While Tiger Woods captured most of the headlines on day one of the US
Open at Pebble Beach, the name of Nick Faldo was, for once, conspicuous by
its presence.
The man who dominated world golf in the early 1990s has missed the cut
eight times in the last 12 majors but, on Thursday, he bounced back to his
very best as he reached four-under-par through 13 holes before fog brought
a premature end to the first day's play.
Faldo's troubles in the last couple of years have been well documented,
but he belied his recent problems to move within two shots of the early
leader, world No. 1 Tiger Woods.
The main problem for Faldo has been around the
greens but, at Pebble Beach on Thursday, the
six-time major champion was holing putts from everywhere as he went from
one-over-par after the first hole to reach the turn in 33.
His front nine included a brilliant eagle at the par-five sixth,
where
he holed a 25-foot putt from off the front edge of the green.
Nick Faldo showed some fine form on the way to a four under overnight score during the first round at the 2000 US Open. Allsport
A bogey at the ninth took him back to
two-under-par, but two more birdie-threes at 10 and 11 helped him get to
four-under-par and within striking distance
of the lead.
