Illinois, June 13: Defending champion Tiger Woods eked out a scrappy level-par 70 in the U.S. Open on Thursday, as 1982 winner Tom Watson and qualifier Brett Quigley set the first-round pace with matching 65s. Watson, at the age of 53, eagled the par-four 12th and birdied two of his last three holes to record his lowest score at a U.S. Open since 1987. Justin Leonard, the 1997 British Open champion, and fellow American Jay Don Blake were a further stroke back on 66 while Australia's Stephen Leaney and Jim Furyk shared fifth on 67. Woods, bidding for his third U.S. Open crown in four starts and the ninth major of his career, initially struggled on the difficult greens at Olympia Fields Country Club and was one over par after 14 holes. But the world number one, who won last year's tournament by three shots at Bethpage Black, resurrected his round by hitting a superb three-iron approach to 20 feet at the 555-yard sixth hole before sinking the eagle putt.


In overcast conditions, he then missed a birdie chance from 12 feet on seven, scrambled a par on eight and bogeyed nine after finding a greenside bunker and failing to get up and down. That left the 27-year-old fives strokes off the early lead, but importantly still in the tournament.


Woods had teed off with twice winner Ernie Els and U.S. amateur champion Ricky Barnes at the par-four 10th, reeling off eight pars before bogeying the par-four 18th, where he pulled his drive under the lip of a fairway bunker.


British Open champion Els, winner of the 1994 and 1997 U.S. Opens, salvaged pars on his first two holes after twice 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, who won four titles in his first five starts of the season, then solidly parred the remaining holes for an opening 69.


The 33-year-old Quigley, yet to win on the PGA Tour, did not make the halfway cut in his two previous U.S. Open starts but stormed into contention at Olympia Fields in the afternoon sunshine.


He mixed three birdies with a bogey to reach the turn in 34 and, after dropping another shot at the par-four 10th, stormed home with four birdies in the last seven holes to finish the day at five under. Leonard, who won the 1997 British Open at Royal Troon by three shots, also experienced a roller-coaster round, mixing six birdies with two bogeys.


OLYMPIA FIELDS, Illinois, June 12 (Reuters) - First round scores from the U.S. Open golf championship at the par-70, 7,190-yard, Olympia Fields Country Club (North Course) on Thursday (U.S. unless stated, A denotes amateur): 65 Brett Quigley, Tom Watson 66 Justin Leonard, Jay Don Blake 67 Stephen Leaney (Australia), Jim Furyk 68 Tom Gillis, Mark Calcavecchia, Ian Leggatt (Canada) 69 Cliff Kresge, Jonathan Byrd, Robert Damron, Tim Clark (South Africa), Billy Mayfair, Padraig Harrington (Ireland), Len Mattiace, Loren Roberts, Ernie Els (South Africa), Tim Petrovic, Sergio Garcia (Spain), Colin Montgomerie (Britain), Fredrik Jacobson (Sweden), Tom Byrum, Hidemichi Tanaka (Japan) 70 Craig Parry (Australia), Brandt Jobe, Justin Rose (Britain), J.P. Hayes, Steve Lowery, Joe Ogilvie, Bernhard Langer (Germany), Jonathan Kaye, Charles Howell III, Tiger Woods, Darren Clarke (Britain), Fred Funk, Stewart Cink, Chad Campbell, Fred Couples, Phil Mickelson, Eduardo Romero (Argentina), Scott Hoch, Bob Estes, Vijay Singh (Fiji) 71 Thomas Bjorn (Denmark), Richard Johnson (Sweden), Brian Davis (Britain), Dicky Pride, Kirk Triplett, Daniel Forsman, Retief Goosen (South Africa), Kevin Sutherland, Spike McRoy, Ricky Barnes-A, Nick Price (Zimbabwe), Darren Stiles 72 Doug LaBelle II, Corey Pavin, Dudley Hart, Chris Baryla-A, Chris DiMarco, Angel Cabrera (Argentina), Marco Dawson, Olin Browne, Hiroshi Matsuo (Japan), Trevor Immelman (South Africa), Joe Durant, Rod Pampling (Australia), Neal Lancaster, Ryan Dillon, Adam Scott (Australia), David Toms, Kenny Perry, Chris Anderson, John Maginnes, Mark O'Meara, Tom Kite, Peter Lonard (Australia), Lee Janzen 73 Bill Haas-A, Rocco Mediate, Steve Flesch, Brad Faxon, Rob Bradley, John Rollins, Alex Cejka (Germany), Roland Thatcher, Rory Sabbatini (South Africa), Mike Weir (Canada), Doug Dunakey 74 Grant Waite (New Zealand), David Smail (New Zealand), Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain), Geoff Ogilvy (Australia), Scott McCarron, Michael Campbell (New Zealand), Bryce Molder, Rich Beem, Bob Tway, Jeff Sluman, Trip Kuehne-A, Jeff Maggert, Jesper Parnevik (Sweden), Woody Austin, Hunter Mahan-A, Bill Lunde 75 Paul Lawrie (Britain), Jerry Kelly, Bret Guetz, Robert Allenby (Australia), Jay Haas, Brad Elder, Cortney Brisson, Nick Faldo (Britain), Roy Biancalana, Shigeki Maruyama (Japan), Niclas Fasth (Sweden), Martin Lefeber (France), Anthony Arvidson, Jason Knutzon, Chez Reavie-A, Stuart Appleby (Australia), Luke List-A 76 Dean Wilson, Joey Sindelar, Kent Jones, Mark Wurtz, Tommy Armour III, Davis Love III, Larry Mize, Rick Reinsberg-A, Craig Bowden, Matt Seppanen, Geoffrey Sisk, Brian Henninger, John Holmes-A, Steve Gotsche, Scott Verplank, Chris Riley, Paul Casey (Britain) 77 Chris Smith, Brian Gay, Warren Schutte (South Africa) 78 Bob Burns, Billy Andrade, Sean Murphy, Greg Hiller, David Duval, Sean McCarty 79 K.J. Choi (South Korea), Alan Morin, Toru Taniguchi (Japan) 80 Tom Glissmeyer-A 81 Don Pooley WD Hale Irwin


Bureau Report