From correspondents in Americas, 04:01 PM IST

Few tournaments, if any, start the first round with a marquee grouping that has the top three golfers in the world. In a startling first the US Open decided to open the event by clubbing Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott together. And the results were stupendous.

The scores may have been somewhat modest with World No.2 and local lad Mickelson shooting an even-par 71, top-ranked Woods carding 72 and Scott shooting 73, but the galleries were overflowing. They were sometimes as big as 20-deep and the media posse numbered more than 100.

The US Open for the first times has the top 12-ranked players grouped in order for the first two rounds.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)