Except for Gil Morgan, nobody thinks this kind of scoring can continue.
So who are you going to listen to - the guy leading the tournament or all those other guys blinking in disbelief, trying to remember that this is Pebble Beach and this is the U.S. Open?With its greens soft and its ocean winds still on Thursday, Pebble Beach played more like it was hosting the Phoenix Open than its third U.S. Open, doling out birdies and low scores with unprecedented generosity.
"The course was absolutely there for the taking this morning," Mark McCumber said. "There was never more than a 2- or 3-yard wind, and the course is in perfect condition.
"Pebble Beach will get its due before it's over."
Round 1 went to the players, 45 of whom shot par or better in the opening round.
Morgan made eight birdies and shot a 6-under 66, the lowest first round in any of the three U.S. Opens played over the scenic oceanfront course. Curtis Strange made seven birdies and was one back at 67.
Andy Dillard, a qualifier playing in his first Open, birdied the first six holes of the championship and was one of three golfers at 4-under 68. Phil Mickelson, playing in his first tournament as a pro, and Steve Pate also shot 68s.
"This is June and this is a pretty docile time for the weather," Pate said. "I think you're going to see a lot of single-day good scores, but nothing terribly low for the tournament."
There were 29 sub-par scores in the opening round. In addition to 419 birdies, 11 eagles were made, including Ted Schulz's 183-yard 7-iron for a 2 on the 464-yard, par-4 ninth hole, considered Pebble's toughest.
According to Nick Faldo, this kind of scoring just cannot continue.
"It's the U.S. Open. You can't hit it anywhere and get away with anything," said Faldo, who birdied four holes between 9 and 14. "Guys are going to take a run, and progressively it's going to get tougher and tougher as the week goes on."
Morgan, who one-putted 10
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greens in the first round, thought differently.
"If conditions remain the same, I think the Open record will be broken," Morgan said. "I think that would be possible. The guys are so good out here."
The record for four rounds in the Open is 8-under by Jack Nicklaus in 1980 at Baltusrol, site of the 1993 Open.
No one has ever even reached 10 under at any time in the Open.
Morgan, though, could be forgiven for getting a little carried away.
He did most of his scoring on the easiest part of the course with birdies on five of the first six holes.
"I was able to put the ball below the hole most of the time," Morgan said.
Strange, who won consecutive Opens in '88 and '89 but has not won a PGA Tour event since, did his best scoring on the toughest part of the course.
After failing to make a birdie on the first six holes, Strange began his charge with a birdie on the 107-yard, par 3 No. 7, hitting a pitching wedge within a foot.
"It got me going, sure," Strange said. "The first six holes, I'm watching Lanny (Wadkins) go 4-under, Sandy (Lyle) was 2- or 3-under, I think, and I've struggled a couple of times for par."
Strange birdied the eighth hole, parred the ninth, then reeled off four consecutive birdies, making putts from 5 to 25 feet. He went to 7-under with a birdie at 15, but limped home with bogeys at Nos. 16 and 17.
Pebble was by no means completely without scorn.
Jack Nicklaus was cruising along at 2-under when he pushed a drive on No. 9 into knee-high grass 20 yards to the right of the fairway. He emerged with a double bogey there and finished bogey-bogey-double bogey for a 5-over 77.
Payne Stewart, the defending champion, was 4-under through eight holes before going double bogey, bogey, bogey on Nos. 9, 10 and 11. Stewart shot 73.
Sandy Lyle was 2-under when he reached the par-5 14th where he made 8 after hitting his drive out of bounds and yanking a 2-iron into the trees left of the green. Lyle also finished at 73.
The Hall of Fame threesome of Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Hale Irwin, who have eight Open titles between them, struggled through the first round. Irwin shot 73 and Watson 75.