Early-bird Mickelson sets pace as Poulter slips back at Merion

Mickelson had flown home to California on Monday after torrential rain saw the course closed in mid-afternoon, and then attended his daughter’s eighth-grade graduation on Wednesday afternoon before flying back in time for his 7.11am tee-off slot, local time, yesterday.

It is understood he landed in Philadelphia at 4am in his private jet and was at the course at 5.40am, only to start his round from the 11th with a three-putt bogey.

However, Mickelson birdied the 13th and was level par when a thunderstorm and torrential rain caused play to be suspended for more than three and a half hours.

When it did resume the four-time major winner picked up birdies at the first, seventh and ninth to card an opening three-under-par 67.

That gave the left-hander, 
who turns 43 on Sunday, a one-shot lead over compatriot Jerry Kelly, who had two holes to 
play, with Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts safely in the clubhouse after a 69.

Colsaerts had made a flying start with two birdies in his first four holes and then recovered from three bogeys in five holes from the first to birdie the seventh and eighth.

England’s Ian Poulter had earlier made a brilliant start with birdies on his first three holes and was still one under with five to play, but dropped a shot on the fifth and then took a double-bogey on the sixth to drop to two over par.

That was alongside his close friend Justin Rose who had one to play, and only three better than Sergio Garcia who was battling back after a nightmare spell either side of the suspension.

The Spaniard had been warned by Colin Montgomerie that he could be booed by fans in the wake of his “fried chicken” row with Tiger Woods, but the one person who did so half-heartedly on the 11th tee was drowned out by cheers and cries of ‘Go get ‘em Sergio’.

Garcia, playing alongside former Open champions Padraig Harrington and Stewart Cink, opened with a bogey, but also birdied the 13th to get back to level par.

He then pulled his drive on the 14th out of bounds to run up a double-bogey six.

When he did the same on the 15th – his drive bouncing onto the balcony of a hospitality tent – that led to a quadruple bogey eight to drop him to 77th place out of the 78 players on the course.

However, despite another dropped shot on the 18th, Garcia responded with a birdie on the first and eagle three on the second, with a bogey on the fourth leaving him five over with three to play.

The star grouping of Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott – the world’s top three – was not due to begin their rounds until shortly before 5pm local time and knew they would not finish yesterday.

Harrogate’s John Parry shot a six-over-par 76 despite admitting Merion was playing as easy as possible on his US Open debut – but still loved every minute of it.

Parry, who secured his place in the field via international qualifying at Walton Heath last month, was in the second group out from the first tee and carded seven bogeys and one birdie either side of the three-and-a-half hour storm delay.

The 26-year-old from Harrogate, who won the qualifying school last year to regain his European Tour card, said: “It was a bit strange. It wasn’t as hard as I thought, the greens are right in front of you and I thought the fairways would be tighter.

“But you hit one bad shot and it is a five per cent shot of making par. I missed a couple of greens on the wrong side and you have no chance of making par. I bogeyed one hole with a lob wedge from 80 yards and it span 40 feet away and I had a four footer for bogey in the end.

“It’s as easy as it is going to play. There’s a little bit of wind but nothing too bad. The fairways are soft but the greens and rough are tough.

“I loved the experience though. It was a bit stop-start today but hopefully tomorrow will be better and hopefully I can have a good round and make the weekend.”

Parry, who outscored playing partners Rikard Karlberg and Yui Ueda by two shots, added: “My dad and uncle are here. It’s my dad’s first time out of Europe. He’s been to France twice and Portugal once.

“I’ve not really spoken to him (after the round) but he loves it,” he added.