| The Philadelphia Inquirer SAN DIEGO -- Coming off arthroscopic surgery and a nine-week layoff, Tiger Woods figured he needed to get into the flow of the U.S. Open early, with a quick, strong start in the first round. SAVE MONEY ON TRAVEL DEALS Good plan. Not-so-good execution. Teeing off Thursday morning as part of a star-power threesome with Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott -- Nos. 1, 2 and 3 in the world -- Woods stepped to the first tee at Torrey Pines and promptly sailed his shot left, deep into the nasty kikuyu grass rough. Woods' lie was bad enough that his only option was to hack out to the fairway. From there, he missed the green with a wedge in his hand, then two-putted for double-bogey 6. "That's a lot of shots to get into the flow", said Woods, joking about his inauspicious start. "It's one thing to hit the ball left off the tee. That's fine -- pitch out. But the wedge shot, I had all the room short of the hole and I fly it past the hole. That's just a terrible mistake." It could have been worse, as Woods went on to post a first-round, 1-over-par 72, carding three front-nine birdies that were largely offset by another double bogey on the back nine. Mickelson, with no driver in his bag, shot even-par 71 in front of thousands of adoring hometown fans who lined every fairway, cheering him on. "San Diego loves Phil!" one man shouted from the gallery as the grinning Mickelson made his way from the 13th green to the 14th tee. Woods had his share of fans, too, although as he strode up the 10th fairway, one man behind the ropes hollered, "Tiger, hockey players play through their injuries!" Woods, who had dissed hockey in an interview a couple of days ago, never looked up. Despite the time off, Woods clearly was bothered by his left knee. After he hit his tee shot at the 18th, Woods flinched in pain. "It didn't feel very good", he said. "It's a little sore." Scott, playing with a broken hand -- the result of a friend's accidentally slamming it in a car door two weeks ago in London -- brought up the rear of the all-star threesome, shooting a 2-over 73. "It was the night of the Champions League final in Russia", Scott said of the incident, referring to a soccer match Europeans equate to the Super Bowl. Shocking as it may be, Woods, Mickelson and Scott are mired in the middle of the pack in the 108th Open. They trail a couple of under-the-radar types who shot 3-under 68s: PGA Tour rookie Kevin Streelman, 29, who is playing in his first Open; and Justin Hicks, 33, who plays the mini-tours in Florida, with occasional forays onto the Nationwide Tour. Four players -- Stuart Appleby, Rocco Mediate, Eric Axley and 2006 Open winner Geoff Ogilvy -- finished with 69s, 1 shot off the lead. Hicks, who reached the Open through qualifiers, was the first to grab the lead, going out early and making seven birdies, the same as Woods and Mickelson combined. "Certainly, I'm not shocked, but a little bit surprised at the thought of it, at the top of the leader board", Hicks said. The Open is famous for producing obscure first-round leaders who eventually fold under the pressure. But no question, Hicks has his eyes on the prize. "I'm not really concerned with the whole 15 minutes of fame", he said. "I'm concerned with trying to make it last longer than that. I'm out here trying to have a good week and see what happens."
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