The U.S. Open Championship went through another weather filled day at Merion Golf Club as Phil Mickelson is atop the leaderboard as the clubhouse leader with a three under 67, while Luke Donald is four under after 13 holes as play was pushed into Friday, where a number of golfers will have to finish the first round, including Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
Mickelson played a very solid day on the rain soaked course and the par 70 was not a problem for him, as he sunk three birdies on his way to getting the clubhouse lead heading into play on Friday. No one would have blamed Mickelson for being off his game after jetting cross country to see his daughter graduate before getting back to Merion, but the Open is his major, as he has been the runner up five times with a combined nine strokes and he got off to another good start again on Thursday. Mickelson was able to finish his day on the course before the weather stopped things again and now the rest of the field will have to catch up.
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Weather is likely going to continue being a problem through the weekend and the start of the first round on Thursday was delayed and play was eventually suspended again before things ended. Woods and McIlroy will have to play eight holes in the morning before playing the second round and while Woods appeared to hurt himself on a swing early on the day, but said later that his wrist was fine. Woods finished 2-over par for the day on just 10 holes and while that wasn't the best start, he is just six strokes back from Luke Donald, who has the lead at four under through 13 holes.
Woods has some tough holes ahead of him in the morning on the back part of the East course and Woods will have a long day of golf, weather permitting of course. The fact that he has so many holes to play could end up as a benefit after the slow start, but Woods won't have much room for error with the possible rain delays. The group of Woods, McIlroy and Adam Scott had all the attention heading into the major, but their tee time in the afternoon was delayed for hours and they couldn't finish off the round.
Woods has won four times this year on the PGA Tour and he is looking for his first major since 2008, which was also at the US Open and he won that after play was pushed to a Monday. Woods left some shots on the course on Thursday, missing out on two solid birdies on the eighth and 10th holes and he also bogeyed on the third after shooting a birdie on the second. Play will start early in the morning for Woods and company, while Mickelson will try to keep his good start going.
