OLYMPIA FIELDS, Illinois, 13 June 2003 — Tiger Woods made a shaky start to his US Open title defense at Olympia Fields Country Club yesterday, slipping to one over par after 13 holes as Britain’s Colin Montgomerie set the early pace.
Woods, who teed off with twice winner Ernie Els and U.S. amateur champion Ricky Barnes at the par-four 10th, reeled off eight pars in overcast conditions before bogeying the par-four 18th after pulling his drive into a bunker and hitting a poor second.
The world number one, who won last year’s tournament by three shots at Bethpage Black, is bidding for his third US Open crown in the last four and the ninth major of his career. British Open champion Els, winner of the 1994 and 1997 US Opens, salvaged pars on his first two holes after finding fairway bunkers off the tee, and then moved to one under with a birdie-three at the 414-yard 14th. The big-hitting South African then parred the next eight holes to stay two strokes behind the early leader — seven-time European number one Montgomerie.
Montgomerie, twice a runner-up behind Els at the U.S. Open, has battled for form this season but made a fast start with birdies on 12, 13 and at the first to move clear of the field at three under par.
Americans Justin Leonard, Tom Gillis and Jay Don Blake and Canadian Ian Leggatt were a further shot back at two under.
Leonard, the 1997 British Open champion at Royal Troon, picked up two shots in his first three holes before offsetting a bogey-five at the fourth with a birdie-three at the ninth. South Africa’s Rory Sabbatini, who cruised to a two-shot victory in the rain-delayed Capital Open at Potomac on Monday, had made the first impression on the first-round leaderboard by sinking a 30-foot eagle putt at the 576-yard first hole. Monasterio Takes Early
Lead in St. Omer
In St. Omer, France, Argentine Cesar Monasterio was a stroke away from equaling the Aa St. Omer Open course record yesterday as his five-under-par 66 earned him an early one-shot lead.
The 39-year-old, now has the chance to make up for a playoff defeat in the first event of the European Challenge Tour season and also claim an 18-month exemption on the main Tour in this co-sanctioned event.
Monasterio was leading the Costa Rica Open by five shots with just nine holes to play but then dropped six shots and eventually lost at the first extra hole to compatriot Sebastian Fernandez.
