an 18-footer for birdie at the sixth, but gave one back at the par 3 1/2 -- at least -- eighth, where he found the right bunker.

Two more bogeys at the 10th and 12th put him at 2 over. Then, after running his birdie putt 8 feet past the hole at 16, he birdied 17th and saved par at 18.

"On this golf course it's more difficult because you've got to drive the ball in the fairway," he said. "And if you hit the ball below the hole, which is going to be short of the hole, you're going to have easy putts most of the day. But here all the greens fall different directions and to try and get it below the hole, generally you're going to end up running off the green so you're going to have cross-green putts, downhill triple-breakers.

"It is what it is and you've got to hang in there and hopefully putt well."

Three good par putts. Three birdie putts. All in all a good day. And not unexpected considering the pins were in some of the easiest -- and, yes, the term is relative -- places on the greens.

"They gave us a chance to go ahead and post a number today," he said.

That it was 71. He'll take it. And three more. And -- sure, it?s way too early to contemplate -- just maybe his third Open.

Assuming Oakmont's willing. And he doesn't take a shot off.