• US Open

Tiger: I did everything well

ESPN staff
June 14, 2012
Tiger Woods slices through the ball © PA Photos
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Tiger Woods played fluently in his one-under 69, and told Sky Sports: "I did everything well today, which is nice. The course is playing very quick, we were all surprised at how springy it was.

"Some holes you're hitting nine irons off the tee at par fours, which is odd, but some holes you can be aggressive. You've got to pick and choose where you want to go and not go.

"If you can only move it one way, you're going to have to play very conservatively."

Phil Mickelson, playing with Woods, had a 76 and said: "I'll go out tomorrow and see if I can shoot something under par. I think that I have to put this round aside for now."

Bubba Watson (78) said of Woods: "Tiger was the old Tiger. That was beautiful to watch. That's what we all come to see.''

David Toms after a 69: "It wasn't my best driving day, my short game kept me in there: a lot of up and downs, some nice bunker shots. You just have to play one shot at a time, keep grinding and not get ahead of yourself.

"It's very difficult to hit the ball onto the fairway. It's not overly long with the roll we're getting, that's better for me... Still, every shot's very difficult."

Luke Donald fell 13 strokes off the pace, saying: "The margins are that much smaller and if you're just a little bit off, which I was today. It's tough.

"You have to really rely on chipping it close and making some putts and I didn't do that. My putter kind of went cold today, otherwise I could have probably ground out some more respectable score. But this place is tough. I feel like even from yesterday it got a lot tougher and I didn't hit the shots when I needed to."

Donald's playing partner Rory McIlroy after his 77: "I got off to a decent start and then it's just so tough here if you put yourself out of position at all. It's so tough to make your pars from there.

"I just, too many times just was in the wrong position off the tee or with my second shot and it makes it very difficult. You know, when you're trying to play catch-up on this golf course it's very hard. I was able to make one birdie out there today. I need to try to make more tomorrow and limit the mistakes."

Justin Rose, the best of the British contingent, said: "Obviously it's just a good start, not getting too wrapped up with that. I think this golf tournament more than any other you just have to stay in the momentum, you can't get ahead of yourself for one second out there.

"So as of this second now I'm not even thinking about round one anymore, it's just about my first tee shot tomorrow. It's going to be a long, hard week ahead of all of us and that's really my mindset. This tournament more than any other really rewards that kind of thinking."

14-year-old tournament debutant Andy Zhang said: "I kind of didn't care that much about how many over I am. I'm trying to forget about that, because I never had that big a crowd following me ever. And I never played a course like this before. The greens are just unbelievable. I don't know how they shot four-under, Michael Thompson, that's just amazing."

Overnight leader Michael Thompson added: "This is one of my favorite golf courses. So I've got good feelings coming in here. I just got the putter hot today."

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