Graeme McDowell stormed two shots clear of the field at the US Open today after picking up three shots in his first six holes after play resumed at Bethpage Black in New York.
The Portrush golfer, playing the back nine first in his opening round, restarted with a birdie at the par-three 17th, and then tagged on two pars before another birdie on the par-four second moved him to one-under and the outright lead.
After making par at the next he was back on the birdie trail at the par-five fourth to stretch his lead to two.
American Jeff Brehaut had led in the early stages, but back to back bogeys on his back nine moved him back to one-over-par.
Pádraig Harrington’s first round went from bad to worse as the Dubliner slipped to seven-over-par after 12 holes.
The three-time major winner was four-over when play was stopped yesterday due to flooding at the New York course, but he faced a difficult start with a 30-foot putt for par on the seventh.
He failed to hole it to slip back to five-over and although he made par at the next, he would drop another at the par-four ninth. After driving into rough on the left he could only move the ball forward a couple of feet.
His third shot also ended in the rough, but he showed composure to get up and down by holing a ten-foot putt for bogey. He seemed to steady the slide with two pars but came unstuck at the 12th with his third bogey in six holes.
Tiger Woods, paired with Harrington for the opening rounds, also bogeyed the seventh to slip back to two-over. Three straight pars were followed by his first birdie of the day as he moved into the top ten.
With play washed out after just three-and-a-quarter hours yesterday there was a blanket restart Island this morning after groundstaff worked right up until the players resumed their rounds to get the waterlogged par-70 course up to scratch.
There were problems for the players to deal with as the 78 who began their rounds yesterday morning crowded the practice range as dawn broke in a bid to warm up for the continuation of play.
